Families return to devastated Falluja

Aljazeera's correspondent reported that for the first time in days most of Falluja's streets were crowded with people who raised the Iraqi flag and were clearly elated at being allowed to return.

The city's eastern gate, where the last checkpoint is still set up, was also crowded with people.

This reportedly follows a promise made by the new Iraqi commander of the city Major General Jasim Muhammad Salih to increase the number of families allowed to return.

Salih who once served in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard arrived, wearing his old uniform, to the cheers of bystanders in Falluja on Friday.

US occupation forces besieging Falluja for the past month turned to a former general in Saddam Hussein's army to lead a force to restore order in the city, 50km west of Baghdad and in the heart of what US forces have dubbed the Sunni Triangle.

The area has been a centre of resistance attacks on the US-led occupation of Iraq. More than 600 Iraqis were killed in the siege of the town.

US troops staying

Meanwhile, US Marine commanders insist they still remain in control and can move back into the city at any time.

Amid questions as to whether the newly formed Falluja Brigade can be trusted, the commanders stress they will be closely monitoring the performance of the still incomplete Iraqi force, which is made up mainly of people who served in ousted president Saddam Hussein's former army.

They also say that while they are happy to put an Iraqi face on security operations in the flashpoint city, the Iraqi troops fall under their overall command.

Senior Marine officers have been careful to avoid presenting the move as a withrawal from Falluja, where they lost dozens of men after laying siege to the city on 5 April.

But since the decision to send in the new force, Marines have given up their main foothold in the city and pulled back to camps further away. They still have some positions on the outskirts of the city, but are expecting to move out of those within days.

US troops killed

Even as the deal was being implemented, fighting has continued in and around the city.

Two US occupation soldiers assigned to the Marine Expeditionary Force were killed in Al-Anbar province, which includes the flashpoint city, in a clash with resistance fighters.

The deaths follow the killings on Friday of two Marines by an apparent car bomber near their base outside Falluja.

Early on Saturday, bursts of gunfire ripped through the city as resistance fighters and US occupation forces skirmished intermittently despite a deal to hand security responsibilities back to Iraqis.

Sporadic gunfire continued overnight according to Captain Christopher Logan, a spokesman at the US Marines base just outside the city.

Foreigner killed

Elsewhere in Iraq, at least one foreign security man was killed after a bomb exploded in the northern city of Mosul, the local police said.

Three other foreigners and three Iraqis were wounded in the same incident.

The roadside bomb blew up as a convoy of five sports utility vehicles, typically used by the US-led occupation, sped through the city, 370km north of Baghdad, according to policeman Mahir Muhammad Amin.

And an Iraqi man was killed by US random fire in Heet city west of Ramadi, Aljazeera's correspondent reported.

The incident came after a US military vehicle was destroyed in an RPG attack.

Aljazeera + Agencies

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Falluja breathes easy
Saturday 01 May 2004, 21:18 Makka Time, 18:18 GMT

The arrival of Iraqi troops headed by a former Iraqi general has raised hopes among residents of Falluja of a peaceful resolution to the three-week standoff between resistance fighters and the US occupation military.

"We are happy and we hope this (Salih's forces) will bring peace and ease the suffering of the families in Falluja," said Khalid Khalil, a teacher who was leaving Falluja for the first time in weeks to visit his daughters in Baghdad.

"But we will see because the Americans always go back on their agreements."

Nearby, ICDC Captain Mohammad Dulaimi kept close watch on the checkpoint as a trickle of cars appeared.

"Salih has the respect of the people because he is a leader from the army. People in Falluja can't accept the Americans."

But he said he did not see any of Salih's men in his section of the city, just a few former officers inspecting checkpoints.

Falluja Brigade

Termed by US military commanders as the 1st Battalion of the Falluja Brigade, the city is returning to normal after being subjected to US air strikes, mortars fired by fighters and frequent gunfire.

Led by General Jasim Muhammad Salih, who used to belong to Saddam Hussein's Republican Guards, men have begun showing up for duty, the occupation military said.
Lieutenant-General James Conway, commander of the 1st Marines Expeditionary Force, told a news conference on Saturday that they were banking on the Iraqi force in Falluja to douse the resistance in the city.

Conway said the brigade would grow into a force of between 900 and 1100 from Falluja and other towns in the heartland of resistance to the US-led occupation troops west of Baghdad.

"They have a plan. It is developing as they continue to develop their intelligence with more and more movement into the city," Conway said.

Conway suggested Salih's offer to take on security in Falluja came just in time to avert a major offensive on the city.

"It got to the point that we thought there were no options that would preclude an attack," he said.

Asked what limits would be placed on Salih's group, Conway said: "We don't see any extremism in any fashion in this group of Iraqi general officers. We are not overly concerned about it at this point."

Iraq's former army and security forces were disbanded after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein just over a year ago.

Agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/59D0FB50-77CE-4EF8-BCD2-C65D9D6851E0.htm