- Title: IRAQ: UNITED STATES FORCES HIT REBEL STRONGHOLD OF FALLUJA
- Date: 8th November 2004
- Summary: (W2) FALLUJA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 7, 2004)(REUTERS) 1. NIGHT SHOT OF CITY/ AUDIO OF BOMBARDMENT 0.12 2. GV SUNRISE ON CITY; TOP VIEW OF CITY/ AUDIO OF GUNFIRE; SMOKE RISING; SLV PEOPLE FLEEING CITY; SLV SMOKE RISING; VIEW OF CITY 0.49 (W3) FALLUJA, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 7, 2004) (REUTERS) 3. SCU DAMAGED PAVEMENT AND SHELL NEAR PAVEMENT; SCU SHELL NEAR PAVEMENT 1.00 4. SLV TWO MEN WALKING ON PAVEMENT/ POINTING TO SHELL; AV PLANE FLYING OVER 1.12 5. SLV DAMAGED HOUSES; RUBBLE OF HOUSES; SLV PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH RUBBLE; LAS COLLAPSED CEILING OF HOUSE AND TWISTED METAL BARS 1.50 6. SLV STREET WITH FALLEN PALM TREE; DAMAGED SATELLITE DISH ON HOUSE ROOFTOP; DAMAGED HOUSE; SLV PEOPLE WALKING IN MARKET 2.15 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT OF FALLUJA, SAYING: "They are civilians and this is a food shop. I have come to receive food rations and I found the shop damaged. Families are homless. What did those people do? They (shop owners) have come to give families their food rations but they found their shops burnt. All the foodstuff and flour in shops have burnt. These are food stores. Let Iyad Allawi hear and see about this. Let those who had come on board of tanks (members of Iraqi interim government) come and see what happened here. What did the city do? There are no terrorists here. The one who defends his honour and country is called terrorist by Iyad Allawi. Let them (Iraqi officials) come to the city to see with their own eyes what is happening. There are no Mujahideen and no terrorists here. Families are now homeless, sitting in tents." 3.15 8. LAS DAMAGED SHOP; MV MAN PULLING OUT DAMAGED SHUTTER OF SHOP; MV MAN NEAR DAMAGED SHOPS 3.52 9. WIDE OF THE MAIN STREET OF THE CITY WITH GRAND MOSQUE; SLV GRAND MOSQUE OF CITY 4.08 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: FALLUJA, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA7PHCC181I48KZVRQ4483GST7T
- Story Text: U.S. forces hit rebel's stronghold of Falluja with
the fiercest air and ground bombardment in months.
U.S. warplanes and artillery pounded targets in
Falluja on Sunday (November 7, 2004) but there was no sign U.S.
forces had begun an offensive to storm the Iraqi rebel
stronghold.
Residents said air strikes interspersed with artillery
shelling had set off huge explosions in the city from about
3 a.m. (0000 GMT) onwards. There was no word on casualties.
The strikes covered targets in the western and eastern
edges of the city and reduced a number of houses and shops
to rubble.
"They are civilians and this is a food shop. I have
come to receive food ration and I found the shop damaged.
Families are homless. What did those people do? They (shop
owners) have come to give families their food rations but
they found their shops burnt. All the foodstuff and flour
in shops have burnt. These are food stores," said a man
standing in front of a damaged shop.
The bombardment of Falluja kept up pressure on Iraqi
insurgents and what the U.S. military says are foreign
militants led by Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi based in the the Sunni Muslim city.
Falluja usually has a population of about 300,000 but
many families have fled to escape the expected U.S.
assault, part of the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government's
drive to crush insurgents before elections scheduled for
January 2005.
The U.S. military said it had launched seven air
strikes on weapons caches in Falluja, some 50 km (30 miles)
west of Baghdad, between dawn and midnight on Saturday.
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