Iraq's prime minister yesterday threatened military action against the rebel stronghold of Fallujah if residents don't hand over Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab Zarqawi. "If they do not turn in al-Zarqawi and his group, we will carry out operations in Fallujah," Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told a meeting of the 100-member National Council. "We will not be lenient."
Mr. Allawi's warning came as government negotiators and Fallujah representatives tried to work out a deal to restore government control over the city, seen as the hardest militant-held region to crack. The chief negotiator representing Fallujah said yesterday that the talks are in their final phase, but that differences remain over handing over rebels wanted by Iraqi and U.S. authorities on criminal charges. Many in the city view the Iraqis fighting in the insurgency as heroic "mujahideen," or holy warriors. A videotape posted yesterday on an Islamic Web site showed militants linked to Zarqawi beheading two Iraqis who they accused of being intelligence officers.
Elsewhere in Iraq yesterday, a suicide bomber plowed his vehicle into a U.S. convoy in the northern city of Mosul, killing two American soldiers and wounding five, according to the military. Four other soldiers were killed in roadside bombings in the Baghdad area — three late Tuesday and one early yesterday, the U.S. military command said. |