My Way News: "At a U.S. camp outside Fallujah, Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, commander of the 1st Marine Division, said the operation was running 'ahead of schedule' but he would not predict how many days of fighting lay ahead.
He said militants have been using mosques as military strong-points.
'In almost ever single mosque in Fallujah, we have found an arms cache,' he said. 'We have found IED-making (bomb-making) factories. We have found fortifications. We've been shot at by snipers from minarets.'
Natonski also said he had visited a 'slaughterhouse' in the northern Jolan neighborhood where hostages were held and possibly killed by militants. He described a small room with no windows and just one door. He said he saw two thin mattresses, straw mats covered in blood and a wheelchair that apparently was used to transport captives.
Also, a Fox News reporter embedded with India Company of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment said the unit found five bodies in a locked house in northwest Fallujah on Wednesday. All the victims were shot in the back of the head. Their identities were not known, although there were indications they were civilians, the report said.
Late Thursday, Marines found the Syrian driver captured with two French journalists in August inside an undisclosed location in Fallujah. Capt. Ed Bitanga said the man told military officials he had been separated from the journalists about a month ago.
On Aug. 20, Christian Chesnot, 37, with Radio France Internationle, and Georges Malbrunot, 41, with Le Figaro, disappeared along with their Syrian driver Mohammed al-Joundi on a trip to the holy city of Najaf. A militant group calling itself 'the Islamic Army in Iraq' claimed responsiblity, demanding that France revoke a new law banning Islamic head scarves from state schools.
U.S. officials believe the al-Qaida-linked terror movement of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who claimed responsibility for many of the kidnappings and beheadings of foreign hostages, used Fallujah as a base. They said they believe al-Zarqawi may have slipped away before the offensive."
He said militants have been using mosques as military strong-points.
'In almost ever single mosque in Fallujah, we have found an arms cache,' he said. 'We have found IED-making (bomb-making) factories. We have found fortifications. We've been shot at by snipers from minarets.'
Natonski also said he had visited a 'slaughterhouse' in the northern Jolan neighborhood where hostages were held and possibly killed by militants. He described a small room with no windows and just one door. He said he saw two thin mattresses, straw mats covered in blood and a wheelchair that apparently was used to transport captives.
Also, a Fox News reporter embedded with India Company of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment said the unit found five bodies in a locked house in northwest Fallujah on Wednesday. All the victims were shot in the back of the head. Their identities were not known, although there were indications they were civilians, the report said.
Late Thursday, Marines found the Syrian driver captured with two French journalists in August inside an undisclosed location in Fallujah. Capt. Ed Bitanga said the man told military officials he had been separated from the journalists about a month ago.
On Aug. 20, Christian Chesnot, 37, with Radio France Internationle, and Georges Malbrunot, 41, with Le Figaro, disappeared along with their Syrian driver Mohammed al-Joundi on a trip to the holy city of Najaf. A militant group calling itself 'the Islamic Army in Iraq' claimed responsiblity, demanding that France revoke a new law banning Islamic head scarves from state schools.
U.S. officials believe the al-Qaida-linked terror movement of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who claimed responsibility for many of the kidnappings and beheadings of foreign hostages, used Fallujah as a base. They said they believe al-Zarqawi may have slipped away before the offensive."
Comments