Fighting erupts in Fallujah; U.S. begins examining base security


FALLUJAH, December 23, 2004 - Clashes erupted Thursday between U.S. Marines and insurgents in Fallujah, with warplanes dropping bombs and tanks shelling suspected guerrilla positions, as the first 200 residents returned to the battered city.

It was unclear what caused the clashes, but Marine officers said that both sides had suffered casualties.

The latest fighting comes as the U.S. military began re-examining security measures at bases across Iraq. On Wednesday, top Pentagon officials admitted that an attack that killed 22 people at a camp near Mosul was likely carried out by a suicide bomber.

In Fallujah, U.S. F-18 fighter-bombers were seen striking at targets in the city's outskirts. Tank and artillery fire was also heard.

The fighting erupted on the day that the first 2,000 residents displaced by last month's bloody U.S.-led offensive to retake the rebel stronghold were supposed to return to the city of 250,000 people. But because of the fighting, only about 200 actually made the trip, officials said Thursday.

U.S. officials have hailed the military effort to retake the city in November as a major tactical victory. But many of the guerrillas are believed to have slipped out during the fighting and are now said to be operating across central and northern Iraq.

In the devastated city itself, U.S. troops have repeatedly clashed with pockets of resistance.

In Mosul, the explosion on Monday at the tightly guarded U.S. base raised questions about how the attacker infiltrated the compound, which is surrounded by blast walls and barbed wire and watched by U.S. troops who search every person going in and check his identity.

A spokesman for the U.S. military command in Baghdad said Thursday security measures are subjected to changes when needed.

"It is a fluid situation where our security measures and plans are constantly being adapted and reworked," said 1st Sgt. Steve Valley.

The apparent sophistication of Tuesday's operation - the deadliest single attack on a U.S. base - indicated the attacker probably had inside knowledge of the base's layout and the soldiers' schedule. The blast came at lunchtime.

"We always have force protection keeping their eyes out," Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, spokesman for Task Force Olympia, the main force that controls northern Iraq, said Thursday. "For somebody that wants to take his life and kill himself, its very difficult to stop those people."

Asked how will they act following the attack, Hastings said that now that the cause of the attack is known, "a full investigation is now ongoing and from that full investigation we will act according."

At the Pentagon Wednesday, Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a suicide bomber had apparently strapped an explosive device to his body and entered the dining hall where the blast occurred.

In western Baghdad, a U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb, the U.S. command said. The attack occurred at 8:00 a.m. Thursday and the victims were members of the U.S. Army's Task Force Baghdad, which is in charge of security in the Iraqi capital.

The death raises the number of U.S. troops who have died since the start of the war in March 2003 to at least 1,322 members, according to an unofficial count by The Associated Press.

Early Thursday, hundreds of U.S. troops, Iraqi National Guards and Kurdish militiamen were seen in the streets of Mosul moving around in Bradley Fighting vehicles. In some eastern neighborhoods such as Muharebeen, Nour, Karama and Hadbaa they entered homes in search of weapons. One of the city's five bridges over the Tigris River reopened Thursday, after all were blocked off by U.S. troops on Wednesday. Schools remained closed but more people were seen in the streets compared with the previous day. Iraqi National Guards manned a checkpoint near another U.S. base, the former palace of Saddam Hussein, stopping passing cars and searching them.

Residents said they were worried about the worsening situation in their city, which has seen a sharp upsurge of rebel activity in the past several months.

"We see things going from bad to worse every day. All we need is security and peace but I do not see this happening," said Abbas Hussein, 32, a carpenter. "I hope there will be a divine miracle so that the situation becomes stable."

A radical Sunni Muslim group, the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility, saying a suicide bomber had carried out the strike.

The attack sparked renewed concerns about the ability of U.S. troops and their Iraqi allies to secure elections Jan. 30. The military said they had expected an increase in violence as insurgents attempt to derail the vote for an assembly that will draft Iraq's new constitution.

"Insurgents, who have everything to lose, are desperate to create the perception that elections are not possible," said Gen. George W. Casey, the commander of multinational forces in Iraq. "We will not allow terrorist violence to stop progress toward elections."

In the immediate aftermath of Saddam Hussein's ouster in April 2003, U.S. commanders cited Mosul - with a population of 1.2 million some 225 miles northwest of Baghdad - as a success story. But armed opposition has mounted, especially since last month's successful operation to retake Fallujah.

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