World

Bombardment Of Fallujah Goes On

September 28, 2004 / 11:03 AM EDT / CBS/AP

American forces unleashed a strike Tuesday against a suspected hideout used by associates of terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Fallujah and troops battled insurgents on a main thoroughfare in the Iraqi capital, authorities said.

Weeks of airstrikes in rebel-held Fallujah have exacted a heavy toll on al-Zarqawi's network and intelligence indicates the al Qaeda-linked group has been forced to reorganize its leadership, the military said in a statement.

U.S. troops and insurgents clashed Tuesday along central Baghdad's Haifa Street but there were no reports of casualties, an Iraq Interior Ministry spokesman said. A roadside bomb went off and several other explosions were heard in the capital.

Meanwhile, near the southern city of Basra, insurgents ambushed a British Army convoy, killing two soldiers, the British Ministry of Defense said. Hospital officials in Basra said at least two Iraqi bystanders were also injured in the attack.

In other developments:

A Muslim leader from Italy arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday to press for the release of two Italian aid workers kidnapped by Islamic extremists, his organization said.

The holding company of four Egyptian workers kidnapped in Iraq said Tuesday it had heard they have been freed, but it cannot confirm their release.

Three Iraqis were wounded in an overnight mortar attack on a base housing Bulgarian troops in central Iraq.

The U.S. military says it's holding a suspected leader of an Iraqi insurgent cell. Hussein Salman Mohammed al-Jbouri is suspected of leading a cell based in Kirkuk and nearby Hawijah that aligns itself with Ansar al-Sunna, a Sunni Muslim group that has claimed responsibility for the beheading of 12 Nepalese hostages.

A Colorado congresswoman, Democrat Diana DeGette, is calling for an investigation into allegations that soldiers, who are near the end of their time in the military, are being threatened with deployment to Iraq unless they re-enlist. She says she has received several complaints about these types of threats.

At least five U.S. congressional committees are investigating the U.N oil-for-food program in parallel with a tangle of additional probes spanning agencies and continents, including an internal U.N. probe that has maintained exclusive access to many U.N. documents.

The Jordanian monarch said in an interview published Tuesday that elections in Iraq are impossible because of the current chaos and that "in the immediate" future he sees no chances of improvement.

Prime Minister Tony Blair was hoping to use his party's annual conference to switch attention from Iraq to his campaign for a third term in office, but the unrelenting bloodshed in Iraq and the kidnapping of a British engineer are eclipsing the event. Many Labor members still resent British involvement in the U.S.-led campaign. Anti-war campaigners have forced a debate on Britain's role in Iraq on Thursday.

The sporadic clashes around Haifa Street in Baghdad began early Tuesday and explosions could be heard around midday in the area, spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said. He said such low-intensity fighting has occurred on the street for the past three days.

Abdul-Rahman said Iraqi troops were not taking part.

Haifa Street, an insurgent stronghold, has been the scene of bloody car bomb attacks, raids and firefights in past weeks.

Earlier this month, Iraqi troops carried out a major raid in the area, capturing 63 suspected rebels, including Syrian, Sudanese and Egyptian nationals.

The roadside bomb on Karrada street damaged several vehicles and shattered windows, witnesses said. The target of the attack was not immediately clear. At least six other blasts were later heard in the capital.

Ambulances rushed to scene of the explosions and American troops cordoned off the area. Interior Ministry spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman said three civilians were wounded.

The ministry had no immediate information on the other explosions that rocked the city at noontime.

In Fallujah, intelligence reports indicated that the militants targeted shortly after 4:00 a.m. were "rising" associates of al-Zarqawi and "planning attacks using foreign suicide bombers in vehicles rigged with explosives," the military said. The Jordanian-born militant has claimed responsibility for scores of suicide attacks and kidnappings across the country, as well as the recent beheading of two Americans

There was no immediate word on casualties. But early reports showed that no civilians were in the area when the blast went off, the statement said.

Late Monday, U.S. warplanes were spotted over the city and explosions were heard. Residents said they saw a plane firing rockets into the city, but U.S. Marine officers said only illumination rounds were fired.

Dr. Walid Thamer of the Fallujah General Hospital said at least three people were killed and nine wounded in the earlier attack. They arrived at the hospital around 1:00 a.m., he said. The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled.

U.S. forces have not patrolled in Fallujah since ending a three-week siege of the city in April that left hundreds dead. Military commanders say an assault may be inevitable to restore authority there ahead of nationwide elections slated for January.

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warned that a "decisive military solution" could soon befall the rebel stronghold if a political one is not found.

"I think we waited more than enough for Fallujah," the Iraqi leader said in an interview aired late Monday on the Arab television network Al-Arabiya. He indicated Iraqi security forces would be used in any operation against the city.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, who was paying a brief visit to France, told the daily Le Figaro that, in his view, extremists would gain the upper hand if elections were held under the current conditions in Iraq.

"It seems impossible to organize indisputable elections in the chaos of Iraq today," he was quoted as saying.