IRAQ: U.S.-led forces press on with offensive against suspected guerrilla targets near Samarra amid fresh violence

Record ID: 357945

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S.-led forces press on with offensive against suspected guerrilla targets near Samarra amid fresh violence
  • Date: 17th March 2006
  • Summary: CLOSE UP OF WRECKAGE
  • Embargoed: 1st April 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA95JUW3G5I9PW05YGBDK52NZH8
  • Story Text: U.S.-led forces on Friday (March 17) pressed on with a highly publicised offensive against suspected guerrilla targets near the northern Iraqi town of Samarra in their latest bid to weaken a raging insurgency, witnesses said.
    U.S. military officials on Thursday said the operation, involving 50 helicopters, was the biggest "air assault" since a similar airlift across Iraq just after the war in late April 2003. That operation was also by the 101st Airborne Division.
    The sound of what appeared to be heavy U.S. machine guns crackled in the village of Jillaam near Samarra overnight as a fire raged and flares arched overhead, witnesses said.
    The chant of "God is Greatest" - a guerrilla rallying cry -- cut through the sound of heavy gunfire.
    Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said that U.S.-led forces were searching a 10-mile-by-10-mile (16-km-by 16-km) area for guerrillas and that no casualties had been reported by American or Iraqi forces.
    "Operation Swarmer" came as Iraq's deeply divided political leadership met again hoping to break a deadlock on forming a unity government that might avert sectarian civil war.
    Signs of movement to end the paralysis did emerge, however, as U.S. and Iranian officials said they could set aside years of hostility to discuss stabilising Iraq, where Tehran has gained influence with ties to fellow Shi'ites in power.
    The operation, which also comes just ahead of the third anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein, appears to be the latest U.S. effort to show that Iraqi troops are improving their performance against insurgents.
    U.S. troop withdrawal hinges on whether Iraqi troops can improve their skills after watching rebels armed with extensive intelligence and bombs kill hundreds of their comrades.
    Washington was also concerned that interference from regional Shi'ite power Iran, which has close ties to the Shi'ite-led Baghdad government, could further destabilise Iraq, a major oil producer.
    One Iraqi said he believed the US forces were the main reason behind terrorism in Iraq and that military operations targeted innocent people and not insurgents.
    "Concerning the military operation that is launched now, I want to say that bombings are everywhere and in Samarra too. The US forces are the main reason behind terrorism. The US forces are working for their interests but not for the Iraqi people interests. Some Iraqis are fighting for the sake of putting an end to the occupation, but the military operations are against the people and it has no main goal," said Hussein, an Iraqi citizen.
    A leading Sunni politician, Saleh al-Mutleq, criticised the U.S. assault, saying it would send a discouraging signal at a time when Iraqi leaders were seeking a political solution to the country's woes.
    "The latest operation that the US forces launched in northern Samarra has astounded all the Iraqis and great part of the world too. Why are the US forces launching such a big operation? An operation, which Iraqis have not faced in a long while, since decades, in war times in 2003. It is strange. But, the US forces make us familiar with the act of imposing power in an unsuitable situation. They (US forces) are surprising us with meaningless acts at a time Iraqis are looking forward to the first session of the parliament, preferring the political solution but not a military one," said al-Mutleq.
    But, fresh violence reminded all parties of the enormous challenges that lay ahead nearly three years since Saddam Hussein was toppled and Iraqis were promised a bright future.
    At least two Shi'ite pilgrims and seven pilgrims were killed in separate shooting attacks in Baghdad, police said.
    One of the incidents took place near Om al Toboul mosque western Baghdad when gunmen opened fire on group of the pilgrims who were on their way walking to Kerbala, killing one and wounding four others.
    Thousands of Shiites are heading to Holy Shi'ite city of Kerbala for Monday's celebration of Arbain, marking the end of the 40-day mourning period after the date of the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein was killed in Kerbala in 680 A.D.
    A suicide bomber stepped into a bus and detonated his explosives belt, killing the driver and wounding four passers-by, police said.
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