Civilians flee besieged Iraqi town

Scores of terrified Iraqis fled a besieged town, waving white flags and hauling their belongings to escape a second day of fighting between US Marines and al Qaida-led militants along the Syrian border.

The Press Association
Sun 6 Nov 2005
9:47pm (UK)
Civilians flee besieged Iraqi town

Scores of terrified Iraqis fled a besieged town, waving white flags and hauling their belongings to escape a second day of fighting between US Marines and al Qaida-led militants along the Syrian border.

As US and Iraqi troops battled insurgents in house-to-house fighting, the US commander of the joint force, Col Stephen W Davis, said his troops had moved "about halfway" through Husaybah, a market town along the Euphrates River about 200 miles northwest of Baghdad.

At least 36 insurgents have been killed since the assault began on Saturday and about 200 men of fighting age have been detained, Davis said.

He would not comment on US and Iraqi government casualties but said the militants were putting up a tough fight because "this area is near and dear to the insurgents, particularly the foreign fighters."

"This has been the first stop for foreign fighters, and this is strategic ground for them," he said.

Earlier, Brig Gen Donald Alston, a US military spokesman, told reporters in Baghdad that none of the 3,500 US and Iraqi troops had been killed.

In a statement, the US Marines said American jets struck at least 10 targets around the town and that the US-Iraqi force was "clearing the city, house by house," taking fire from insurgents holed up in homes, mosques and schools.

Marines said about 450 people had taken refuge in a vacant housing area in Husaybah under the control of Iraqi forces. Others were believed to have fled to relatives in nearby towns and villages in the predominantly Sunni Arab area of Anbar province.

US officials have described Husaybah, which used to have a population of about 30,000, as a stronghold of al Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Husaybah had long been identified as an entry point for foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition entering from Syria. From Husaybah the fighters head down the Euphrates valley to Baghdad and other cities.

Several people identified as key al Qaida in Iraq officials have been killed in recent airstrikes in the Husaybah area, the US military has said. Most were described as "facilitators" who helped smuggle would-be suicide bombers from Syria.

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