"U.S., Iraqi Troops Launch Mosul Offensive" (Offensive is a good name for

[GreenPartyVoter]

it)


BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi troops stormed insurgent-held police stations and neighborhoods Tuesday, launching an offensive to retake parts of this northern Iraqi city where gunmen staged a mass uprising last week in support of fighters in Fallujah.

Troops secured several police stations by the mid-afternoon, meeting "very little resistance," the U.S. military said. Witnesses said insurgents blew up three stations they were holding before abandoning them ahead of the U.S. assault.

U.S. warplanes and helicopters hovered over Mosul - Iraq's third largest city, with about 1 million residents - as loud explosions and gunfire were heard. About 1,200 U.S. soldiers were taking part in the offensive to recapture about a dozen police stations abandoned by Iraqi forces in the uprising.

Mortars struck two areas near the main government building in the city center, killing three civilians and injuring 25 others, hospital officials said. A car bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy in a Sunni Arab neighborhood of western Mosul, wounding one U.S. soldiers, the military said.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20041116/D86D2KE81.html

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