|
Coalition faces army of imported suicide bombers
AS at least 12,000 coalition and Iraqi forces massed in preparation for an all-out assault on Fallujah last night, insurgent commanders inside the rebel stronghold warned that hundreds of suicide bombers had been primed as part of planning for a ferocious counter-attack.With all eyes on Fallujah, west of Baghdad, insurgents struck a devastating blow in nearby Ramadi, rounding up 21 officers at two police stations and shooting them dead execution style. "A large number of attackers, estimated at about 200, ambushed the main police station in Haditha and another smaller one in Haqlaniya," said a police officer from Haditha who was not on duty during the attack. "The attackers disarmed the police, gathered them together and then shot them dead." As US troops gathered to pray outside Fallujah, rebel leaders said more than 100 cars laden with explosives had been distributed throughout the rebel Sunni stronghold to be detonated when US marines mount a long-awaited ground offensive. One commander said 300 foreign fighters had volunteered for suicide bombings as US forces laid siege to the stronghold of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq. Some of the foreign fighters would be used in 118 vehicles already rigged with explosives, he said; others would be waiting in booby-trapped homes for US and Iraqi soldiers hunting from house to house for Zarqawi's fighters. Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-11-07 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=48061 |