American troops pound Fallujah

BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. troops pounded the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah with airstrikes and tank fire Sunday, and the Iraqi government appealed to residents of the city to expel “foreign terrorists” and “murderers” to prevent an all-out attack.

A mortar shell exploded Sunday at a Baghdad sports stadium minutes before interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi arrived to inspect a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters. And insurgents reportedly ambushed and killed at least nine Iraqi policemen as they were returning home from a training course in Jordan.

Meanwhile, the most feared militant group in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Tawhid and Jihad, said in an Internet statement that it will take orders from Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda from now on.

Throughout the day, the crackle of automatic-weapons fire and the thud of artillery echoed across Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, as fighting between American troops and insurgents raged on the eastern and southern edges of the city, witnesses said.

Clashes blocked the main road leading to Baghdad, and plumes of smoke rose above the flat-roofed houses in the Askari and Shuhada neighborhoods of eastern and southern Fallujah.

Witnesses said a Humvee was burning on the eastern edge of the city, and hospital officials reported three civilians had been killed. The U.S. military reported no casualties Sunday.

In a statement late Sunday, U.S. Marines said they used small arms, tanks, artillery, mortars and seven precision airstrikes against insurgents in Fallujah. The Marines said insurgents were seen taking refuge in a mosque but that troops did not fire on them.

American forces have stepped up attacks around Fallujah since peace talks between the Iraqi government and Fallujah clerics broke down Thursday after city leaders rejected Allawi’s demand to hand over “foreign terrorists,” including the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi.

Fallujah clerics insist al-Zarqawi, whose Tawhid and Jihad movement has claimed responsibility for multiple suicide car-bombings and hostage beheadings, is not in the city. Fallujah fell under the control of hard-line Islamic clerics and their armed followers after U.S. Marines lifted a three-week siege in late April.

The Internet statement from al-Zarqawi’s group, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, affirmed the “allegiance of Tawhid and Jihad’s leadership and soldiers to the chief of all fighters, Osama bin Laden.” It said the announcement was timed for the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when “Muslims need more than ever to stick together in the face of the religion’s enemies.”

As the Iraqis try to reach a peaceful end to the Fallujah standoff, the U.S. military is believed to be drafting plans for an all-out assault on the city if negotiations fail.

In London, the British Defense Ministry said the United States has asked Britain to redeploy hundreds of troops from southern Iraq amid reports the soldiers will back up the Americans in the event of a major attack on Fallujah.

British media reports say the United States wants British soldiers to replace units of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines in Iskandariyah, about 30 miles south of Baghdad.

Defense Minister Geoff Hoon will confirm the American request today before the House of Commons and say Britain has not made a decision, a ministry spokesman said.

On Sunday, Allawi’s government renewed its call for Fallujah to surrender al-Zarqawi and others, saying their presence in “some areas and cities” is “something the government cannot accept or tolerate.”

“We call upon the sons and tribes of Fallujah to immediately expel foreign terrorists and evacuate all the city’s neighborhoods from these murderers and their criminal supporters who want to hamper plans of reconstructing Iraq,” National Security Adviser Qassem Dawoud said in a statement.

Dawoud said “the door is still open before any initiative or effort to avoid having to use the military option.”

Elsewhere, police said Sunday that nine Iraqi policemen returning from training in Jordan were ambushed and killed Saturday in Latifiyah, an insurgent stronghold 25 miles south of Baghdad. The attackers escaped. Latifiyah is part of a belt of towns just south of the capital where kidnappings and ambushes have been common.

Along the Syrian border, overnight clashes between U.S. troops and insurgents left four people dead and 13 others wounded, Dr. Wael al-Duleimi said Sunday from the border town of Qaim. The city is a hotbed of insurgent activity and is believed to be a major route for smuggling weapons and fighters into Iraq.

In hopes of sparing Fallujah further violence, the city’s clerics have offered to resume peace talks if the Americans stop their attacks. But the talks have deadlocked over the alleged presence of Zarqawi and other foreign fighters.

“We are still ready to go back to the talks and open new channels of dialogue,” said negotiator Abdul Hamid Jadou. But he said Allawi is “responsible for each drop of blood being spilled in Fallujah. This government sided with the Americans in bombing the innocent people who are fasting in Ramadan.”

Meanwhile, a military prosecutor in Jordan indicted al-Zarqawi and 12 others for an alleged plot to attack the U.S. Embassy in Amman and Jordanian government targets with chemical and conventional weapons, government officials said. The alleged plot was first revealed by Jordan in April.

Iraqi officials hope that Fallujah leaders can be persuaded to negotiate a deal similar to one struck with Shiite radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to end clashes in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Under the deal, al-Sadr’s fighters have been turning in weapons for cash.

On Sunday, a mortar shell exploded at a sports stadium about 15 minutes before Allawi was to arrive to inspect the guns-for-cash program. The itinerary was quickly changed and Allawi visited several other sites before arriving at the stadium.

“I am very thrilled and pleased that things are moving in the right direction and arms are being surrendered to the Iraqi government,” he said.

Allawi also called on Iraqis throughout the country – whether in Basra, Nasiriyah, Fallujah, Ramadi or Mosul – to surrender their weapons, to respect the rule of law and to be part of the political process.

More than 200 detainees were released Sunday from Abu Ghraib prison after a security review deemed them no longer a threat, the U.S. military said.

It was the fifth round of releases since a review board set up by coalition forces and the interim Iraqi government began work in August following a torture scandal at the detention facility.

Also Sunday, the 1st Cavalry Division said an investigation had not yet determined what caused two Army OH-58 helicopters to crash Saturday night in southern Baghdad, killing two soldiers and injuring two others. The division spokesman, Lt. Col. James Hutton, said it “could be days” before the cause is officially determined.