- As the US reeled from the death of nine marines in Iraq
at the weekend, insurgents in Fallujah claimed to have obtained chemical
weapons and threatened to use them in any battle for control of the rebel
stronghold.
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- Rebel commanders said chemicals such as cyanide had been
added to mortar rounds and missiles that would be deployed against coalition
troops reported to be preparing for a major assault on the town west of
Baghdad.
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- A military committee made up of former officers in Saddam
Hussein's army, including experts on chemicals and guerrilla warfare, is
said to have been organising forces in Fallujah and planning tactics.
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- The committee is understood to include members of all
the main insurgent groups, including that of Iraq's most wanted man, Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader behind the beheading of several
foreign hostages and a string of car-bomb attacks.
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- The US suffered its worst day in Iraq since May when
the marines were killed as violence flared across Iraq's rebel heartland.
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- About 30 Iraqis were killed as the US troops hit back.
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- A marine spokesman said eight of the soldiers died in
a suicide car-bomb attack near Fallujah and the other was killed in Ramadi.
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- Nine marines were also wounded, he said, but the US military
refused to provide further details.
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- The deaths take the US casualty toll since the war started
in March last year to at least 1120. Aid groups say up to 10,000 Iraqis
have been killed.
-
- Seven Iraqis died and 19 were wounded on Saturday when
a car bomb was detonated outside the Baghdad offices of Arabic broadcaster
al-Arabiya.
-
- A group calling itself Thawrat al-Ishrin (Revolution
of the 1920s Brigades) claimed responsibility for the attack on "the
infidels' television".
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- "The building was destroyed on (the heads of) the
spies, the Americanised journalists ... the mouthpieces of the US occupation
in Iraq," it said in a statement.
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- The majority Saudi-owned satellite channel has often
been attacked on Islamist websites for its perceived pro-Western stance
in the Arab world.
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- Sheikh Mahdi al-Sumaidi, a Sunni cleric in Baghdad, warned
the US and interim Iraqi Government against attacking Fallujah.
-
- He said they risked incurring a fatwa, or binding religious
decree, that would command Muslims to launch street protests and a campaign
of civil disobedience.
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- But US forces continued preparations for the widely expected
offensive, with jets and artillery pounding targets in the city. US military
officials have claimed there are up to 5000 Islamic militants, Saddam loyalists
and criminals barricaded in the town.
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- "We're gearing up to do an operation and when we're
told to go, we'll go," said Brigadier General Dennis Hejlik, deputy
commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.
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- "When we do go, we'll whack them."
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- The US military emphasised that the final order to attack
should come from Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who has told
the people of Fallujah to hand over Zarqawi's followers.
-
- Peace talks to avert an assault on Fallujah, believed
to have started last Wednesday, are being held by a Government-backed delegation
and leaders from the rebel-held Sunni city of 200,000 people.
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- Dr Allawi has demanded foreign militants be expelled
from Fallujah and Iraqi forces, backed by American troops, be allowed into
its centre.
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- British Prime Minister Tony Blair will call a general
election in February rather than May or later next year as had been expected,
London's Sunday Telegraph reported yesterday.
-
- Mr Blair, who will be seeking a third term, hoped to
benefit from a "Baghdad bounce", if Iraq staged successful elections
in January as scheduled, the newspaper said.
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- The Sunday Times
- http://theaustralian.com.au
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