Maher al-Thanoon
Reuters
12 November 2004
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - A semblance of calm has returned to Mosul after U.S. forces carried out air strikes on insurgents, but residents say Iraq's third largest city remains tense and Iraqi police are nowhere to be seen. U.S. war planes struck rebel areas in the southwest of the city late on Thursday after two days of widespread violence in which groups of insurgents rampaged, burning police stations, stealing weapons and tipping the city towards chaos. A U.S. soldier was killed in the fighting on Thursday, along with five Iraqi National Guards blown up in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on their vehicles, while doctors said at least 30 civilians had been wounded in crossfire during street battles.
Occasional explosions from RPGs and random bursts of gunfire could still be heard on Friday, but residents said the situation appeared calmer than either Wednesday or Thursday, when the governor's home was also attacked by militants. At prayers on Friday, some imams called on worshippers to unite with the militants and battle to rid the city of American troops, but others made no reference to the city's violence.
U.S. forces said they were doing what they could to maintain order, and denied that the city was tipping out of control. A spokeswoman said force would be used wherever necessary. "We have used all assets available to commanders to precisely and proportionately respond to the insurgent attacks, these assets do include air strikes," said Captain Angela Bowman, a spokeswoman for U.S. forces based in the city. "Iraqi National Guard and multinational forces are restoring security to those areas of the city where terrorists are attacking from, primarily in the southwestern area," she said.
"Mosul is not out of control nor is the city in the control of the insurgents."
SHOOT TO KILL ORDER
But at least one resident who drove around several districts of the city on Friday said he saw no presence whatsoever of Iraqi police or other security forces, and saw only one convoy of U.S. troops, moving rapidly through a northern area. He said insurgents remained in charge of at least one of the nine police stations attacked and set ablaze on Wednesday and Thursday. Some residents suggested that many police had taken off their uniforms and decided to join the insurgents. Mosul's governor imposed an immediate curfew on Wednesday as the northern city of three million people exploded in violence. Anyone attempting to cross any of the city's five bridges over the Tigris river during curfew was to be shot on sight. The ban on movement is due to be lifted at 4 a.m. on Saturday to give residents time to make preparations for the celebration of the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
The fighting came as U.S. troops pursued their full-blooded offensive against insurgents in Falluja. It appeared that some militants may have fled Falluja ahead of that offensive and decided to launch attacks elsewhere, including Mosul. In the past four days, there has been a step up in violence across the Sunni Muslim heartland of the country, including the towns Baquba, Samarra, Tikrit, Ramadi and parts of Baghdad.
Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of the capital, has seen frequent outbreaks of violence, but residents said this week's outburst was the worst since the end of the war last year.
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Citation:
Maher al-Thanoon, "Mosul: Under Shoot to Kill Curfew", Reuters, 12 November 2004.