http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1188454,00.html
US loses control of two cities
?Up to 300 dead in Falluja
?Three Japanese 'taken hostage'
?Iraqi interior minister resigns
George Wright and agencies
Thursday April 8, 2004
The US military admitted today that it had lost control of two cities to Shia militants as fierce fighting continued to rage across Iraq.
Despite attempts by Washington to play down the scale of the uprisings that have swept the country, Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez said today that coalition troops in Najaf and Kut had been fought back by militants loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
He said coalition soldiers - Ukrainians in Kut and Spaniards in Najaf - had retreated to their bases on the outskirts of the cities, effectively ceding control to the Shia fighters.
He vowed to retake Kut "imminently", while conceding that the presence of large numbers of pilgrims in the holy city of Najaf for a religious festival could hamper any coalition counter-offensive. The coalition denied reports that some of its soldiers had been taken hostage by Shia militants in Najaf yesterday.
In a further setback to the coalition on what has been the bloodiest week since the end of the war on year ago, Al-Jazeera television broadcast footage of three Japanese, including one woman, dressed in civilian clothes it said were taken hostage by an Iraqi group.
The hitherto unknown group - Saraya al-Mujahideen - threatened to kill the captives unless Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq within three days.
Meanwhile, US forces sustained further casualties in fierce hand-to-hand battles with militants on the streets of Falluja, where local doctors said the Iraqi death toll had reached almost 300 in the last three days.
The US assault on Falluja began early on Monday, when marines surrounded the city of more than 200,000 people. Since then, US forces have been waging heavy street battles, using warplanes and tanks against Sunni insurgents in heavily populated districts who have dug themselves in.
Taher al-Issawi, a doctor in the besieged city's hospital, said today that more than 280 Iraqis have been killed and 400 wounded during the offensive. He told the Associated Press there were many more dead and wounded "in various places buried under rubble" who could not be reached because of fighting.
According to a report on Al-Jazeera news, at least 45 Iraqis were killed yesterday - including a family sitting in a car parked behind the Abd al-Aziz al-Samarai mosque compound when it was bombed by a US plane.
A spokesman for Iraq Body Count criticised the US tactics for putting the lives of civilians in at risk.
"The recent upsurge in violence has emphasised yet again that it is innocent Iraqi civilians who are the main victims of the US-led war and occupation. Up to 11,000 civilians are now reported killed since the invasion. Although we regret the loss of military lives too, military people have chosen to put their lives at risk. Civilians have no choice," he said.
"The US has responded to the deaths of four security contractors in Falluja with the killing of 16 children. This is not the 'winning of hearts and minds' but the destruction of human life and hope. The continuing failure of the USA and the UK to acknowledge the costs of their policies in civilian deaths further undermines the prospects for peace and reconciliation in Iraq."
Despite the air strike and a six-hour gun battle yesterday, insurgents still appeared to be using the area around the mosque as a base today and a fresh assault was under way to uproot them.
Witnesses said there had been heavy fighting in several districts as US troops took positions on rooftops and in buildings. They fired on gunmen in the streets and, occasionally, civilians who poked their heads out of their homes, according to the Associated Press. Marines say they have control of about one-quarter of the town.
Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqis - from both the Sunni and Shia communities - marched 60km from Baghdad to Falluja to bring food and medical supplies to the besieged citizens there.
The marchers - carrying colourful flags and banners reading, "Sons of the great Falluja, we are with you on the road of jihad and victory" - arrived at the marine roadblock at the western entrance to the city earlier today.
After searching the vehicles for weapons, the marines allowed two ambulances full of medical supplies, two minibuses carrying food and a dozen cars with Sunni clerics and officials to enter the city.
There was also renewed fighting overnight in the holy city of Kerbala, south-west of the capital, Baghdad, where Polish and Bulgarian troops are involved in an operation against Shia fighters loyal to the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Yesterday, Polish forces were reported to have killed the a senior aide to Mr Sadr who was leading the Shia fighters in the city.
In other developments, Iraqi interior minister Nouri Badran, who is responsible for Iraq's hard-pressed security forces, announced his resignation today.
Mr Badran's decision did not appear to be directly related to the turmoil sweeping the country. According to the Associated Press, he stepped down at the request of Iraq's US administrator Paul Bremer to maintain the Shia-Sunni balance in the government.
Mr Badran, a Shia Muslim, said he had been told that the US-led administration believed the defence minister and interior minister should not both be Shia. A new defence minister's position was created this month and filled by a Shia official.
However, critics will point to the fact that Mr Badran may have been forced to leave because the Iraqi police forces he controls have proved wholly ineffective in the face of sustained attacks by insurgents.
More...
The coalition position worsened considerably last night when the most senior cleric in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a moderate, refused to condemn Mr Sadr's uprising. Instead, he condemned "the methods used by occupation forces in the current escalating situation in Iraq ... and any action that disturbs order and prevents officials from carrying out their duties".
The US-appointed governing council also urged the Americans not to make the crisis worse by excessive force.
"More violence will cause more violence and this will be an endless spiral. We all made these points," Adnan Pachachi, a council member and former foreign minister, said. "By surrounding Falluja and pounding it they reacted with greater force than we expected."