Home > US, Iraqi Forces Battle to Retake Parts of Mosul
Wars and conflicts International
by Naseer Al-Nahr
As US troops and Iraqi security forces were battling Iraqi resistance in Fallujah yesterday, they were fighting to retake parts of Mosul in the north overrun by the Iraqi resistance.
US and Iraqi forces have been fighting for hours to recapture the Sheikh Fatih station in the city’s southwest from Iraqi resistance fighters, US Capt. Angela Bowman said.
Two US soldiers were wounded in sporadic fighting in the nearby town of Tal Afar, where Iraqi resistance fighters had attacked a police academy with small arms, she said.
Last week, Iraqi resistance fighters stormed and looted at least nine police stations in Mosul, Iraq’s third largest city, stealing weapons, flak jackets and police vehicles .
US Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, in charge of security in the north, claimed Saturday that all the city’s 33 police stations had been secured and the city of two million was returning to calm, although he expected further attacks.
Mosul tipped into chaos on Wednesday and Thursday when groups of up to 50 Iraqi resistance fighters took over some neighborhoods, paraded through the city center brandishing their weapons and chased away local police. Scores of police defected, stripping off their uniforms and joining the Iraqi resistance fighters.
Following the attacks last week, the Iraqi government fired Mosul’s police chief and sent national guard reinforcements to boost the security force presence on the streets. A battalion sent to help out in Fallujah, was deployed back to Mosul last week to help reestablish control in the city.
Meanwhile, the US military said yesterday it saw no need for the Iraqi Red Crescent to deliver aid to people inside Fallujah and that it did not think any Iraqi civilians were trapped inside the city.
“There is no need to bring (Red Crescent) supplies in because we have supplies of our own for the people,” said US Marine Col. Mike Shupp. “Now that the bridge (into Fallujah) is open I will bring out casualties and all aid work can be done here (at Fallujah’s hospital).”
He said he had not heard of any Iraqi civilians being trapped inside the city and did not think that was the case.
The Iraqi Red Crescent believes at least 150 families are trapped inside the city and that many of those people are in desperate need of food, blankets, water and medicine.
Some residents still inside the city said their children were suffering from diarrhea and had not eaten for several days.
Inside the city, US and Iraqi forces hunted Iraqi resistance fighters as fighting subsided after a ferocious six-day-old assault. US Marines swept through a last resistance stance in a southern quarter of the city that they see as a bastion for non-Iraqi Arab fighters.
“These are pretty diehard. These people down there are not sniping or firing, but waiting in their defenses for the Marines coming to their buildings. That’s when they open fire,” Shupp said.
Marines said the body of a blonde-haired woman with her legs and arms cut off and throat slit was found yesterday lying on a street. BAGHDAD