Militants battle on in Fallujah, days after control declared
By Edward Harris, Associated Press


FALLUJAH, November 17, 2004 - (AP) U.S. Marines killed seven suspected insurgents trying to swim the Euphrates River, and militants' rockets fell on a U.S. camp on Fallujah's northern edge Wednesday, four days after American troops occupied all of the city.

U.S. warplanes struck targets in south-central Fallujah, where most of the remaining militants were believed holding out. At dusk, one of the largest explosions in days rocked the city, turning the night sky bright red and radiating shockwaves far from the blast.

The rockets that fell on the American camp shattered windows but caused no casualties.

''The fight is continuing and will continue,'' said Capt. P.J. Batty of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.

The U.S. military declared the one-time insurgent stronghold completely occupied but not subdued on Saturday after a nearly weeklong battle. Pockets of resistance remain, and U.S. and Iraqi forces are still fighting.

A man identified as Omar Hadid, a leading insurgent field commander in Fallujah, appeared with three other hooded gunmen on LBCI Lebanese television and dismissed claims that the Americans control the city.

''They did not know that they fell in the trap of death,'' he said. He insisted that insurgent fighters were advancing inside Fallujah toward the Jolan neighborhood and the downtown market, adding ''I challenge any force which claims to control Fallujah.''

An exchange of fire erupted Wednesday as Iraqi civilians were collecting corpses from ruined buildings in the Jolan district for an anonymous burial in a dirt lot outside Fallujah. As bullets snapped overhead, the workers stood confused, rooted to the ground until U.S. Marines opened up on the insurgents with heavy machine guns.

That sent the workers dashing for cover in front of their flatbed truck loaded with bodies and against walls already pocked with bullet holes from an earlier firefight.

One Iraqi stepped out into the street for a better view, but Marines, fearing he might be mistaken for one of the fighters who are often in plain clothes shouted at him to get down.

Other Iraqi men, dressed in long robes and sandals, stared frightened from a doorway as the heated fumes from the engine of a M1 Abrams tank rippled by.

Capt. Alex Henegar, a civil affairs officer attached to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, said the insurgents were believed to have sneaked back into the city, crossing the narrow Euphrates River, where thick papyrus reeds line both banks.

Marine officers say that while all roads to Fallujah have been blocked, insurgents may still enter via old paths and across Euphrates River channels the American and Iraqi government forces don't know.

''Our western flank is of particular concern,'' Henegar, a 30-year-old Georgia native, said of the area delineated by the river, oxbows and marshes.

Marines say the heavy house-to-house combat that began Nov. 9 after a night of heavy airstrikes moved quickly east-to-west across the northern half of the city, but that the wilier rebels hid from the massive tank and troop assault only to emerge days later.

After sweeping through northern Fallujah, the Marines then turned southward, leaving some pockets of resistance in their rear.

Marines patrolling in Jolan on Wednesday said they were still collecting detainees, including three men who were kneeling, facing a wall.

After about 15 minutes, the firefight died down, with three militants killed and one Marine slightly injured in the hand, officers said.





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