Sgt Sostand
04-29-04, 02:53 PM
FALLUJAH, Iraq - The Defense Department denied Thursday that a final agreement had been struck to end the bloody siege of Fallujah, saying that negotiations were continuing and that there could still be reasons to continue attacking selected insurgent targets in the turmoil-ridden city of 300,000 people
FALLUJAH, Iraq - The Defense Department denied Thursday that a final agreement had been struck to end the bloody siege of Fallujah, saying that negotiations were continuing and that there could still be reasons to continue attacking selected insurgent targets in the turmoil-ridden city of 300,000 people.
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Elsewhere in Iraq, 10 U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday, eight of them in a car bombing south of Baghdad, the Defense Department said. At least 10 Iraqis were killed in attacks around the country, including two children who were shot to death in a gunbattle.
U.S. Marines had announced an agreement to pull back from positions in Fallujah and allow an all-Iraqi force commanded by one of former President Saddam Hussein’s generals to take over security. But after the agreement was announced, explosions and shooting were heard in the city in new skirmishes, and warplanes circled overhead.
Defense officials told NBC News that a delegation of Sunni Muslim sheiks was still meeting with U.S. officials and former members of Saddam’s army to work out an agreement to end the bloodshed in Fallujah, the scene of a deadly anti-U.S. rebellion that has become the top U.S. priority in the country.
NBC’s Carl Rochelle first reported from Baghdad that defense officials were expressly denying that an agreement had been reached. Larry Di Rita, a spokesman for the Defense Department, confirmed the report, saying, “There’s no deal that we know of,” and the Marine Corps began describing the deal as only “tentative.”
New explosions were heard Thursday night in the Golan neighborhood on the north side of Fallujah, a bastion of insurgents, and there were sporadic bursts of gunfire.
The Navy said several F/A-18 Hornets dropped at least three guided bombs on unspecified positions in Fallujah. The F-18s were continuing to provide close air support for Marines in the area, defense officials said.
FALLUJAH, Iraq - The Defense Department denied Thursday that a final agreement had been struck to end the bloody siege of Fallujah, saying that negotiations were continuing and that there could still be reasons to continue attacking selected insurgent targets in the turmoil-ridden city of 300,000 people.
advertisement
Elsewhere in Iraq, 10 U.S. soldiers were killed Thursday, eight of them in a car bombing south of Baghdad, the Defense Department said. At least 10 Iraqis were killed in attacks around the country, including two children who were shot to death in a gunbattle.
U.S. Marines had announced an agreement to pull back from positions in Fallujah and allow an all-Iraqi force commanded by one of former President Saddam Hussein’s generals to take over security. But after the agreement was announced, explosions and shooting were heard in the city in new skirmishes, and warplanes circled overhead.
Defense officials told NBC News that a delegation of Sunni Muslim sheiks was still meeting with U.S. officials and former members of Saddam’s army to work out an agreement to end the bloodshed in Fallujah, the scene of a deadly anti-U.S. rebellion that has become the top U.S. priority in the country.
NBC’s Carl Rochelle first reported from Baghdad that defense officials were expressly denying that an agreement had been reached. Larry Di Rita, a spokesman for the Defense Department, confirmed the report, saying, “There’s no deal that we know of,” and the Marine Corps began describing the deal as only “tentative.”
New explosions were heard Thursday night in the Golan neighborhood on the north side of Fallujah, a bastion of insurgents, and there were sporadic bursts of gunfire.
The Navy said several F/A-18 Hornets dropped at least three guided bombs on unspecified positions in Fallujah. The F-18s were continuing to provide close air support for Marines in the area, defense officials said.