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Allawi
Threatens Massive Onslaught on Fallujah
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Iraqis accuse Allawi
of adopting US unverified claims (AFP)
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BAGHDAD,
October 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – US-backed Iraqi
interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi threatened a massive assault on
Fallujah unless the resistance bastion turns in militant Abu Mussab
Al-Zarqawi, but a negotiator for the city dismissed the warning,
insisting Zarqawi was not in the city.
On
the ground Thursday, October 14, Fallujah was struck again by US air
raids, as nineteen Iraqis were killed in separate attacks.
In
what seemed to be the beginning of the implementation of Allawi’s
threats, US warplanes hit the Golan neighborhood in Fallujah,
destroying at least one home.
On
Wednesday, October 13, Allawi warned the people of Fallujah to either
give up Zarqawi and his clique or face the prospect of a military
offensive against the rebel city.
“We
have asked Fallujah residents to turn over Zarqawi and his group. If
they don't do it, we are ready for major operations in Fallujah,”
Allawi told Iraq's 100-member interim parliament.
But
a negotiator for the resistance-held city said Thursday its people
were being asked to chase shadows.
“We
want to know what proof there is that Zarqawi is in Fallujah,"
Hatem Maddab, a member of a Fallujah negotiating committee, told Al-Jazeera
television, adding that the government had now halted peace talks.
“Zarqawi
is like the weapons of mass destruction that America invaded Iraq
for,” Maddab was quoted by Reuters as saying, alluding to Saddam
Hussein's arsenal of banned arms that proved not to exist.
“We
hear about that name (Zarqawi), but he is not here. More than 20 or 30
homes have been bombarded because of this Zarqawi and his followers
but only women, children and the elderly have been affected,” the
negotiator added.
He
said the fate of Zarqawi had not been raised in talks with the interim
government aimed at restoring state authority in Fallujah before
nationwide elections due in January.
“At
this point in time, the negotiations are halted for the sake of
consultation. We did not suspend any negotiations ... they were
stopped by the government," Maddab said.
US
warplanes have repeatedly struck at targets the occupation forces
claim are hideouts used by Zarqawi and his followers in the Sunni
Muslim city, 32 miles west of Baghdad.
However,
TV screens and local inhabitants showed mostly civilian casualties
after these raids, in what analysts another evidence discrediting US
military claims.
Allawi’s
words are being seen as the clearest threat yet against fighters
holding Fallujah.
Repudiating
American claims, Iraqi fighters in Fallujah had earlier denied
hiding Zarqawi in the town, stressing that they were simply defending
their homeland against occupation forces.
More
Blood Spelled
Meanwhile,
fifteen Iraqi national guardsmen were killed in an overnight attack in
Qaim near the Syrian border, according to a police officer in the town
and a message received at provincial police headquarters.
“Armed
gumen attacked a national guard post overnight, killing 15 soldiers
and stealing their weapons,” read the internal message at the Ramadi
headquarters for Al-Anbar province.
A
police officer in Qaim confirmed the attack to Agence France-Presse (AFP),
and gave the same death toll. The officer refused to give his name.
Elsewhere,
four Iraqi national guardsmen were wounded in a roadside bombing in
the northern city of Mosul, said an officer with the force.
In
addition to the car bombings and kidnappings, members of Iraq's
fledgling security forces and those perceived as collaborating with US
forces or the interim government have become frequent targets.
Green
Zone Hit
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Smoke
rising from the Green Zone (AFP)
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The
fortified Green
Zone in the heart of Baghdad -- home to the US embassy and the
Iraqi government -- also came under a mortar or rocket attack, killing
eight civilians injuring four others, a US army spokesman said.
“Six
civilians were killed and three wounded at the Green Zone bazaar, and
two civilians were killed and one wounded at the Green Zone cafe,” a
military spokesman told AFP.
He
was referring to two locations popular with US soldiers and civilians
inside the fortress-like area of central Baghdad.
There
was no word on the nationalities of the casualties, in the attack.
Other
Casualties
Meanwhile,
four Iraqis including two army officers and a judge were gunned down
in three separate attacks across the country.
Two
army officers were shot dead as they drove through the restive town of
Baquba, northeast of the capital, according to police.
In
Baghdad, an investigative judge and a woman journalist working for a
Kurdish television station were gunned down outside their homes in
separate attacks, medics and the interior ministry said.
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