Musil is out of control
Iraq, Military, 11/15/2004

News reports in Musil said that resistance men are controlling the main streets and bridges as well as crossroads points in the city after the withdrawal of the American forces at the request of the governor, according to the American army and decided to station in fortified positions and to have clashes with the gunmen.

Several fighters stressed they forced the American army to withdraw from the bridges after targeting it with a flow of mortar shelling.

Groups of gunmen -- Arabs and Turkman -- rove the streets on their foot or in cars and ran patrols around government buildings. Gunmen also placed explosives in the street leading to the headquarters of the governorate and the police directorate.

A group of those gunmen positioned in front of the central bank building, to the west of the city, where others are protecting the headquarters of university faculties and banks in the northern and eastern parts of the city.

Witnesses said that the fighters who took the streets are in a majority of the Sunni Arab and Turkman population as well as from adjoining areas. Most of them arrived on Thursday evening in small transport vehicles or cars to help the gunmen who were deployed in certain area of the city on Wednesday.

Despite these developments, the American forces denied that Musil is out of their control. A spokeswoman for the army said "we control the conditions completely and the terrorists are to the south west of Musil and they are deployed there and not in all parts of the city." Lt. Gen, Carter Ham from the American army announced that violence which has been continuous since three days in Musil is linked to the attack against Falluja.

Officials in the American army said yesterday they moved troops towards Musil and issued instructions for the Iraqi national guards forces positioned near the borders with Syria to move into the city.

Previous Stories:
  Continued American bombardment of Musil   (11/12/2004)
  18 US soldiers were killed in Falluja   (11/12/2004)
  Two messages from Allawi to Mubarak and Abdullah   (11/11/2004)
  Lebanese president stresses Iraq sovereignty   (11/11/2004)

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