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Journalism of Courage
US troops fought to crush resistance in the Iraqi city of Fallujah on Thursday, but rebels hit back with an armed rampage in Mosul and a car bomb that killed 17 people in a crowded Baghdad street.
Marines met little opposition in the former insurgent stronghold of Jolan, in northwest Fallujah, where guerrillas fired only one or two mortar rounds as tanks pushed through alleys, according to a witness. But a huge explosion erupted in the district after dark, sending a fireball into the sky, the witness said.
Jolan, a stronghold for Saddam Hussein loyalists, had seen some of the fiercest fighting of this week8217;s US-led offensive.
8216;8216;Things are going, I think, as planned. We8217;ve got about 70 per cent of the city under control,8217;8217; US General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
But rebels managed to shoot down two US Cobra helicopters near Fallujah, US Military sources cited by Al Arabiya television said on Thursday. It gave no details.
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Troops flown to hospital
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8226; BERLIN: Over 100 American soldiers, seriously wounded during the Fallujah offensive in Iraq, arrived at the United States8217; main European military hospital in Germany on Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said. Spokeswoman Marie Shaw said Thursday8217;s arrivals joined 125 wounded who arrived from Monday to Wednesday. 8216;8216;They have all kinds of injuries8212;explosion, blast injuries, gun shot wounds,8217;8217; she said, adding, some suffered amputated limbs. 8212;Reuters |
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Six national guards were killed near Tikrit, Saddam8217;s hometown, by a roadside bomb on Wednesday night, witnesses said. Kirkuk8217;s provincial governor escaped unhurt from a car bomb blast near his convoy that wounded 16 people.
Interim PM Iyad Allawi8217;s three relatives8212;including two women8212;were captured by Islamist militants on Tuesday, however the government has said its policy will not change. Weeping relatives of one of the hostages said on a videotape aired by Lebanon8217;s LBC television, that she was nine months pregnant and begged her captors to free her. 8212;Reuters
