US Bombs, Makes Arrests In Tal ‘Afar, Fighting Continues in Ramadi
Jul 15, 2005
By Muhammad Abu Nasr, Free Arab Voice; Edited For Publication By JUS

Expelling all journalists from the city, US and stooge forces stage mass arrests, bombing raids on civilian population of Tall ‘Afar. The population is fleeing and the city now closed to reporters.

US occupation forces together with their Iraqi stooges continue their extensive offensive against the Sunni population of the city. On Wednesday evening the US and Iraqi puppet forces carried out a large-scale raid on the Sunnis, rounding up 92 young men charging them with “financing” the Resistance – which the Americans call “terrorism,” and with participating in the Resistance.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported witnesses as saying that doctors, professors, teachers, university students, and religious scholars are among those arrested in the American offensive. The task of rounding up and arresting people has largely been delegated to the Iraqi puppet forces, most of them actually members of Shi‘i chauvinist militia, eager to stir up sectarian strife in the country.

Meanwhile US warplanes bombed three houses in Tall ‘Afar on Wednesday night, killing seven children, three women and a number of men inside. As a result of the deadly American air raids and the campaign of mass arrests, city residents began to leave their homes en masse Thursday morning, loading up belongings and fleeing aboard large and medium-sized trucks.

The correspondent noted that US forces and their stooges have prohibited entry of all journalists into Tal ‘Afar and have expelled the journalists already inside the city, so as to have a free hand to abuse the local population at will.

Heavy Fighting Continues In Ramadi

In a bulletin posted at 10:30am Mecca time Thursday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that at that moment violent fighting was raging in the middle of Ramadi, west of Baghdad. Their correspondent, who was said to have been at the scene of the combat, said that it broke out when US forces stormed onto 17 July Street at 10am local time. Resistance fighters blocked the path of the Americans, disabling one US armored vehicle, and then other fighters joined in the battle against the American attackers.

The correspondent reported that a number of civilians were killed in the fighting as had some of the Resistance fighters. Their number is estimated at seven. A reliable source told the correspondent that the Resistance fighters, for their part, had destroyed or disabled four American vehicles at the time of his filing.

Foot Patrol Attacked

Iraqi Resistance forces attacked a US foot patrol in the middle of Ramadi at about 2pm local time Thursday afternoon. Shopkeepers in the center of town told the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam that about 15 fighters armed with light and medium weapons battled the American foot patrol that was backed up by Humvee vehicles. The firefight was to have lasted for about 10 minutes during which time the fighters reportedly killed nine American troops and wounded six others. Witnesses told the correspondent that three fighters were also wounded in the engagement.

Four US Troops Reported Killed In Roadside Bombing

In other news, a bomb exploded by a US armored column in the ‘Arab Jabbur area southwest of Baghdad at about 6pm local time Thursday afternoon.

‘Arab Jabbur residents told Mafkarat al-Islam that the bomb, which was planted by the side of the highway leading to the center of Baghdad, blew up under one of the seven American armored vehicles and two Humvees in the US column. They said that the blast destroyed the armored vehicle completely, killing four US troops and wounding two more.

American Fuel Convoy Ambushed

Iraqi Resistance fighters launched two consecutive attacks on a US truck convoy hauling fuel to US occupation forces on the main road in the al-Ishaqi area in the north of Baghdad at about 3pm local time.

Residents of al-Ishaqi who witnessed the attacks told Mafkarat al-Islam that Resistance fighters armed with light and medium weapons including RPG7 rocket-propelled grenades and BKC machine guns. The Resistance attack left two of the truck ablaze and reportedly three US troops dead and four others wounded.

Seven US Troops Reported Killed In Martyrdom Car Bombing

An Iraqi Resistance martyrdom fighter drove an explosives-packed car into a group of US soldiers in the al-A‘zamiyah section of northern Baghdad at 1:30pm local time Thursday.

Shopkeepers on ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz Street who witnessed the Resistance attack told the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam that the martyrdom attacker drove an Opel car into a group of US soldiers on the street, taking them with complete surprise and blowing up among them. The witnesses said that the blast destroyed two Humvees, reportedly killing seven US troops and wounding four others.

American troops immediately moved in after the attack to seal off the area and prevent local people and journalists from approaching. US helicopters were seen landing in the area to haul away the wreckage of the vehicles and the bodies of the dead and wounded American troops.

US Collaborators Admit: “Resistance Operates With Complete Freedom Striking Wherever And Whenever They Like”

The head of the puppet “political and moral guidance” department in the so-called “Iraqi ministry of defence” announced on Thursday that US and so-called Iraqi forces are subjected to between 60 and 65 daily Resistance rocket and car bomb attacks, belt-bombings, and sharpshooter assaults.

The admission came in a press conference held in Baghdad by Hamid al-Qaysi, the “guidance” official in the “ministry,” that was attended by the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam and other journalists.

Al-Qaysi told the press that “anyone who says that the attacks by the armed groups are declining is dreaming,” adding that the Resistance fighters, “still move about with complete freedom and carry out any operation they want in any place they want after all the offensives that the Marines and our [Iraqi puppet] armed forces have carried out against them throughout the country.”