First US casualties reported in Iraq offensive
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-07 15:05

It identified one of them as Abu Umar, who helped smuggle foreign insurgents into the region and stage deadly roadside bomb attacks against Iraqi and American forces. The other militant was Abu Hamza, who commanded several al-Qaida cells and helped launch attacks against coalition forces, including ones based at U.S. Camp Gannon in the Husaybah area, the military said.

Davis said the militants were putting up a tough fight in Husaybah because "this area is near and dear to the insurgents, particularly the foreign fighters."

Speaking by telephone, he said: "This has been the first stop for foreign fighters, and this is strategic ground for them."

The U.S. Marines said American jets struck at least 10 targets around the town Sunday and that the American-Iraqi force was "clearing the city, house by house," taking fire from insurgents holed up in homes, mosques and schools.

Residents of the area said by satellite phone that sounds of explosions diminished somewhat Sunday, although bursts of automatic weapons fire could be heard throughout the day. The residents said coalition forces warned people by loudspeakers to leave on foot because troops would fire on vehicles.

"I left everything behind _ my car, my house," said Ahmed Mukhlef, 35, a teacher who fled Husaybah early Sunday with his wife and two children while carrying a white bed sheet tied to a stick. "I don't care if my house is bombed or looted, as long as I have my kids and wife safe with me."

The Marines said in a statement that about 450 people had taken refuge in a vacant housing area in Husaybah under the control of Iraqi forces. Others were believed to have fled to relatives in nearby towns and villages in the predominantly Sunni Arab area of Anbar province.

U.S. officials have described Husaybah, which used to have a population of about 30,000, as a stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Husaybah had long been identified as an entry point for foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition entering from Syria. From Husaybah, the fighters head down the Euphrates valley to Baghdad and other cities.

Several people identified as key al-Qaida in Iraq officials have been killed in recent airstrikes in the Husaybah area, the U.S. military has said. Most were described as "facilitators" who helped smuggle would-be suicide bombers from Syria.

Damascus has denied helping militants sneak into Iraq, and witnesses said Syrian border guards had stepped up surveillance on their side of the border since the assault on Husaybah began.

The Americans hope the Husaybah operation, codenamed "Operation Steel Curtain," will help restore enough security in the area so the Sunni Arab population can participate in December 15 national parliamentary elections.

If the Sunnis win a significant number of seats in the new parliament, Washington hopes that will persuade more members of the minority to lay down their arms and join the political process, enabling U.S. and other international troops to begin withdrawing next year.

However, a protracted battle in Husaybah with civilian casualties risks a backlash in the Sunni Arab community, which provides most of the insurgents.

On Sunday, Mohsen Abdul-Hamid, head of the largest Sunni Arab political party, Saleh al-Mutlaq, head of another Sunni faction and a member of the committee that drafted the new constitution, both sharply criticized the offensive, saying it was targeting civilians.

The U.S.-led assault includes about 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and will serve as a major test of the fledgling army's capability to battle insurgents _ seen as essential to enabling the Bush administration to draw down its 157,000-strong military presence.