Blast heard as hundreds of US troops cut off Fallujah

[DuctapeFatwa]

Hundreds of US troops and vehicles have been deployed to the hotspot town of Fallujah in Iraq where they cut the two main access roads linking it with Baghdad, witnesses said.

An AFP correspondent said the main highway linking the capital to Fallujah, 50 kilometres west of Baghdad was cut, along with an old route that also linked the two cities.

One witness added troops blocked the exit and entry points to Fallujah at about 9:00am Saturday local time, and traffic had backed-up "for kilometres" heading into the town.

US soldiers regularly come under attack in Fallujah, part of a Sunni Muslim belt where loyalty to ousted president Saddam Hussein has sorely tested US occupation forces.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s950097.htm

edit to add update

An explosion and an exchange of small arms gunfire struck the centre of the hotspot of Fallujah as hundreds of US troops and vehicles were deployed to the town, witnesses said.

An AFP correspondent said the explosion was heard across Fallujah, 50 kilometres (35 miles) west of Baghdad, when it detonated at about 10:20 am (0620 GMT) and gunfire erupted immediately afterwards.

The explosion occurred shortly after the main highway and a second access route, both linking the capital to Fallujah, were re-opened after being cut by hundreds of troops and vehicles entering the city.

One witness said troops blocked the exit and entry points to Fallujah at about 9:00 am Saturday (0500 GMT) and traffic had backed-up "for kilometres" heading into the town.

However, the witness said the roads were re-opened after 10:00 am as the troop convoys divided into two lines and were deployed to separate US bases on the southern and western perimeters of the city. Another explosion went off outside a sports club belonging to the former Iraqi army in central Baghdad overnight, but it caused no injuries.

The blast, which sent up a large smoke cloud, was heard at about 8:55 pm Friday (1655 GMT) on the north-south motorway that dissects the capital, and caused shockwaves that rattled windows across the city. The sports club, used by officers of the former Iraqi army of deposed president Saddam Hussein, was empty at the time of the blast. There were no injuries, but a passing taxi was damaged.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030920/1/3ebp2.html

[izzie]

1. Carl is going crazy. I am sure he is now running the war.

'do any thing to stop the killing, we need Bush back in"and the orders go out from that man in the WH. After all those right wing nuts know they are right and will take all our freedom to prove they are right.They must get the deaths stopped in Iraq. Am. that is.

[R Hickey]

2. So this is what? Retaliation for their retaliation?

Conquering Iraq won't work unless you are willing to kill all the people in the country, like Hitler, when he tried to gain land in the east for Nazi Germany.

The Neo-Cons haven't figured this out. If they want Iraq's oil, they must demonstrate to the Iraqi people that Bush is willing to kill, or herd into consentration camps, all of Iraq's population in order to extract that oil.

If we go forward with the PNAC neo-con plan to conquer the whole area, Syria, Iran, etc, then Amerika will probably lose a lot of soldiers, until Rove deploys the 'final solution' to solve this 'Arab problem.'

[xchrom]

3. ok so they cut the town off

had a gun fight and a big explosion -- and to the citizens of falujah the point of all this was?
what was accomplished?
what was the point to begin with?
this is chaos.

[LosinIt]

4. oh, Fallulah is a TOWN, I though they were cutting off body parts

go ahead, read the title of this thread again! Why would they cut of their fallulah??

[jbm]

8. LOLOL

Thanks for the laugh. That was pretty funny.:D

[markses]

5. "Friendly Citizens of Fallujah!"

"This area is controlled by the B.E. (Bitter Enders/ Baath Extremists)! Please collect at the center of Fallujah for transportation to a friendly location! Friendly citizens of Fallujah! The US Army is you friend! The US Army is here to defend you from the B.E.! Friendly citizens of Fallujah! Please collect at center of city for transportation. Anyone who is not transported will be considered B.E.! Friendly citizens of Fallujah! Good citizens of Fallujah! The US Army is your friend!"

[zanana]

6. Did this happen today (Sat.) or yesterday?

It's getting hard to keep up with all these explosions. Is this about the explosion that happened on Fri.(in which noone was injured), or today?

[alcuno]

7. Fallujah isn't a TOWN it's a CITY!

There are some 270,000 people in Fallujah so I think that makes it a CITY. The word town is used deliberately to make it sound like it's Mayberry or something.

Here are the population numbers in Iraq's cities and towns...
http://www.world-gazetteer.com/c/c_iq.htm#pl_20