Wednesday, 25 October 2006.



· US Marine, believed to be important officer, reported killed in Resistance sharpshooter attack south of al-Fallujah.



· Seven Americans reported killed in deadly Resistance attacks in al-Fallujah.



· Fierce battle rages in central Baghdad late Wednesday afternoon. Four US troops reported killed.



Al-Anbar Province.

Ar-Ramadi.



Resistance fighters attack US checkpoint in downtown ar-Ramadi Wednesday night.



In a dispatch posted at 9:50pm Makkah time Wednesday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier Iraqi Resistance fighters attacked a US checkpoint located in the al-Mal‘ab in ar-Ramadi, about 110km west of Baghdad.



The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that more than 10 Resistance fighters armed with pipe rockets and medium machine guns attacked the checkpoint inflicting dead and wounded on the Ameicans.



Local sources told the correspondent that US swarms of US helicopters flew into the area as Marines on the ground surrounded the attack zone. Two American ambulances were seen racing to the stricken checkpoint.



Al-Fallujah.



US Marine, believed to be important officer, reported killed in Resistance sharpshooter attack south of al-Fallujah.



In a dispatch posted at 1pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance marksman shot and killed a US Marine, believed to be a high-ranking American officer in the Zawbi‘ area of southern al-Fallujah.



The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that the Marine was amidst a group of US troops in the as-Sa‘dan area in the middle of Zawbi‘. The Marine officer took a direct hit in the head, killing him instantly.



The witnesses said that following the killing the Americans went crazy. An American helicopter landed in the area 15 minutes after the sharpshooter attack and the Americans began shooting wildly for about half an hour. Dozens of local people were arrested, most of them peasants.



Residents of the area who were able to escape abduction by the American troops said that they believed the Marine who was killed must have been a high-ranking officer because of the way that troops rushed in and the clear high level of concern they showed over the killing and also the fact that they closed off the whole area and arrested dozens of people who happened to be around – a sharper response than the Americans usually exhibit to sharpshooter killings.



Seven Americans reported killed in deadly Resistance attacks in al-Fallujah.



In a dispatch posted at 12:40pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance fighters carried out two ferocious attacks on US troops in al-Fallujah’s an-Nazal neighborhood and the intersection by the People’s Clinic in the center and southern part of the city.



The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a lieutenant in the puppet police in al-Fallujah, who asked not to be identified, as saying that the attacks began at about 8pm local time Tuesday night when a Resistance bomb exploded and then fighters fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a Humvee carrying four US troops near al-Karinat Street in the an-Nazal neighborhood. The explosions blew the Americans’ bodies apart.



Meanwhile, a short firefight lasting about five minutes took place after a Resistance bomb exploded by a US Humvee at the intersection by the Popular Clinic. Resistance men armed with medium machine guns then attacked. The Humvee was destroyed and three US soldiers were killed and three more wounded, the puppet police lieutenant said.



On Wednesday, the third day of the Eid al-Fitr celebrations, al-Fallujah was a tense city, its streets empty of cars and pedestrians after word spread that US occupation forces intended to carry out a wave of indiscriminate arrests of local people in the city.



Baghdad.



Combat breaks out in Baghdad’s al-Yarmuk district Wednesday evening.



In a bulletin posted at 5:42pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that violent fighting had broken out and was going on at that moment between Resistance men and US troops accompanied by their Iraqi puppet army allies in the ad-Dakhiliyah neighborhood of the al-Yarmuk district near the Mosque of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah.



The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that five Iraqi puppet army troops had been killed in the fighting so far and that a US Humvee could be seen ablaze. No further information on the nature and extent of casualties in the still on-going battle was immediately available.



Fierce battle rages in central Baghdad late Wednesday afternoon. Four US troops reported killed.



In a bulletin posted at 5:37pm Makkah time late Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that fighting was underway at that hour in the al-Khadra’ area of central Baghdad.



TheBaghdad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that dozens of Iraqi Resistance men were battling US Marine forces with cover from helicopter gun ships and Iraqi puppet army vehicles in the Baghdad district. The witnesses said that four US troops had been killed opposite the al-Mizan Restaurant in the area where a US military vehicle could be seen on fire in front of the al-Khadra’ Complex for Repair of Calculators and Mobile Phones.



The correspondent reported that the Resistance fighters were trying to draw the battle towards the service road that leads to the highway and away from residential houses. At the moment, however, it was real warfare in the streets with several Iraqi Resistance organizations under united command taking part in the battle.



US offers massive rewards for information on Resistance fighters.



In a dispatch posted at 4:20pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, US occupation forces distributed leaflets throughout various parts of Iraq in which they offered rewards ranging from 15 million Iraqi dinars (about US$10,000) to 100 million dinars (nearly US$70,000) for information on what the Americans called “terrorists,” i.e., Iraqi Resistance fighters.



The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the leaflets spoke of an American desire to make Iraq “secure.” The offer of hefty rewards for information on Resistance fighters indicated Washington’s readiness to pay out large sums of money in an effort to buy its “security.”



Salah ad-Din Province.

Ad-Dulu‘iyah.



Resistance forces ambush puppet “Shock Troops” near ad-Dulu‘iyah.



In a dispatch posted at 7:20pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance fighters armed with light and medium machine guns ambushed a patrol of puppet “Iraqi Interior Ministry Shock Troops (Maghawir) that was on its way to Balad from ad-Dulu‘iyah, 97km north of Baghdad.



The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the ad-Dulu‘iyah puppet police as saying that six puppet “Shock Troops” were killed and another five of them wounded in the attack. Afterwards, US troops arrested seven Iraqis.



Ninwa Province.

Tall ‘Afar.



Intense combat reported in Tall ‘Afar Wednesday afternoon.



In a bulletin posted at 5:30pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that fierce fighting was under way at that time between Iraqi Resistance men and US occupation troops in Tall ‘Afar, about 55km west of al-Mawsil in northern Iraq.



The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that combat was going on in the neighborhoods of Sa‘d and as-Saray in Tall ‘Afar. One US vehicle had been disabled in the course of the fighting but no information on the nature or extent of casualties was available because the area where the battle was underway was too difficult to approach.