Insurgents Spark a Fierce Battle in Fallouja

Marines backed by helicopter gunships and F-16 jets fought a fierce five-hour battle in this city Wednesday with scores of insurgents armed with grenades, machine guns and mortar shells.

The early morning fighting, which came less than 48 hours after U.S. and Iraqi representatives agreed on a preliminary plan for a full cease-fire in Fallouja, left three Marines wounded, one critically. Officials said that at least nine insurgents were killed and an unknown number injured.

Marines said the fighting began after insurgents attacked U.S. troops as they patrolled the deserted, bullet-riddled Jolan neighborhood in the northwestern corner of the city.

Marines said that upward of 100 insurgents were involved and that many seemed to rush toward U.S. positions in what 1st Sgt. James Madden called “almost a suicide-like attack.”

Even the presence of tanks did not deter the fighters, Marines said. The insurgents attacked the tanks with rocket-propelled grenades, but the weapons either missed their targets or bounced off the armored vehicles, which responded with massive firepower. Cobra and Huey helicopters raked buildings with gunfire, and the bombs dropped by the F-16s flattened several structures.

Insurgents used grenades, machine guns and mortar shells in continuous volleys. Marine snipers said they hit several attackers.

The insurgents used neighborhood mosques as gathering spots, and one house of worship blared out martial music from its minaret, then issued a call for residents to “rise up in a jihad against the Americans.”

Marines said they chose not to target the mosque and used a public address system to answer back in Arabic. Their message: The insurgents were violating the peaceful tenets of the Koran and were a threat to Islam. The mosque switched to its morning call to prayers.

“You have to look at the risk versus the gain: the destruction of the enemy versus the loss of goodwill from the people,” said 1st Lt. Ben Deda, who helped direct the Marine counteroffensive.

Marines have established a stronghold in homes along several streets in the otherwise abandoned Jolan neighborhood. The insurgents have kept positions several hundred yards away, rarely venturing out at night, lest they draw fire from Air Force AC-130 gunships with power cannons and optics that allow excellent night vision.

Cpl. Darrell Gibbs, 22, of Atlanta, was asleep when Wednesday’s fight began shortly before dawn.

“We heard this loud explosion and we all thought, ‘Man, we’re going to be in [trouble] now,’ ” Gibbs said. “It was all very scary, very nervous.”

“The rounds were going off so fast, the whole house was shaking,” said Lance Cpl. Jacob Atkinson, 21, of Richmond, Va.

But Lance Cpl. Jesse Tellez, 20, of Eagle Pass, Texas, said that within minutes, the tide of battle turned.

“We got the best of them, right away,” Tellez said. “Every three minutes you’d hear a loud bang, glass was breaking, the buildings were shaking. We were using a lot of ammo.”

Soon, helicopters and jets were hitting insurgent positions.

“That was a great sound when we heard them arriving,” said Sgt. Casey Olson, 26, of Fargo, N.D. “You can feel very alone and vulnerable when you’re out there, but when you hear those Cobras and fixed-wing, you know they’re looking over your shoulder and it feels good.”

It was not immediately clear how Wednesday’s battle would affect efforts to end the siege of Fallouja. Marines encircled the city of about 300,000 that sits 35 miles west of Baghdad more than two weeks ago, after four U.S. contractors were ambushed and their bodies dragged through the streets and mutilated.

U.S. forces have vowed to take back control of the city from insurgents and find those responsible for the March attack on the contractors. Marines had pushed part way into the city but halted their advance amid efforts by representatives of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council and others to negotiate an end to the conflict. Hundreds have been reported killed in the fighting.

After plans for a full cease-fire were announced Monday, Marines agreed to open a bridge across the Euphrates River and allow some of the thousands of people who had fled the fighting to return. But on Wednesday, Lt. Col. Gregg Olson ordered the span closed so that it could not be used to bring in reinforcements or ammunition for the insurgents.

“It appears the enemy has put together a plan to violate the cease-fire,” Olson said in the middle of the fight. The bridge was reopened late Wednesday.

But in a positive sign, 123 members of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps returned to duty Wednesday, adding to the 230 who reported back Tuesday. Many members of the Iraqi security forces had fled the fighting in Fallouja and refused to assist the Marines. Some of the returning officers brought small caches of arms that they had found or had been turned over to them, but Marine officials said few insurgents were heeding the call to turn in heavy weapons such as mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades.

The fighting left many of the Marines buoyed by their apparent victory -- and angry at the insurgents.

“We’re still in the city,” said Cpl. Chris Walti, 31, of Portland, Ore. “They can’t kick us out. I haven’t seen anything from them yet.”