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Government, Fallujah Dignitaries Reach Deal
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Mass
grave of Iraqis killed in US attacks on Fallujah
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Additional
Reporting By Samir Haddad, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD,
October 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Iraqi interim
government and a delegation representing Fallujah dignitaries and
resistance groups reach a framework agreement allowing Iraqi police
and guardsmen to assume control inside the western Baghdad city.
"An
agreement was reached today between the government and the Fallujah
delegation on allowing Iraqi forces into the city," Ahmed
Al-Herdan, the delegation leader, told Aljazeera news channel on
Wednesday, October 6.
He
said some points are still to be settled regarding the size of the
Iraqi force that will enter Fallujah and where they would be
positioned.
A
member of the Iraqi Islamic Party politburo told IslamOnline.net
Tuesday, October 5, that a deal was thrashed out to spare Fallujah an
American onslaught similar to that unleashed against
Samarra
.
"A
delegation of scholars, chieftains and representatives of Iraqi
resistance in the city has reached a final agreement with the
government," Zayad Al-Ani, told IOL.
"The
Fallujah standoff has finally found a peaceful settlement."
The
agreement crowned intensive talks and a series of meetings with Iraqi
President Ghazi Al-Yawer, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and other senior
officials, including the interior and defense minister.
Not
Return
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Fallujah
residents stand amid debris of a building destroyed in an American
strike
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Al-Ani
said the agreement stipulates the Arab fighters leave Fallujah with a
pledge from the city residents not to let them back.
It
also allows the Iraqi guardsmen and police forces to assume the
security responsibility in the into the city.
It
was not immediately clear if the
US
occupation forces would be allowed into the city, a proposal staunchly
opposed by the Fallujah delegation.
Al-Ani
expected that the American forces would "withdraw from the
environs of Fallujah and take positions outside the city."
At
least 700 Iraqis, mostly
women and children , were killed and 1500 others injured when
the
US
occupation forces imposed a tight siege on the city and intensified
air strikes on its densely-populated areas.
A
truce was later agreed, under which the Fallujah Brigade, led by
former Iraqi army officers, was put in charge of security in the city.
But
on April 13, the
US
troops breached
the ceasefire, killing at least nine Iraqis and wounding up to
38 others.
Samarra
Nightmare
There
were rife reports of an imminent American onslaught against Fallujah
after the end of the
US
military operation in
Samarra
.
A
massive force of 3,000 American troops and 2,000 Iraqi National
guardsmen had stormed
Samarra
on Thursday, September 30, allegedly to regain control before the
general elections, scheduled for January.
On
Monday, October 4, Samarra residents started collecting the bodies of
their relatives and loved ones killed in the bloody US-led "massacre"
as branded by Iraq’s highest Sunni religious authority.
The
new agreement came few hours after American warplanes bombarded a
house in Fallujah, claiming it targeted a house where followers of the
Jordanian-born Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi were meeting.
"Credible
intelligence sources confirmed Zarqawi leaders were meeting at the
safe house at the time of the strike," said a
US
military statement.
The
US
occupation forces repeatedly attacked Fallujah under the pretext of
hunting down Al-Zarqawi.
Fallujah
resistance fighters and residents had vigorously denied
the presence of Zarqawi in their town, adding they were simply
defending their homeland against occupation forces.
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