Sun Nov 7, 2004 06:51 PM ET
By Michael Georgy
NEAR FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes pounded Falluja early on Monday as ground forces battled insurgents on the outskirts of the rebel-held city that American and Iraqi forces were poised to storm.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, declaring a 60-day state of martial law on Sunday to rein-in an insurgency that has claimed dozens of lives over the last two days and threatens January elections, said a move to retake Falluja could not be delayed much longer.
An AC-130 gunship struck Falluja with cannon fire and machine guns as American forces were massed on two sides of the city that Iraqi and U.S. authorities say is a base for loyalists of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
A U.S. Marine tank company and infantry unit moved to a staging area near Falluja early on Monday. U.S. forces say they only await word from Allawi to begin their assault 32 miles west of Baghdad.
"He still hopes that it may be possible to avoid a major military confrontation in Falluja ... He is, however, not optimistic," said Allawi spokesman Thair al-Naqib.
Witnesses said there was heavy fighting on the eastern and western fringes of the city, including around a bridge over the Euphrates. The Iraqi 36th Command Battalion seized the main hospital in Falluja, blindfolding a number of people and kicking down doors but not firing a shot.
The U.S. military says 1,000 to 6,000 fighters are holed up in Falluja. U.S. attacks have killed dozens of guerrillas but have failed to scare them away, a senior Marine commander said.
Ahead of the U.S. and Iraqi offensive, insurgents in other cities have stepped up attacks to show their muscle.
Police said gunmen killed 22 policemen in three attacks on Sunday. The bloodiest was on Haqlaniya post near Haditha, 200 km (125 miles) northwest of Baghdad, where insurgents lined nine policemen against a wall and shot them, witnesses said.
A group led by Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a statement posted on a Web site often used by Islamists.
"POWERFUL MESSAGE"
Allawi declared the state of emergency across Iraq, except the region of Kurdistan, to ensure security before the Jan. 27 elections President Bush says will be a cornerstone in building a democratic Iraq.
"This will send a very powerful message that we are serious," Allawi told reporters of the martial law decree.
"We want to secure the country so elections can be done in a peaceful way."
Giving itself power to declare emergency rule, equivalent to martial law, was one of the first things the government did after replacing the U.S.-led administration on June 28. But this is the first time it has used the power.
Allawi did not say how he would use the new powers, but emergency rule gives the government the right to impose curfews, set up checkpoints, and search and detain suspects.
Moments after the announcement, a car bomb exploded near the house of Finance Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in Baghdad's Karrada district, killing a policeman and a ministerial bodyguard. Abdul Mahdi was not hurt.
Insurgents also kept up attacks on U.S.-led forces and Iraqis working for them.
An American soldier was killed and another wounded when their convoy was attacked west of Baghdad and a car bomb killed another U.S. soldier and wounded four in western Baghdad.
A suicide bomber drove into a U.S. convoy on the Baghdad airport road in an attack also claimed by Zarqawi's group.
The bodies of three Iraqi translators for U.S. forces were found in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, police said.
(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Terry Friel and Lin Noueihed in Baghdad, Fadel al-Badrani in Falluja, Sabah al-Bazee in Samarra, and Dubai bureau)
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