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Falluja Vows “Martyr Operations” Against U.S. Troops
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Falluja residents chant anti-U.S. slogans
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By
Imam El-Liethy, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD,
May 1 (IslamOnline.net) – The latest grenade attack on U.S. soldiers
in the town of Falluja, 50km south of Baghdad, serves as a strong
message for the U.S. occupation troops that their presence would not
be tolerated, especially following their killing of 18 anti-occupation
Iraq protesters over the past two days.
Some
sources in the town told IslamOnline.net Thursday, May 1, that the
residents gave the U.S. authorities 48 hours to pull out troops from
the town’s scientific center and al-Maqamia (court compound) and
demanded them not to deploy soldiers inside the town, threatening they
would take up arms if they failed to heed the demands.
“If
they did not leave our town, they would be regretful for that,” Dr.
Hatme al-Zawti, of al-Ramadi hospital 30km from the town, told IOL,
warning that the “residents were determined to carry out martyr
operations against U.S. troops.”
The
Falluja resident had forced the American occupation forces to evacuate
the school they were using as headquarters and named it “Martyrs
School”.
Zawti
also said that Falluja is best known for its fervent religious zeal.
“When
the regime of Saddam Hussein established a cinema, the people here sit
it in flames. The regime was not able to open a pub or cabaret
here,” he recalled.
There
were reports that U.S. soldiers distributed some hardcore movies in
the town to spread immorality and vice.
Earlier
in the day, seven U.S. soldiers were
wounded in a grenade attack at their base in the town as President
George W. Bush was expected to declare that "the major combat
operations" in Iraq has been completed.
U.S.
troops entered the town in accordance with an agreement hammered out
between the Imams of the 67 mosques and the U.S. authorities.
The
agreement provides for the deployment of U.S. troops in specific
places in the town, including a school, a headquarters for the former
Baath party.
“We
sealed this agreement to avoid fighting…We want to keep our town
calm and stable,” Imam Abdullah Gar Mohammad, told IslamOnline.net.
Falluja
has a population of 750,000 Sunnis in addition to a Shiite clan in the
village of Bu Elwan, 15km from the town.
Provocation
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The grave of a U.S. army shooting victim is draped with the Iraqi flag in Falluja cemetery |
The
American occupation troops also provoked the irk of Falluja residents
by making no heed to their Islamic values and traditions.
“They
had the gall to peep at the families residing near their bases by
their spyglasses,” charged Nouri Mohammad Mahdi.
“They
were also inviting me to smoke marijuana with them…I lashed out at
them and said Iraq is an Islamic country, we don’t need your
rubbish,” he added.
On
Monday, 28 April, 15 Iraqis were
killed and about 50 wounded when U.S. occupation forces opened
fire on a crowd of demonstrators in the town, who were protesting the
provocative and immoral practices of the U.S. soldiers.
“We
were not armed…We were just chanting ‘There is no god but Allah
and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.’ Once we approached the wall
of the school they (the U.S. troops) opened fire randomly,” Omar
Mohammad Ismail, one of the demonstrators who survived the incident,
told IOL.
“They
prevented ambulances to reach the injured and we had to open the doors
of our houses despite the volley of bullets…I was able to carry four
of the injured into my house, albeit two of them breathed their last
inside,” confirmed Mahdi.
He
also added that U.S. troops stormed houses and stole valuables worth
of five million Iraqi dinars.
The
injured were later carried to Al-Ramadi hospital, because the town’s
hospital was ill-equipped to receive the injured.
“They
were shot by strange bullets that leave holes in the body and smash
the bones,” testified Dr. Zawti.
“The
skull of one of the martyrs was completely destroyed…I found no
shrapnel in his head or even traces of the bullets, which dig a hole
into the body and explode inside,” he added.
“They
are using the internationally banned dumdums used by the Jews against
the Palestinians,” said Raed Mohammad, a relative of one of the
injured.
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