- SAMARRA, Iraq (Reuters) -
U.S.-led forces stormed Samarra Friday and said more than 100 guerrillas
were killed in air strikes and street-to-street combat during a major new
American offensive to wrest control of the Iraqi town.
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- Samarra's hospital said dozens of bodies were brought
in, including at least 11 women, five children and seven old men. Staff
could cope with no more wounded and bodies lay in the streets. Clashes
stopped some wounded from reaching hospital.
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- A spokesman for the U.S. 1st Infantry Division said 109
fighters and a U.S soldier were killed in the offensive launched just after
midnight. Four soldiers were wounded. Toward dusk, U.S. jets struck again
as sporadic shooting continued.
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- Thousands of people were fleeing the historic town, 100
km (60 miles) north of Baghdad. Water and electricity were cut off.
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- Kassim Daoud, national security adviser in the Iraqi
government, said 37 insurgents were captured in the operation.
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- The U.S. military said Iraqi commandos had taken over
Samarra's Shi'ite Golden Mosque and seized 25 rebels inside. Iraqi troops
also secured the town's renowned spiral minaret.
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- The Interior Ministry said that by midday Iraqi police
had control of the center of Samarra, home to over 100,000 people, and
most surrounding areas. The U.S.-Iraqi operation was to "remove the
terrorists who have been holding the town hostage."
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- The U.S. military says it will retake guerrilla strongholds
such as Samarra, the western cities of Falluja and Ramadi and the Baghdad
districts of Sadr City and Haifa Street by the end of the year so elections
can go ahead in January as planned.
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- Daoud said fresh offensives would begin soon.
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- Troops backed by tanks had pushed through Samarra's streets
in darkness as guerrillas unleashed mortar attacks and fired rocket-propelled
grenades and rifles from the rooftops.
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- Clashes also erupted again in Sadr City, residents said,
and doctors said eight Iraqis were killed in fighting there.
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- HOSTAGE RESCUED
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- A Turkish worker kidnapped by guerrillas was rescued
during the Samarra offensive, the U.S. military said.
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- Since April, more than 100 foreigners have been seized
in Iraq and about 30 have been killed. At least three Westerners are still
held, including French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot,
kidnapped south of Baghdad in August.
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- A Frenchman who says he is mediating for the release
of the reporters told French radio in a live telephone interview on Friday
that he was with them and negotiating their freedom.
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- The French government has repeatedly said it knows nothing
about efforts by the self-proclaimed mediator, Philippe Brett.
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- The Samarra assault began shortly after midnight with
air strikes and artillery barrages pounding the mainly Sunni Muslim town,
which had been a no-go zone for U.S. forces for months.
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- The U.S. military said troops destroyed several mortar
sites, rocket-propelled grenade teams and guerrilla vehicles.
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- Overnight, guerrillas were seen unloading weapons and
ammunition from two speedboats on the Tigris River in the town, the military
said. Troops opened fire and destroyed the boats.
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- "In response to repeated and unprovoked attacks
by anti-Iraqi forces, Iraqi security forces and multi-national forces secured
the government and police buildings in Samarra early in the morning of
October 1," the U.S. military said.
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- U.S. officials use the phrase "anti-Iraqi forces"
to describe the various armed groups fighting Iraq's U.S.-backed government,
including supporters of former leader Saddam Hussein and militant Islamists,
some of whom have come from abroad.
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- A U.S. helicopter took small arms fire during the operation
but made a safe landing, the 1st Infantry Division said.
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- DAY OF BLOODSHED
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- The Samarra offensive came after a day of bloodshed in
Baghdad, where three car bombs were detonated near a U.S. military convoy
Thursday, killing 41 people, 34 of them children rushing to collect sweets
from American troops.
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- An Internet statement claimed responsibility in the name
of the Tawhid and Jihad group of Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which
beheaded two American hostages last week. The group is also threatening
to kill a third captive, Briton Kenneth Bigley.
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- At the request of Bigley's family, 100,000 leaflets were
distributed at 26 Baghdad mosques before Friday prayers, carrying appeals
from Muslim leaders to free him.
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- Iraq dominated Thursday's first U.S. presidential debate
between President Bush and Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry. Bush
insists progress is being made toward democracy in Iraq, Kerry said it
was "chaos."
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