Families fleeing the besieged city of Fallujah say that rebel fighters have slipped through the American and Iraqi military cordon and have been driven away in Mercedes cars to rejoin the battle elsewhere in Iraq. The fighters, said to include foreign militants using satellite telephones, are believed to be heading for Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, to open a new front. Abu Haider, 47, a mechanic who escaped with his family on Friday, said: "I saw many fighters with their faces covered, coming out beside us, carrying light weapons and their telephones. "I asked one how he had managed to arrange a lift to the city. He replied, 'It is the order. We have to choose another field to fight on outside Fallujah.' "
Yesterday, President George W Bush gave warning that guerrilla violence in Iraq could worsen as the January elections draw near. "The desperation of the killers will grow and the violence could escalate," he said. Abu Haider was among hundreds of refugees to make his way out of Fallujah in the past few days. He fled with his wife and three children because his teenage daughter, Rana, needs fortnightly treatment for leukaemia at a hospital in Baghdad. He said that homes in the al-Shuhada district of southern Fallujah had been destroyed by US bombs. "It is like a hell in there," he said. "There are many people dead on the streets. There is a very bad smell."
| The dead jihadis smell even worse. |
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