IRAQ: U.S. FORCES EASE SIEGE AROUND FALLUJA ALLOWING MORE FAMILIES TO RETURN TO CITY.

Record ID: 647918

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S. FORCES EASE SIEGE AROUND FALLUJA ALLOWING MORE FAMILIES TO RETURN TO CITY.
  • Date: 25th April 2004
  • Summary: (W5)FALLUJA, IRAQ (APRIL 25, 2004)(REUTERS) 1. GV: U.S. CHECKPOINT AT MAIN ENTRANCE TO FALLUJA CITY, U.S. SOLDIERS NEAR CIVILIAN CAR 0.06 2. GV/MV/LV: VARIOUS OF U.S. SOLDIERS SEARCHING CAR, IRAQI POLICEMEN STANDING NEARBY (4 SHOTS) 0.32 3. MCU: U.S. SOLDIER SEARCHING BAG OF WOMAN AT CHECKPOINT 0.39 4. GV/MV: WOMEN, MEN, CHILDREN CROSSING INTO FALLUJA CITY, U.S. SOLDIERS AND MEMBERS OF IRAQI CIVIL DEFENCE CORPS NEARBY; WOMEN AND CHILDREN WALKING AMID COILED WIRE BARRICADE TOWARDS CITY ENTRANCE; CLOSE-UP OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN CROSSING BACK INTO CITY; VARIOUS OF CIVILIANS WALKING TOWARDS ENTRANCE TO CITY (5 SHOTS) 1.11 5. MV: PEOPLE HOLDING THEIR IDENTITY CARDS QUEUING FOR SEARCH 1.18 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. SOLDIER SAYING "I'm happy that the families are allowed to return to the city. That it's safe enough for the Iraqi people to go into the city and I'm glad we're here to provide them a safe environment for going into the city and we can do that." 1.34 7. MV: CHIEF OF IRAQI POLICE FORCE OF FALLUJA WALKING WITH POLICEMAN, U.S. SOLDIER 1.39 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQI POLICE OFFICER, SAYING "Currently we have patrols operating in residential areas in large numbers and we have police cars inside the city, however I call on the policemen who have not come to work to return or we will dispense from their services." 1.56 9. GV/MV/CU: PICK-UP VEHICLE LOADED WITH CHILDREN (3 SHOTS) 2.18 10. (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SALEH HAMEED, SAYING: "We have been coming here daily for two weeks now. There is no water and no food for the children. There is no humanitarian aid. The world should not keep silence." 2.29 12. MV: U.S. SOLDIER TALKING TO FALLUJA CIVILIAN 2.34 13. MV/GV/LV: PEOPLE WALKING ON MAIN ROAD TO CITY ENTRANCE (3 SHOTS) 2.54 14. GV: CARS QUEUING ON ROAD 3.00 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 10th May 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FALLUJA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA8AT0TG8L8DHTMDNBWMIAKCM59
  • Story Text: U.S. forces eased siege around Falluja allowing more
    families to go back into the city.



    Marines allowed scores of residents who had fled the
    city of 300,000 at the height of the fighting to return to
    their homes on Sunday (April 25, 2004). Much smaller numbers
    had been allowed to return to the town in the past few days.

    People gathered at the main entrance to the city and
    cars queuing at a U.S.-manned checkpoint as U.S. soldiers
    checked people and searched their bags before allowing them
    to cross back into city.

    "I'm happy that the families are allowed to return to
    the city. That it's safe enough for the Iraqi people to go
    into the city and I'm glad we're here to provide them a
    safe environment for going into the city and we can do
    that," said a U.S. soldier who was manning a checkpoint at
    the main entrance to the city.

    The returnees were venturing back after the U.S.

    military said earlier it would only resume offensive
    operations in Falluja if gunmen failed to turn in their
    heavy weapons.

    Attempts to save a shaky truce in Falluja may only
    delay an impossible U.S. mission, finding a way to crush
    guerrillas without creating new enemies in the combustible
    Iraqi town, U.S. Marines said. On Saturday, more talks produced
    another agreement that
    Iraqi police would join Marines besieging the town west of
    Baghdad in patrolling its streets from Tuesday in a bid to
    put an Iraqi face on efforts to bring peace.

    U.S. spokesmen say an earlier deal on joint patrols,
    part of an agreement with Falluja's civic leaders two weeks
    ago to end ferocious fighting in which local doctors say
    600 people were killed, was never implemented mainly due to
    continued attacks on American forces.

    "Currently we have patrols operating in residential
    areas in large numbers and we have police cars inside the
    city, however I call on the policemen who have not come to
    work to return or we will dispense from their services,"
    said the chief of police force in Falluja.

    Iraqi police have lost scores of comrades killed for
    their ties to the Americans in a town U.S. officials say is
    being held hostage by foreign fighters and hardcore members
    of Saddam Hussein's regime toppled just over a year ago.

    A U.S. general has said that fighters have just days to
    hand over their heavy weapons or face the possibility of a
    renewed U.S. offensive they have suspended.

    Marines launched the offensive on April 5 after four
    U.S. security contractors were killed, mutilated and
    dragged through the streets of Falluja, 30 miles (50 km)
    west of the capital.

    Since then, the shaky truce has been rattled by
    sporadic fighting on the edges of the town with a fiercely
    anti-American population of 300,000.

    Falluja is the hottest hotspot in the so-called Sunni
    Triangle that formed Saddam's power base and Marines
    believe they have to act fast.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register