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U.S. Troops Push Into Al-Fallujah


U.S. troops continued to take more of the city today 10 November 2004 -- U.S.-led forces today pushed insurgents into a narrow strip of Al-Fallujah after the military said it seized control of 70 percent of the restive Sunni city.

U.S. Marine Lieutenant General John Sattler, commander of the U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told reporters in Al-Fallujah that the offensive will continue until all insurgent resistance pockets are eliminated.

"The mission is the liberation of the entire city of Fallujah and part of that mission is to ensure that there are no safe havens [for insurgents] throughout the entire city of Fallujah," Sattler said.

The Iraqi government today said "many armed groups" in Al-Fallujah have asked to surrender.

And Iraqi forces today said they have found what they referred to as "hostage slaughterhouses" in Al-Fallujah where foreign hostages were held and killed.

Separately, Arabic news television station Al-Jazeera today aired a videotape showing masked militants pointing guns to what they said were 20 Iraqi national guards they had captured in the city of Al-Fallujah. The authenticity of the video could not be immediately confirmed.

Meanwhile, the Ansar Al-Jihad, a group that has seized three relatives of interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, has threatened to kill them unless Allawi halts the Al-Fallujah offensive.

(Reuters/AFP/AP)

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