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US-led forces launch offensive in Baghdad after attacks
Baghdad, Dec 26: US-led forces launched offensive operations in the Iraqi capital last night after rebel rockets and mortars pounded Baghdad in the insurgents` most serious attacks since the capture of former President Saddam Hussein, the military said.
Baghdad, Dec 26: US-led forces launched offensive operations in the Iraqi capital last night after rebel rockets and mortars pounded Baghdad in the insurgents' most serious attacks since the capture of former President Saddam Hussein, the military said.
"We can report large amounts of activity tonight. Offensive operations conducted by coalition forces include ground and air assets in cooperation with Iraqi authorities," a coalition military spokeswoman said yesterday.
The sirens came after about four hours of sporadic loud fire reverberated across the city. Some of the firing may have come from artillery, which the US-led coalition employed two nights earlier in an anti-rebel operation known as iron grip.
An airplane droned over Baghdad late yesterday as it did two nights earlier when troops called in air support from a gunship.
Christmas Day ended the way it began – with explosions.
The city awakened to thunderous booms and gunfire as guerrillas roamed the city, causing mayhem as they struck a major hotel and three foreign embassies.
Four rockets struck the citadel-like main US compound in the capital and an oil ministry guard post was sprayed with bullets.
A woman was slightly wounded when a rocket tore into her family's apartment, while a policeman's hand was blown off as he attempted to defuse a roadside bomb on a busy commercial street.
After a lull, violence has spiked since the arrest of Saddam Hussein on December 13.
The surge in attacks was a defiant response by insurgents to the coalition's push to smash them once and for all. The US military says it has arrested hundreds of suspected guerrillas since capturing the former dictator.
US soldiers detained one of Saddam's courtiers and a handful of bombmakers and financiers late Wednesday ahead of the dawn blitz on the capital.
The bombardments, apparently synchronised, took place on both the east and west banks of the Tigris River, with the main US Baghdad headquarters, the Sheraton Hotel and embassies among the most prominent targets.
Between 6:00 (0830 IST, yesterday) and 8:00 am, four rockets hit inside the coalition's main bunker on the western bank of the Tigris, but there were no casualties and only minor damage, a US officer said on condition of anonymity.
The sirens came after about four hours of sporadic loud fire reverberated across the city. Some of the firing may have come from artillery, which the US-led coalition employed two nights earlier in an anti-rebel operation known as iron grip.
An airplane droned over Baghdad late yesterday as it did two nights earlier when troops called in air support from a gunship.
Christmas Day ended the way it began – with explosions.
The city awakened to thunderous booms and gunfire as guerrillas roamed the city, causing mayhem as they struck a major hotel and three foreign embassies.
Four rockets struck the citadel-like main US compound in the capital and an oil ministry guard post was sprayed with bullets.
A woman was slightly wounded when a rocket tore into her family's apartment, while a policeman's hand was blown off as he attempted to defuse a roadside bomb on a busy commercial street.
After a lull, violence has spiked since the arrest of Saddam Hussein on December 13.
The surge in attacks was a defiant response by insurgents to the coalition's push to smash them once and for all. The US military says it has arrested hundreds of suspected guerrillas since capturing the former dictator.
US soldiers detained one of Saddam's courtiers and a handful of bombmakers and financiers late Wednesday ahead of the dawn blitz on the capital.
The bombardments, apparently synchronised, took place on both the east and west banks of the Tigris River, with the main US Baghdad headquarters, the Sheraton Hotel and embassies among the most prominent targets.
Between 6:00 (0830 IST, yesterday) and 8:00 am, four rockets hit inside the coalition's main bunker on the western bank of the Tigris, but there were no casualties and only minor damage, a US officer said on condition of anonymity.