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The
mortars flew into the governor's compound from the
neighbouring houses. They found an oil tanker, which
erupted in flames. Elsewhere in this northern city,
rocket-propelled grenades strucka US convoy.
The military operation to control Fallujah was
deemed a success by the Iraqi provisional government
yesterday. But this is the battle for Mosul. And it
continues. Yesterday's attacks were typical of the
manner in which the struggle for this city, three
times the size of Fallujah, is being played out.
Small-scale insurgent attacks ensure that American
military patrols fall short of controlling the city.
Earlier this week, a US military spokeswoman claimed
US forces had retaken two-thirds of the city's
police stations, although the insurgents had never
captured more than eight about one-third. In a
statement broadcast on local television, the
governor, who had four of his guards wounded in the
attack, urged Mosul residents to help "prevent"
similar attacks. But unlike in Fallujah, the
insurgents in Mosul are harassing American troops
and their Kurdish allies while minimising the risk
to themselves.
Sadi Ahmed Pire, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
Party representative, said the Baath party had
regrouped in Mosul and was directing attacks. He
said: "The Baath is in charge. The Islamists are
following ...
"The [insurgent] plan was to eliminate the police
stations, the Kurdish [party] offices and then the
Kurdish community. The Baath party worked to create
an ethnic war."
Kurdish intelligence sources believe that the Baath
party reorganised its forces at a secret meeting at
Hasakah, northern Syria, two months ago. At this
meeting, the Iraqi Baathists are said to have
elected a new leaderto succeed Saddam Hussein,
Younes al-Ahmad.
It is impossible to confirm these reports, but Mosul
has long been a bastion of support for Arab
nationalism in general and Baathism in particular.
It is unlikely this died with the Baathist regime in
Baghdad.
Outside the PUK headquarters, Kurdish fighters fired
heavy automatic weapons at insurgents, who fired
mortars at Kurdish positions. Mr Pire insisted
controlling Mosul was vital to preserving security
in the Kurdish regional government zone a few miles
to the east.
There were bullet holes on the PUK headquarters from
a two-hour battle last Friday. "I was here," Mr Pire
said. "My guards took part. Everyone here had to
take part." He added that the attack on the
headquarters had left 16 insurgents dead and six had
been captured. As he spoke, American jets, which
strafed parts of the city last Thursday, roared
overhead.
How the struggle for control of Mosul will unfold is
anything but clear. The Tigris river, snaking from
north to south, bisects the city into the Arab right
or west bank and the Kurdish left or east
bank. Thousands of Arabs and Kurds live in each
other's areas. So, too, do the Turkoman and
Christian minorities, leading to fears of ethnic
cleansing. Killings have already begun. "They killed
eight Kurds on the right side," Mr Pire said of the
insurgents on the west bank. "More than 30 families
have been expelled."
A Kurdish newspaper reported Kurdish homes in the
city, as well as Kurds wearing traditional clothing,
had been attacked. Many Kurds and Christians have
left Mosul for the Kurdish-controlled region.
Earlier this week I witnessed an exchange between a
suspected insurgent,Mohammed Salem Jassem At-Ta'ee,
23, and his Kurdish captors as Mr At-Ta'ee lay
bleeding on the floor of a PUK Party office in Mosul.
The Kurds claimed that Mr At-Ta'ee, an Arab, was one
of four insurgents who attacked a PUK checkpoint. He
claimed he was just passing at the time of the
attack. "You are Saudi," an officer told him. Mr At-Ta'ee
insisted he was Iraqi and lived in the Rashidieh
quarter. When asked what he was doing so far from
his own part of Mosul, he said he was shopping. "My
brother is getting married in two days, so I would
not do anything like that," he said.
His Kurdish captors clearly did not believe him.
* American troops in Fallujah found what appeared to
be a command centre used by militants loyal to the
Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
responsible for many beheadings of foreign hostages.
A separate raid nearby uncovered a bomb-making
workshop where a four-wheel-drive vehicle registered
in Texas was being converted into a bomb, according
to a CNN crew embedded with the Americans.
http://news.independent.co.uk
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