MOSUL: Iraqi commandos backed by US troops were preparing to storm insurgent strongholds in the city of Mosul yesterday as US-led forces continued their bid to clear the city of rebels. "We are going to start with an area in the centre and then move to places like Al Yarmuk and Sheikh Fatehi Street further west," said Major General Rashid Flaih of a special commando force sent from Baghdad to help restore order in Iraq's main northern city. "We will seize all weapons that we find and cleanse this city of criminals and terrorists."
About 1,200 US soldiers and 1,600 Iraqi troops, including commando, national guard and army units, are taking part in the operation. Flaih said he suspects many rebels flocked to Mosul recently from Fallujah and Samarra after military operations in those two cities to the south.  He said 24 suspects were arrested yesterday during raids on a hospital and homes in the Sheikh Fatehi area on the northwestern side of the city. In Al-Yarmuk district, two suspected insurgents were killed and a US soldier slightly wounded in a clash, according to a US military commander. Troops pulled up outside a grain and food distribution warehouse belonging to the Iraqi ministry of trade, from where they said insurgents were suspected of firing mortars, he said. All they found inside were a dozen frightened guards, but suddenly two rebels in an adjacent four-storey building fired on US troops, while one of them pulled out a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Soldiers immediately opened fire, devastating the building and killing the insurgents. |