Fearful citizens flee from Ramadi

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Frightened by warnings of an imminent offensive by U.S. troops massed around Ramadi, residents are pouring out of the insurgent-infested city.

U.S. and Iraqi forces cordoned off the city Saturday and were asking civilians to evacuate, residents and Iraqi officials said. Airstrikes on several residential areas picked up, and troops used loudspeakers to warn civilians of a fierce impending attack, Ramadi police Capt. Tahseen Aldulaimi said.

U.S. military officials refused to confirm or deny reports that an offensive in the city of 400,000 was under way.

Thousands of families remain trapped, those who have fled say. Many can't afford to leave or lack transportation, and other families decided to wait for their children to finish final exams at school.

"The situation is catastrophic. No services, no electricity, no water," said Sheik Fassal Guood, the former governor of Ramadi. "People in Ramadi are caught between two plagues: the vicious, armed insurgents and the American and Iraqi troops."

Ramadi long has been one of the U.S. military's stickiest problems. Even now, as U.S. forces are scaling back their visibility throughout Iraq, daily combat seethes in Ramadi.

To many residents, the writing is on the wall.

"We know for sure now that Americans and Iraqi commanders have decided to launch a broad offensive any time now," Guood said. "But they should have consulted with us."