U.S. Bombs Rebel-Held Sunni City
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
FALLUJAH, Iraq – American jets pounded insurgent positions in Fallujah for a second straight day yesterday, raising plumes of smoke but leaving no extensive damage or signs of weakening the Sunni insurgents who have steadily expanded their control of this city about 30 miles west of Baghdad.
After the attacks, bands of fighters, many wearing loose, black, pajama like pants and T-shirts, lounged outside abandoned buildings facing the American lines, seeking to escape the intense sunlight of a day when temperatures topped 114 degrees.
Most hid their faces with Arab head scarves or ski masks. Some quenched their thirst with water from coolers beside them. Most appeared to be in their late teens or early 20s and 30s, but a few looked as old as 50. Elsewhere in this city of 300,000, fighters patrolled the streets in new American pickups. One resident, 33-year-old Abu Rihab, said they were part of a 16-vehicle fleet commandeered between Jordan and Baghdad.
Members of the Iraqi national guard, which was supposed to back up the Fallujah Brigade, fled the city after one of their commanders was executed by insurgents for allegedly spying for the Americans. Local police operate under the tacit control of the rebel fighters.
The air strikes targeted an insurgent “command and control headquarters” that has been coordinating attacks against American and Iraqi forces, the American military said in a statement.
Hospital officials said two people were killed in the attack but did not say whether they were insurgents.
Separately, Russia and many other Security Council nations expressed serious concern yesterday that Iraq is shipping scrap metal that could be used to produce weapons of mass destruction out of the country to unknown destinations. At a closed-door council meeting, council members discussed a new report from U.N. weapons inspectors that Iraqi authorities for over a year have been shipping thousands of tons of scrap metal out of the country including at least 42 engines from banned missiles and other equipment that could be used to produce banned weapons.
