American and Iraqi troops fighting for control of Falluja yesterday uncovered several "hostage slaughter houses" where kidnap victims had been murdered, a senior Iraqi general said. Rory McCarthy in Baghdad reports.
The buildings, in northern areas of the city known to be insurgent strongholds, were littered, he said, with debris from insurgents including lists of names of hostages.
Maj Gen Abdul Qader Mohan, the commander of Iraqi forces fighting in the city, said his men discovered "the black clothing that they used to wear so no one knew it was them".
The soldiers also found hundreds of CDs showing beheadings and "whole records with names of hostages", he said. More than 100 foreigners, mostly truck drivers or contractors working for the US military, have been kidnapped since April by Islamist insurgent groups operating from bases in Falluja.
Yesterday, another Islamist group said it had kidnapped three relatives of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Mr Iyad Allawi.
Mr Ghazy Allawi (75), a first cousin of the prime minister, his wife and their daughter-in-law were seized on Tuesday night as they walked from their house to a car in the Yarmouk neighbourhood of Baghdad.
Between six and eight gunmen captured the three and drove off with them. One police source said there had been a short gun battle.
The discovery came as US and Iraqi troops continued their street by street sweep through Falluja, claiming they now had control of 70 per cent of the city, including key buildings.
By the end of the third full day of operations, US troops had taken up positions around two mosques, in the main police station and in the town hall next door, even raising an Iraqi flag. But they continued to come under heavy fire and Iraqi rebels last night released a video showing what they said were 20 Iraqi national guards they had captured during the fighting. The video, a copy of which was given to Reuters, showed masked rebels pointing rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers at a group of men with their backs to the camera wearing national guard uniforms. The video could not be authenticated.
US commanders said 11 US and two Iraqi soldiers had been killed in the battle and at least 31 Americans and 16 Iraqis injured. The military said at least 70 insurgents had died, although there was no independent confirmation.
Although the death toll on the US side is now higher than in the first assault on Falluja in April, officers sounded confident that the insurgents were being beaten.
"We are comfortable that they are not able to communicate, to work out any co-ordination," said Lieut Gen John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "They are now in small pockets, blind, moving about the city. We will continue to hunt them down and destroy them."
Mr Allawi insisted he would press on with the attack, despite the kidnap of his relatives. He said some groups were preparing to surrender and may be offered an amnesty.
Lieut Gen Thomas Metz, the second most senior commander in Iraq, has admitted that many senior insurgent leaders, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, have probably fled the city.
Aid officials voiced growing concern about the situation in Falluja and the surrounding areas where thousands of families have fled to shelter. Reports from the city spoke of bodies lying unattended on the streets and continued food, electricity and water shortages.
Across the rest of Iraq there were outbreaks of heavy fighting in several areas. Last night, police in Baghdad said a car bomb aimed at police patrol cars had killed up to 10 civilians.
- (Guardian Service)