Focus On Fallujah
U.S. warplanes pounded the suspected militant haven of Fallujah on Friday, a day after the city's leaders suspended peace talks and rejected the Iraqi government's demands to turn over terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Fallujah clerics insisted al-Zarqawi was not in the city and called for civil disobedience across Iraq if the Americans try to overrun the insurgent bastion. If civil disobedience won't stop the attack, clerics said they would proclaim a jihad, or holy war, against multinational forces "as well as those collaborating with them."
Al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group has claimed responsibility for Thursday's twin bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone — home to U.S. officials and the Iraqi leadership — which killed six people, including three American civilians. A fourth American was missing and presumed dead.
Two Iraqis were killed, at least one of them a suicide bomber. The identity of the other wasn't known. The group's claim, which could not be verified, was posted on a Web site known for its Islamic contents.
Thursday's bold, unprecedented attack in the Green Zone, which witnesses and a senior Iraqi official said was carried out by suicide bombers, dramatized the militants' ability to penetrate the heart of the U.S.-Iraqi leadership even as authorities step up military operations to suppress Sunni Muslim insurgents in other parts of the country.
In other developments:
Jets and artillery hammered Fallujah through the night in an apparent effort to quash terrorists suspected of planning attacks timed with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins Friday.
Residents described the assault as much fiercer than the sporadic attacks that have been going on for months, reports CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey. So far, U.S. ground forces have not made a full-scale assault, but they have been in action.
Witnesses said Friday that U.S. troops have detained Khaled al-Jumeili, a cleric who led the city's delegates in peace negotiations with the government. They said he was arrested as he left a mosque after the Friday prayers in a village about 10 miles south of Fallujah.
Another man, Ahmed al-Janabi, also was arrested but was freed soon afterwards.
Iraqi leaders have been in negotiations to restore government control to Fallujah, which fell under the domination of clerics and their armed mujahedeen followers after the end of the three-week Marine siege last April.
Allawi warned Wednesday that Fallujah must surrender al-Zarqawi and other foreign fighters or face military action. Talks broke down Thursday when city representatives rejected the "impossible condition" since even the Americans were unable to catch al-Zarqawi, said Abu Asaad, spokesman for the mujahedeen council of Fallujah.
The U.S. believes al-Zarqawi and his terrorist group are headquartered in Fallujah. Last year, the Ramadan period saw a surge in violence.
During Friday sermons in Sunni mosques in Baghdad and elsewhere, preachers read a statement from Fallujah clerics declaring that al-Zarqawi's presence "is a lie just like the weapons of mass destruction lie."
"Al-Zarqawi has become the pretext for flattening civilians houses and killing innocent civilians," the statement said.
The clerics said that in the event of an all-out attack, they would call on all Muslims to launch a civil disobedience campaign against the Americans and their Iraqi allies.
"In case the interim government and occupation troops make no response following the civil disobedience campaign, Muslim scholars and representatives of all Islamic and national groups will declare jihad all over Iraq and declare a mobilization against the occupation troops as well as those collaborating with them," the statement said.
During operations early Friday near Fallujah, Maj. Francis Piccoli, spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said two Marine battalions were trying to "disrupt the capabilities of the anti-Iraqi forces."
"The operations were designed to target the large terrorist element operating in the area of Fallujah," the U.S. command said. "This element has been planning to use the holy month of Ramadan for attacks."
Targets hit included several key planning centers, a weapons transload and storage facility, two safehouses, a terrorist meeting site and several illegal checkpoints used by the Zarqawi network, the U.S. military said.
Three people were killed and seven others injured during the night, according to Dr. Rafia Hiyad of Fallujah General Hospital. On Thursday, the hospital said at least five people were killed and 16 wounded.
Late Thursday, Fallujah residents reported the most intensive shelling since U.S. forces began attacks aimed at al-Zarqawi's network. U.S. planes flew overhead Friday but the city was quiet.
Following Thursday's attack in Baghdad, the U.S. military said security measures were being "significantly increased for an undetermined period" in several areas, including the Green Zone and Baghdad airport.
The Americans killed in the Green Zone bombing were employees of DynCorp security company. Two other DynCorp employees and three State Department employees were wounded.