New fighting erupts in parts of Fallujah

By The Associated Press

ALEX WONG / GETTY IMAGES Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld holds up a photo of armed Iraqi insurgents in a mosque after an intelligence briefing for Senators yesterday on Capitol Hill.

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A third day of heavy fighting, carried on live television with images of fiery destruction, came as the United States was under increasing international pressure to prevent a revival of the bloodshed seen in the city west of Baghdad during the first two weeks of April.

"Violent military action by an occupying power against inhabitants of an occupied country will only make matters worse," Secretary-General Kofi Annan said. "It's definitely time, time now for those who prefer restraint and dialogue to make their voices heard."

Commanders in Iraq said the Marines were responding to guerrilla attacks and that the military was sticking to what they have been calling a cease-fire to allow negotiations.

"Even though it may not look like it, there is still a determined aspiration on the part of the coalition to maintain a cease-fire and solve the situation in Fallujah by peaceful means," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said in Baghdad.

"What's going on are some terrorists and regime elements have been attacking our forces, and our forces have been going out and killing them," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testily told legislators in Washington.

Guerrilla attacks broke out in at least three neighborhoods of Fallujah that had been relatively quiet during the past three days. And the U.S. response intensified: When a Marine was wounded, warplanes dropped 10 laser-guided bombs on buildings that were the source of guerrilla fire, Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne said. At least twice, AC-130 gunships fired on guerrilla positions with their heavy cannons.

Guerrillas fired on a train station just outside the city's northern edge, prompting a battle in the Golan neighborhood, an insurgent bastion. Fighting also erupted on the northeast, southeast and in the center of the city.

At the White House, President Bush said "most of Fallujah is returning to normal."

"There are pockets of resistance and our military, along with Iraqis, will make sure it's secure," he said.

Late in the day, Byrne announced that Marine patrols into the city due to start today had been delayed a day.
 
The United States decided over the weekend to send in the patrols of Marines and Iraqi security forces to establish a semblance of control over the city.

Across Iraq, attacks are down, compared with the first two weeks of April, as U.S. officials try to negotiate solutions for Fallujah and with militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in the south. But violence still flares regularly.

A U.S. soldier was killed in an ambush Tuesday near the northern city of Tel Afar, the military reported.

In southern Iraq, gunmen ambushed a Ukrainian convoy outside Kut yesterday. Two coalition soldiers were killed.

U.S. troops seek to capture al-Sadr and suppress his militia. Yesterday, they began gradually expanding operations outside their base in the holy city of Najaf. The military has promised to avoid sacred Shiite sites at the heart of Najaf.

In Berlin, Secretary of State Colin Powell defended American attacks on mosques and other holy places that are used by insurgents in Iraq.

Powell, at a news conference, rejected criticism by U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi about firing by American helicopter gunships and tanks at a Fallujah mosque on Monday that may have been used to attack Marines' positions.

Brahimi, who has also sharply criticized U.S. support for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as an obstacle in his efforts to develop Iraqi self rule, had said he was disappointed by the U.S. assault.

Powell said "we are being very careful," but when holy places are used to shoot and kill innocent people and U.S. troops, "we have an obligation to protect our men."

Powell said that using the mosque was a desecration by the insurgents, who he called terrorists, of a holy place.