AL- FALLUJAH SPOKESMAN DENIES US CONTROL OF CITY DISTRICTS; TALKS OF MEDIA BLACKOUT
NOV 14, 2004
The official spokesman for the Al- Fallujah Mujahidin Shura Council Abu-Sa’d al-Dulaymi on 13 November denied the Iraqi and US forces had conquered Al- Fallujah’s districts, but confirmed the US control of the town’s main streets.
“As for Al- Fallujah military situation, it did not change. The US forces have not changed (their activities) for the past two days. They are still outside Al-Julan neighbourhood,” Al-Dulaymi told Al-Jazeera TV in an interview carried at 2000 gmt.
“The US forces were not able to approach one inch of the soil of this neighbourhood. The military situation in the city is the same for the past three days. The US forces are controlling the main streets and the tanks on the streets protect them with violent bombardment. As for the rest of neighbourhoods and the side roads in all the neighbourhoods, the US forces were not able to take control of them.”
“If the US forces mean by calling the neighbourhoods of Al-Askari, Al-Shuhada, Al-Sina’i, Al-Jughayfi, Al-Wihdah, and Al-Jumhuriyah as pockets (of resistance) which they do not control thus far, I tell you that Al- Fallujah consists only of all these neighbourhoods,” Al-Dulaymi said.
He added:
“There are no neighbourhoods outside Al- Fallujah. The US forces are currently facing a crisis. Their announcement on the end of the military operation is a proof that the US forces have reached an impasse as they are facing great resistance from inside and they are besieged from outside. They are being hit by rockets and mortars.”
Al-Dulaymi further denied the US forces had killed 1,000 fighters, saying:
“They (US forces) said that they killed more than 1,000 fighters. This is a lie. The number of the Al- Fallujah youths, who were martyred, did not exceed 100 fighters. As for the rest of those, who were killed, they were from the defenceless civilians including those who were run over by the US forces’ tanks.”
“They said that the gracious great struggler Shaykh Abdallah al-Janabi left the city. This is a lie. Abdallah al-Janabi is defending the honour of Muslims and the creed of the Islamic nation in Al- Fallujah. He is the one who is leading the youths and he is the one who is inciting them to fight in the city. Their announcement on ending the operations in Al- Fallujah is a lie.”
Al-Dulaymi concluded:
“The young mujahidin in Al- Fallujah managed to burn more than 12 vehicles since yesterday and today. According to our statistics of the vehicles (we destroyed), the number of the criminal US and Iraqi renegades, who were killed, reached thus far more than 150. This is proved by the fact that more than 270 wounded (US soldiers) arrived in Germany yesterday and a second group arrived there today. All what is reported on Al- Fallujah is a serious media blackout. There are massacres, carnage, and destruction in Al- Fallujah. They shelled Al- Fallujah Telecommunication Station today, the only station through which we can contact the outer world.”
Source: Al-Jazeera TV, Doha, in Arabic 2005 gmt 13 Nov 04, copyright BBC Monitoring 2004. For fair use only
