Jordan Times
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Iraq chaos must end — King
6 US soldiers killed as Allawi warns Fallujah to give up Zarqawi or face attack
Agencies
His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday reiterated the need for ending chaos and
violence in Iraq to help its people take part in the upcoming nationwide
election.
King Abdullah told Iraqi Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan and Interior Minister
Falah Naqib that Jordan will continue to support the neighbouring country in its
efforts to achieve stability and security, the Jordan News Agency, Petra,
reported.
He also underlined the importance of strengthening bilateral relations and
boosting coordination in all fields.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Faisal Fayez, the King's Adviser on
Security Affairs, Director of the General Intelligence Department and President
of the National Security Council General Saad Kheir, Royal Court Minister Samir
Rifai and other senior officials.
The two Iraqi officials also met Interior Minister Samir Habashneh and Public
Security Department Director General Tahsin Shurdum.
Bombings, attacks
In Baghdad, a suicide attack and roadside bombings killed six American soldiers,
and Iraq's prime minister Wednesday warned the people of major insurgent bastion
Fallujah to hand over terror mastermind Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi or face military
action.
A suicide driver plowed into a US convoy and blew up his car Wednesday in the
northern city of Mosul, killing two American soldiers and wounding five,
according to the military. It was the second deadly suicide attack against
American convoys in Mosul in the past three days.
Four other soldiers were killed in roadside bombings in the Baghdad area — three
late Tuesday in the east of the capital and one early Wednesday in the west, the
command said.
The new attacks occurred in the run-up to the Holy Month of Ramadan, which Iraqi
television said would begin here Friday.
US troops have stepped up offensive operations in Sunni strongholds to the north
and west of Baghdad.
More than 1,000 US and Iraqi troops launched two simultaneous raids Wednesday
around Baqouba, 55 kilometres northeast of Baghdad, to clear the area of
fighters.
"Basically, it's a pre-Ramadan operation just to clear up some of the area
around Baqouba," said Capt. Marshall Jackson, spokesman for the 3rd Brigade, 1st
Infantry Division.
There were no reports of major clashes but several people were detained. In an
unrelated attack, a police captain was killed Wednesday in a drive-by shooting
near Baqouba, officials said. Fighters regularly target Iraq's security forces,
which are seen as collaborators with the United States and its allies.
Elsewhere, US troops sealed off key streets and searched buildings in the
insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, 110 kilometres west of Baghdad, after days of
clashes, residents reported. The US command had no comment on the operation.
On Tuesday, Iraqi government soldiers backed by US Marine and Army units raided
seven mosques in Ramadi, detaining four people and seizing bomb-making materials
and pro-insurgent literature, the military said.
US and Iraqi authorities have used a mix of diplomacy and force to try to regain
control of insurgent enclaves in time to hold nationwide elections in January.
Troops swept into the militant stronghold of Samarra, north of Baghdad, earlier
this month and have been carrying out smaller-scale raids in recent days in
other areas.
But the major insurgent stronghold is Fallujah, a city of 300,000 that has
become the symbol of Sunni resistance.
US forces have staged weeks of "precision strikes" aimed at buildings believed
to be safehouses of Zarqawi's network and its associates.
At the same time, Iraqi officials have been negotiating with representatives of
Fallujah to restore government control of the city, which fell under the rule of
extremist religious leaders and their armed mujahedeen fighters after the
Marines lifted their three-week siege last April.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned that Fallujah must surrender
terrorist leaders, chief among them the Zarqawi, if they want to avoid attack.
The Americans have insisted for months that Fallujah must hand over foreign
fighters and those responsible for the brutal slaying last March of four US
contractors, which triggered the siege of the city.
"If they do not turn in Zarqawi and his group, we will carry out operations in
Fallujah," Allawi told a meeting of the 100-member interim National Council. "Fallujah
of course is an honest city but it has been manipulated by a deviant bunch that
wants to harm Iraq." Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility
for beheading several foreign hostages and for car-bombings throughout the
country. A videotape posted Wednesday on an Islamic website showed fighters
linked to Zarqawi beheading two Iraqis purported to be intelligence officers.
The 10-minute tape showed two captives, Fadhel Ibrahim and Firas Imeil,
identifying themselves as Iraqi National Intelligence officers and saying they
were captured in Baghdad's Haifa Street on Sept. 28. The authenticity of the
tape could not immediately be verified.
On Wednesday, Fallujah's chief negotiator with the government, Sheikh Khaled
Jumeili, told the Associated Press that many issues had been resolved but both
sides were yet to agree on what happens to specific individuals wanted by US or
Iraqi officials for criminal charges.
Jumeili insisted there were "only a handful" of non-Iraqi Arab fighters in the
city — a claim the Americans dismiss — and they would leave if a deal were
struck with the government.
"They are outlaws to them but they are mujahedeen to us," he said of the
fighters.
Jumeili said both sides agreed that the Iraqi National Guard unit which would
assume security responsibility in the city would include Fallujah natives and
that residents whose relatives have been killed or injured or whose property has
been damaged would receive compensation. There was no immediate government or US
comment.
Iraq's deteriorating security — including bombings, mortar and rocket attacks,
kidnappings and shooting sprees — has slowed reconstruction efforts and forced
the United States to divert funds from rebuilding to security.