Powerful explosion rocks south-eastern Baghdad

CAIRO, November 9 (Itar-Tass) - A powerful explosion rocked on Tuesday south-eastern Baghdad, eyewitnesses reported. A guarded residential area, where members of Iraq’s interim government live, is situated in that district.

There have been no early reports about casualties or destructions.


A powerful explosion rocked on Tuesday south-eastern Baghdad, eyewitnesses reported. A guarded residential area, where members of Iraq’s interim government live, is situated in that district.

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'I got my kills ... I just love my job'

Toby Harnden in Fallujah observes American soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division taskforce avenging their fallen comrades as battle begins

After seven months in Iraq's Sunni triangle, for many American soldiers the opportunity to avenge dead friends by taking a life was a moment of sheer exhilaration.

As they approached their "holding position", from where hours later they would advance into the city, they picked off insurgents on the rooftops and in windows.

"I got myself a real juicy target," shouted Sgt James Anyett, peering through the thermal sight of a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) mounted on one of Phantom's Humvees.

"Prepare to copy that 89089226. Direction 202 degrees. Range 950 metres. I got five motherf****** in a building with weapons."

Capt Kirk Mayfield, commander of the Phantoms, called for fire from his task force's mortar team. But Sgt Anyett didn't want to wait. "Dude, give me the sniper rifle. I can take them out - I'm from Alabama."

Two minutes tick by. "They're moving deep," shouted Sgt Anyett with disappointment. A dozen loud booms rattle the sky and smoke rose as mortars rained down on the co-ordinates the sergeant had given.

"Yeah," he yelled. "Battle Damage Assessment - nothing. Building's gone. I got my kills, I'm coming down. I just love my job."

Phantom Troop had rolled out of Camp Fallujah, the main US military base, shortly before 4am. All morning they took fire from the Al-Askari district in Fallujah's north-east, their target for the invasion proper.

The insurgents, not understanding the capabilities of the LRAS, crept along rooftops and poked their heads out of windows. Even when they were more than a mile away, the soldiers of Phantom Troop had their eyes on them.

Lt Jack Farley, a US Marines officer, sauntered over to compare notes with the Phantoms. "You guys get to do all the fun stuff," he said. "It's like a video game. We've taken small arms fire here all day. It just sounds like popcorn going off."

Another marine stepped forward and began to fire an M4 rifle at the city. "He's a reservist for the San Diego police. He wants a piece of the action, too".

A Phantom Abrams tank moved up the road running along the high ground. Its barrel, stencilled with the words "Ali Baba under 3 Thieves" swivelled towards the city and then fired a 120mm round at a house where two men with AK-47s had been pinpointed. "Ain't nobody moving now," shouted a soldier as the dust cleared. "He rocked that guy's world."

One of Phantom's sniper teams laid down fire into the city with a Barrett .50 calibre rifle and a Remington 700. A suspected truck bomb was riddled with bullets, the crack of the Barrett echoing through the mainly deserted section of the city. The insurgents fired 60mm mortars back, one of them wounding a soldier.

There were 25mm rounds from Phantom's Bradley fighting vehicles, barrages from Paladin howitzers back at Camp Fallujah and bursts of fire from .50 calibre machineguns. One by one, the howitzers used by the insurgents were destroyed.

"Everybody's curious," grinned Sgt Anyett as he waited for a sniper with a Russian-made Dragonov to show his face one last, fatal time. A bullet zinged by.

Dusk fell and 7pm, "A hour", the appointed hour to move into the city, approached. The soldiers of Phantom all reflected.

"Given the choice, I would never have wanted to fire a gun," said Cpl Chris Merrell, 21, manning a machinegun mounted on a Humvee. "But it didn't work out that way. I'd like a thousand boring missions rather than one interesting one."

On his wrist was a black bracelet bearing the name of a sergeant from Phantom Troop. "This is a buddy of mine that died," he said. "Pretty much everyone in the unit has one."

One fear playing on the mind of the task force was that of "friendly fire", also known as "blue on blue".

"Any urban fight is confusing," Lt Col Newell, the force's commander, told his troops before the battle. "The biggest threat out there is not them, but us."

His officers said that the plan to invade Fallujah involved months of detailed planning and elaborate "feints" designed to draw the insurgents out into the open and fool them into thinking the offensive would come from another side of the city.

"They're probably thinking that we'll come in from the east," said Capt Natalie Friel, an intelligence officer with task force, before the battle. But the actual plan involves penetrating the city from the north and sweeping south.

"I don't think they know what's coming. They have no idea of the magnitude," she said. "But their defences are pretty circular. They're prepared for any kind of direction. They've got strong points on all four corners of the city."

The aim was to push the insurgents south, killing as many as possible, before swinging west. They would then be driven into the Euphrates.

• Tony Blair's problems over Iraq deepened still further last night when one of his most respected former advisers suggested the entire conflict had been illegal.

Sir Stephen Wall, who was head of the European Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, said: "We allowed our judgment of the dire consequences of inaction to allow us to depart from the rule of law."


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Madonna Calls For US Troops To Leave Iraq

(IMG:http://news.aunz.yimg.com/xp/afp/200.../707480361.jpg)

(AFP Photo) - Madonna calls for US troops to leave Iraq (Tue 09 Nov, 06:38 PM)

LONDON (AFP) - US pop star Madonna made a rare foray into politics, calling for her home country to withdraw its troops from Iraq during an interview with British radio.

"I just don't want American troops to be in Iraq, period," she said on BBC Radio.

"My feelings are 'can we just all get out?'," said the 46-year-old star, who lives mainly in London with British film director husband Guy Ritchie, who said she believes the US-led war will not help in the fight against terrorism.

"Global terror is everywhere. Global terror is down the street, around the block," she said.

"Global terror is in California. There's global terror everywhere and it's absurd to think you can get it by going to one country and dropping tons of bombs on innocent people."

Madonna's best known belief is her adherence to the Kabbalah, a faith based on the study of Hebrew texts which has become increasingly popular in recent years, notably among music and film stars.

On other subjects, the singer said the recent US presidential election had illustrated how US society was "becoming very divided".

"People are becoming very polarized," she said. "We have people who don't want to think, and who just want to guard what is theirs, and they're selfish and limited in their thinking and they're very fearful in their choices."

Madonna said that her personal choice for the presidency would have been Wesley Clark, the former four star general who was well beaten to the Democratic nomination by John Kerry.

"I thought very carefully about it. I thought Wesley Clark had the best leadership qualities," she said.

"If he had the same political experience as Kerry he could have bridged that gap."

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Fresh fighting erupts in Falluja

US marines have taken the police station and mayor's office in central Falluja, on the second full day of an assault on the Iraqi rebel stronghold.

The BBC's Paul Wood says a battle is still raging for the heart of the city but the margins are under the control of US and Iraqi government forces.

The American officer in charge of the offensive, Lt Gen Thomas Metz, has warned the assault could intensify.

Relief groups say they are deeply worried about the fate of civilians.

'Sensitive stage'

The BBC's Paul Wood - who is with US troops in Falluja and whose reports are subject to military restrictions - says marines took the central compound without opposition, but then came under fire from a nearby mosque.


In the ensuing battle, insurgents at one point waved a white flag - but when marines stood up to take the surrender they came under fire from three directions, he says.

The marines then called in air strikes.

The US military says 10 US and two Iraqi soldiers have been killed so far.


Three relatives of the Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi are abducted in Baghdad

Roadside bombs near the northern city of Kirkuk kill six Iraqi national guardsmen

One US soldier is killed and another wounded by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad

'Tough urban fighting'

Lt Gen Metz, the multinational ground force commander in Iraq, said that troops were achieving their objectives on or ahead of schedule.

But the fight for the city was far from over, he said.

"I think we're looking at several more days of tough urban fighting," he told reporters at the Pentagon via a videophone.


But he added that he assumed that many of the insurgent leaders, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - the Jordanian militant blamed for car bombings, kidnappings and beheadings - had fled before the assault began.


In Washington, President George W Bush praised the US-led forces in Falluja.

"Our prayers are with the soldiers and their loved ones, as they're doing the hard work necessary for a free Iraq to emerge," he said.


However, Iraq's largest Sunni-led political party, the Iraqi Islamic Party, pulled out of the interim government in protest at the Falluja assault.


The main association of Sunni clerics also voiced its disapproval, calling for a boycott of elections due in January.


Concern for civilians

The United Nations refugee agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross have expressed concern about the civilians in Falluja.

Most of the city's 250,000 civilians fled the city before the offensive began, but up to 50,000 are estimated to remain there.


Our correspondent, Paul Wood, says that despite efforts by US forces to select targets carefully, their use of heavy artillery and tanks is bound to lead to civilian casualties.

On Tuesday night, BBC Arabic Service reporter Fadhil Badrani said the city was in complete darkness, with the rubble still smouldering from the day's artillery bombardment.

Residents say water, as well as electricity, have been cut off.

The assault on Falluja is aimed at stabilising Iraq ahead of January's poll.

The Sunni Muslim city has been a hotbed of resistance to US-led troops following the toppling of Saddam Hussein last year.


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