U.S. Bombs Mosque in Fallouja

U.S. forces battling for control of this city bombed a mosque complex Wednesday after hours of fierce fighting as Pentagon officials said they might extend some soldiers’ tours of duty to quell the violence flaring across the country.

Witnesses said 40 Iraqis died in the airstrike on the mosque, which U.S. forces said Sunni Muslim insurgents had been using as a launch pad for attacks. Marines said they could confirm only that one Iraqi was killed. The fighting also left one Marine dead and four injured.

At the same time, U.S.-led troops continued to skirmish with armed supporters of radical Shiite cleric Muqtader Sadr in Baghdad and cities in southern Iraq, and his forces remained in control of a key shrine in the city of Najaf.

Sadr militiamen reportedly drove Ukrainian forces out of the town of Kut in fighting late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

A deadline set by occupation officials for Sadr to surrender expired late Wednesday without any sign that he would give himself up, members of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council said.

Sadr, wanted in the slaying of a rival cleric, issued a statement calling the U.S. the “biggest nightmare” and urging neighboring Kuwait to kick U.S. forces out of its territory.

In Crawford, Texas, President Bush spent the day secluded at his ranch, consulting with military commanders and his national security team and speaking by phone with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is to visit Washington next week.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan blamed the current unrest on “a relatively small number of extremist elements” and said the fighting did not amount to a return to “major combat” in Iraq.

Army Gen. John Abizaid, who is directing the war in Iraq, ordered commanders this week to craft plans in case conditions worsen and he calls for more troops. As of Wednesday, he had not made that request of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said.

There are now 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, 20,000 more than called for under the current Pentagon plan because new units have arrived before those they are replacing have left. But some soldiers who planned to depart soon have been ordered to remain on duty, Di Rita said. “At this moment, they’re being used in combat activities,” he said. Asked if their yearlong tours of duty had been extended, he said, “Not yet.”

In a briefing to Pentagon reporters, however, Rumsfeld signaled that extensions were likely.

“We’re taking advantage of that [temporary troop] increase, and we will likely be managing the pace of the redeployments to allow those seasoned troops with experience and relationships with the local populations to see the current situation through,” he said.

Among the key tasks facing U.S. forces is pacifying Fallouja. The job took on added urgency last week after four U.S. security contractors were attacked, killed and mutilated by an angry mob. Marines cordoned off the city late Sunday and began an operation to regain control.

Wednesday’s bombing of the mosque in Fallouja appeared likely to inflame anti-American passions around the country and intensify the battle for the city, 30 miles west of Baghdad.

“Those are dogs,” said Khali Hussein Abdullah, a Fallouja native who was walking toward the Abdul-Aziz al-Samarrai mosque when it was bombed. “Those damn cowboys! They have struck the mosque. Our Iraqi flag will continue to fly over heads of the British and the Americans.”

Marines Dismiss Claims

Abdullah said some of the dead were worshipers arriving for afternoon prayers. But Marines dismissed such claims, saying that a fierce battle had been raging around the mosque for hours when they called in an F-16 fighter jet and a Cobra helicopter to attack the complex. Marines said they had been hit by sniper fire coming from the roof of the mosque.

The helicopter shot a Hellfire missile at the complex, hitting a perimeter wall. The F-16 then dropped a laser-guided bomb at the base of the building, leaving a large crater.

Marines said the decision to call in airpower was made after they found that insurgents had hidden weapons and fighters in the back of an ambulance. The U.S. had permitted the ambulance to carry away at least half a dozen fighters killed in the gun battle around the mosque site.

“It was no longer a house of worship,” said Lt. Col. Brennan Byrne of the 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment. “It was a military target. We had to protect our Marines.”

Marines estimated that 30 to 40 insurgents were in the mosque before the bombing, but they recovered no bodies when they entered after the attack.

Officials in Fallouja estimated Wednesday that up to 100 Iraqis have died in the recent fighting here, which has been more difficult than some Marines anticipated. As of late Wednesday, U.S. forces appeared to be in control of about one-fourth of the city of 300,000.

This morning, heavy fighting resumed around the mosque.

The noise of automatic-weapons fire, helicopters and airstrikes were intertwined with the sound of the mosque’s call to prayer as Marines pushed slowly toward the center of the city.

“We haven’t fought like this in a long time.... This is my fifth [combat tour], and it’s the toughest yet,” Maj. Martin Payotelis said.

Hospitals were struggling Wednesday with shortages of blood and supplies.

“We can’t handle the high rate of casualties,” said Mohammed Ahmed, who was helping with the city’s emergency efforts. “Movement in the city is completely paralyzed. Stores are shut down. There’s no gasoline or kerosene. We can’t get food or medicine.”

Marines blamed insurgents for some civilian casualties, saying that mortar rounds fired at Marine positions near a soda bottling plant landed on a house, killing a 7-year-old girl and wounding a 3-year-old girl.

“This is urban warfare at its most intense,” Byrne said. “It takes people and it takes time.”

The bombing of the mosque led scores of locals -- who had been afraid to leave their homes in recent days -- to protest in the streets. Local clerics began broadcasting from nearby mosques, calling upon people to stage sit-ins. Bodies of some victims were quickly buried in mosque complexes until more traditional burials could be arranged.

Some Marines expressed surprise at the ferocity of the insurgents.

“Nasiriya was a playground compared to Fallouja,” said Lance Cpl. John Randall, referring to the southern city that was the site of the deadliest battle during the invasion last spring.

Violence appeared to be spreading to other cities in central and northern Iraq.

In Baqubah, offices of the provincial governor were hit with rocket-propelled grenades and a U.S. helicopter was downed by hostile fire. No U.S. casualties were reported.

In the town of Hawija near Kirkuk in northern Iraq, eight Iraqis were killed when clashes broke out between U.S. forces and demonstrators voicing support for Sunni insurgents, Reuters reported.

New details also emerged about a battle Tuesday in Ramadi that left 12 Marines dead. U.S. officials said their patrol was ambushed just outside the city. Members of the patrol died after a seven-hour standoff in which Marines abandoned their vehicles and tried to take shelter in government buildings until reinforcements could arrive, officials said.

On Wednesday, fighting there continued as Iraqis buried their dead.

Elsewhere, the military announced the deaths of two U.S. soldiers. One was slain Wednesday in a rocket-propelled grenade attack on his convoy in Baghdad; the other was killed in the Sunni Triangle city of Balad on Tuesday.

A leading member of the Iraqi Governing Council expressed concern about the spreading violence.

“We had hoped there would be no further escalation, and efforts are being made to defuse the crisis,” said Adnan Pachachi, without elaborating. “But sometimes these things are difficult to achieve.”

Marines said they were looking into whether there had been coordination between insurgents in Fallouja and Ramadi, noting that Marines faced attacks Tuesday at nearly the same time in each city.

Arab television stations aired images Wednesday of insurgents holding rifles over their heads on the city streets, as some residents cheered in the background. “We’re not hiding anymore,” one man told the satellite channel Al Jazeera. “We will fight in the open.”

Marine commanders said insurgents were being encouraged to attack the troops in broad daylight, when Americans could rely upon their superior firepower.

“They’re playing our game,” said Staff Sgt. Ernest Cardenas, 33, of Long Beach. “As long as they fight, we’ll keep killing them.”

But other members of the U.S.-led coalition seemed less sanguine about the recent heavy fighting.

Ukrainian forces pulled out of the southern town of Kut on Wednesday, a day after one soldier was slain in clashes with Sadr militia forces, Reuters reported. South Korea ordered its noncombat troops to stay in camp and increase security.

And Kazakhstan, which has about 30 troops in Iraq, said it had ordered its soldiers confined to their base in Kut until tensions abate. Kazakh officials also said they would pull their troops out of Iraq when their commitment ends in May.

In Rome, by contrast, the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi promised to stay the course, a day after Italian troops battled Sadr militiamen for five hours in Nasiriya. Fifteen Iraqis were killed and about a dozen Italian soldiers wounded.

The intense fighting alarmed Italians, most of whom did not support the war. “A Day of War for the Italians!” proclaimed the Stampa newspaper, which dedicated eight full pages to coverage of the violence in Iraq.

In Baghdad, coalition officials gave little indication of what step they would take next against Sadr, who was believed to be in hiding in Najaf. Some observers fear that arresting Sadr could spur riots nationwide.

Although it was uncertain what the expiration of the coalition’s surrender deadline meant, it seemed to clear the way for the U.S. to take military action.

Feverish Negotiations

Behind the scenes, meanwhile, Shiite clerics feverishly negotiated with Sadr and met with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani to urge him to use his influence with the 30-year-old firebrand cleric. Publicly, though, Sistani only issued a statement that seemed to denounce both sides.

“We are against the manner in which the occupation is dealing with the current situation,” he said. “We also denounce the sabotage of public and private property and everything that leads to the deterioration of order, and prevents Iraqi authorities from carrying out their duties which is in the service of the people.”

Sheik Fatih Kashif Ghitaa, a Najaf native and a chief advisor to a member of the Governing Council, said negotiators were trying to find a way for Sadr to surrender without being humiliated. One option would be for him to give himself up to tribal leaders, who would be responsible for detaining him.

It seemed unlikely, however, that the U.S.-led coalition would agree to such an arrangement. In an effort to emphasize the gravity of the crime Sadr is accused of, the Iraqi judge investigating the case held a news conference Wednesday to detail evidence implicating Sadr in the killing of cleric Abdul Majid Khoei last April. The judge, whom officials said could not be publicly identified because of the sensitivity of the case, said that the court had witnesses and evidence showing that Sadr told his followers to kill Khoei.

Perry reported from Fallouja and Sanders from Baghdad. Special correspondent Hamid Sulaibi in Fallouja and Times staff writers Alissa J. Rubin and Nicholas Riccardi in Baghdad, John Hendren in Washington and Tracy Wilkinson in Rome contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Wednesday’s developments

Baghdad An American soldier is killed by a rocket-propelled grenade attack on his convoy.

Fallouja Marines attack mosque complex; witnesses say 40 Iraqis are killed. One Marine is killed in fighting.

Other developments

Kut: Ukrainian troops are driven from the city by Shiite militia.

Hawija: Residents fight U.S. troops, leaving eight Iraqis dead.

Baqubah: Small-arms fire forces a U.S. helicopter to land; crew is unharmed. Rocket-propelled grenades strike provincial governor’s offices.

Sources: Associated Press, Times reports

--- UNPUBLISHED NOTE ---

In stories after April 9, 2004, Shiite cleric Muqtader Sadr is correctly referred to as Muqtada Sadr.

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