FALLUJAH, Iraq – Marines and former Iraqi generals were negotiating a pullback of U.S. forces from Fallujah, and a U.S. commander said Thursday a tentative deal on ending the siege had been reached. But a Pentagon official said the agreement was still not final.
Elsewhere, 10 U.S. soldiers were killed, including eight in a car bombing south of Baghdad. Two were killed in a convoy attack in Baghdad and roadside bomb in Baqoubah, north of the capital.
After word of a possible agreement in Fallujah, Marines and guerrillas skirmished in the city, with blasts and sporadic gunfire heard from a northern neighborhood – although it appeared lighter than the barrages launched against insurgents in the past three days.
Three F/A-18 Hornets from the aircraft carrier USS George Washington dropped three 500-pound bombs on targets in the Fallujah area, Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Danny Hernandez said.
Marine Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said in Fallujah that a deal was reached under which Marines would withdraw and a newly created Iraqi force led by a former general in Saddam Hussein’s army would take over security in the city of 200,000. The deal also had been confirmed by a Pentagon official.
Byrne later said the deal was “tentative” and “fine points” still needed to be worked out.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said there was no deal yet and officials were “still working on it.”
Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said he could not rule out that an agreement was in place, but he said officials at the U.S. military command in Baghdad told him that they could not confirm that a final deal was sealed.
Di Rita said U.S. commanders were in discussions with Iraqi officials, including a number of former generals, and that it remains a U.S. goal of the talks to win assurances that the insurgents will turn over those responsible for the March 31 killing and mutilation of the four American contract workers in Fallujah.
Washington is under intense international pressure to find a peaceful solution to the standoff that killed hundreds of Iraqis and became a symbol of anti-U.S. resistance in Iraq, fueling violence that made April the deadliest month for American forces.
Only last week, U.S. commanders threatened to launch an all-out attack on the city to root out an estimated 1,500 Sunni insurgents inside. Even after Washington decided to push ahead with political efforts instead, Marines and guerrillas continued to clash, with the heavy U.S. bombardment of the city the past two nights televised around the world.
Marines encircled the city April 5, and at least eight have died in the fighting.
Marines on the south side began packing up gear and breaking down earthen berms and other security barriers Thursday in preparation to withdraw. But Byrne later said the timing for a pullback was not sure.
On the north side, Marines were fighting guerrillas in the Golan neighborhood, a bastion of the insurgency.
Witnesses reported rockets fired into the area, and two houses were on fire. Ambulances and fire engines were turned back by gunfire. There have been repeated clashes in the district since Monday.
The Fallujah negotiations were being held between U.S. forces and Fallujah representatives, including four Iraqi generals.
The deal being worked out would provide for a new force, known as the Fallujah Protective Army, to enter the city and provide security. It will consist of up to 1,100 Iraqi soldiers led by a former general from Saddam’s military, Byrne said.
Marine forces would gradually pull back from Fallujah to allow FPA forces to take positions enforcing the cordon of the city and move into some neighborhoods, Byrne said.
“The plan is that the whole of Fallujah will be under the control of the FPA,” which will be subordinate to the Marines, Byrne said, calling the deal “an Iraqi solution to an Iraqi problem.”
Byrne identified the commander only as Gen. Salah, a former division commander under Saddam. A Lt. Gen. Salah Abboud al-Jabouri, a native of the Fallujah region, served as governor of Anbar province under Saddam and was a senior commander in his military.
It seems likely that some of the insurgent gunmen in the city – mainly criminals, who fought Americans for money, and some disgruntled ex-soldiers, though not hard-liners or Islamic fighters – would likely end up as part of the force, a Marine officer said on condition of anonymity.
If the FPA entry is successful, the Marines may later participate in joint patrols with Iraqis, Marine Capt. James Edge said.
The moves came after three days of intense violence, despite U.S. attempts to maintain a cease-fire. On Tuesday night, warplanes and helicopter gunships struck guerrilla positions.
Throughout Wednesday, insurgents attacked Marines in several neighborhoods, and U.S. forces pounded the city with 500-pound bombs.
The fighting fueled calls for dramatic action to stop the violence.
“Violent military action by an occupying power against inhabitants of an occupied country will only make matters worse,” U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned. “It’s definitely time, time now for those who prefer restraint and dialogue to make their voices heard.”
Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council, warned his party would consider withdrawing from the council if fighting did not end.
“We call on the American troops that are bombing Fallujah to stop immediately and withdraw outside of the city,” Abdul-Hamid told Al-Jazeera TV. “Otherwise, we’ll be forced … to consider the subject of withdrawal.”
On Thursday, U.S. troops at the main checkpoint outside Fallujah opened fire on a car, killing several Iraqis. There were differing accounts of the attack.
The bombing that killed eight U.S. soldiers from the Army’s 1st Armored Division occurred near Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad, the military said. Four soldiers were wounded.
In eastern Baghdad, a U.S. soldier from the Texas-based 1st Cavalry Division was killed by an attack on his patrol, the military said. Another U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their convoy outside Baqoubah, the military said.
The American deaths raise to 126 the number of U.S. troops killed in combat in April, the bloodiest month for U.S. forces in Iraq. The military said another soldier died in a vehicle accident in western Baghdad.
At least 736 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. Up to 1,200 Iraqis also have been killed this month.
Seven Iraqi police and a civilian were killed Thursday in attacks by gunmen on police in the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said.
Elsewhere, a South African civilian was shot to death in his car in the southern city of Basra. Three members of an Iraqi family were killed when a rocket hit a building in the northern city of Beiji.
In southern Iraq, witnesses said Shiite militiamen clashed with U.S. troops at a base in the holy city of Najaf. Earlier, militiamen fired seven mortars at the base, with no casualties.
U.S. commanders at the base, located about three miles from the Shiite shrines at the heart of Najaf, said they were unable to pursue the source of the mortars because they do not have authority to go into parts of the city.
On Thursday, U.S. troops increased security around the base.
The U.S. military is treading carefully in Najaf, moving to put down a militia loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr while staying away from the Imam Ali Shrine and other Shiite holy sites.
On Wednesday night, al-Sadr’s militiamen attacked a U.S. convoy about a mile from the Imam Ali shrine, witnesses said. The militiamen fired a rocket-propelled grenade that missed the convoy and hit a house, wounding two people. The Americans then opened fire, killing an Iraqi woman and wounding four other people, the witnesses said.
Copyright ©2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.