BAGHDAD, 27 September 2004 — Britain and Egypt stepped up efforts yesterday to secure the release of hostages in Iraq and in continuing violenece US airstrikes on Fallujah left 15 dead while an insurgent attack in another troubled town killed 10 more.
The arrest of a top National Guard commander with links to the insurgency dealt a blow to a fledgling security apparatus under pressure to secure Iraq in time for January elections, as Britain admitted dismantling Saddam Hussein’s old army was a mistake.
The latest US airstrike on Fallujah targeted what commanders said was a meeting place for militants of suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab Al-Zarqawi’s Unity and Holy War group, which is holding Briton Kenneth Bigley hostage.
But medics in the town, west of Baghdad, said there were again women and children among the casualties.
Two hospitals in the city reported receiving eight dead and 22 wounded, including women and children, while residents said many victims remained under the rubble.
“We don’t target innocent civilians but there’s always a chance the Zarqawi network or other criminal elements use facilities or weapons storage sites that are in close proximity to Iraqi people,” a senior US military official said.
An earlier US airstrike on another alleged hide-out killed seven Iraqis, again including women and children, according to medics.
Following the airstrikes, twin car bombings struck US and Iraqi security forces east of Fallujah, causing casualties of both nationalities, a US commander said.
Another 10 people were killed in an insurgent attack on a convoy of petrol tankers in Latifiya, an insurgent bastion immediately south of Baghdad, medics said.
Iraqi security sources said a group of attackers sprayed gunfire on the tankers, setting fire to all five trucks and sparking a fierce firefight with National Guardsmen escorting the convoy.
Four people were also killed and 10 wounded yesterday in clashes between US troops and insurgents, medics said.
In further unrest, one Iraqi was killed when a mortar round plowed into a busy shopping district of Baghdad and a farmer was killed in an exchange of fire north of Baghdad. The fledgling Iraqi security forces suffered a fresh blow to their credibility as the US military announced it had detained a senior National Guard commander for eastern Iraq on suspicion of links with insurgents.
The officer, a former general in Saddam’s army, was one of the most senior Iraqi security personnel detained for alleged involvement in anti-coalition attacks.
The coalition has been struggling to recruit, fund and train a credible force capable of relieving US-led troops and British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged for the first time in an interview yesterday that disbanding the old army completely might have been a mistake.
“I do accept that there was probably one error that was made, which is that, in retrospect, I think to disband the Iraqi Army in its entirety and to ... remove all elements of the Baath Party from positions of authority in Iraq, was done too quickly,” Blair told the BBC.
— Additional input from agencies
