Eutrusca
19-11-2004, 00:07
Military Believes Zarqawi Headquarters Found
Army Major Calls Fallujah Street 'One-Stop Shop for Terrorists'
By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 18, 2004; 9:08 AM
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 18 -- U.S. soldiers discovered a house in southern
Fallujah on Thursday believed to be a main headquarters for Jordanian-born
militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of an insurgent network responsible for
bombings, kidnappings and beheadings across Iraq.
A mural in the house indicated that it belonged to Zarqawi's organization.
In the house, the soldiers found letters reportedly written by Zarqawi to his
lieutenants, medical supplies from the U.S. Agency for International
Development and boxes of ammunition from the Chinese and Jordanian armies.
Nearby were medical supplies from the International Red Cross.
The house, a simple cement structure, was on a block that Army Maj. David
Johnson described as a "one-stop shop for terrorists."
"That part of town is the most dangerous place on earth," said Johnson, a
historian attached to 1st Infantry Division's Task Force 2-2, which conducted
the raid.
U.S. military officials have said they do not know where Zarqawi is or whether
he remained in the city when American and Iraqi ground forces swept in the
night of Nov. 8.
Military officials said Fallujah was a hub for foreign fighters who joined
Zarqawi's terrorist network. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been engaged in a
fierce and costly battle to rid Fallujah of the fighters who had taken over the
city.
Uniformed insurgents in black masks attacked troops from the neighborhood
several days, ambushing them with more than 15 rocket-propelled grenades,
mortar rounds and sniper fire. U.S. warplanes and artillery subsequently bombed
the area.
U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces went back to the neighborhood on
Wednesday to look through the rubble.
Johnson, who was on the raid, said the soldiers discovered at least nine bodies
dressed in military fatigues, including a man who was identified as Sudanese.
Iraqi security forces, acting as translators, identified the letters, which
were written in black ink on white paper, as correspondence between Zarqawi and
his top aides.
The letters reportedly contained requests for financing and weapons, Johnson
said.
The soldiers also found bicycles and messenger notes with instructions such as,
"Go to the flour factory. There is something there for you."
An underground tunnel ran from a dirt fighting position outside the house to a
walled courtyard inside the compound. Soldiers hauled out boxes filled with
passports and identification cards.
In warehouse buildings not far from the house, soldiers found a classroom with
drawings of U.S. F-16 and F-18 fighter planes, a repair shop for anti-tank
rounds and a factory for making car bombs that had a Ford Explorer inside with
Texas license plates. A garage with a roll-up door had been turned into a
makeshift mosque.
Dead bodies were scattered among the rubble, the stench coming from craters in
the concrete. Soldiers said they found nobody alive on Wednesday.
In the kitchen of the house, there were cucumbers about to spoil and other
rotting vegetables. The soldiers also found crutches and eight-inch artillery
shells made for battleships.
Army Major Calls Fallujah Street 'One-Stop Shop for Terrorists'
By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 18, 2004; 9:08 AM
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 18 -- U.S. soldiers discovered a house in southern
Fallujah on Thursday believed to be a main headquarters for Jordanian-born
militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of an insurgent network responsible for
bombings, kidnappings and beheadings across Iraq.
A mural in the house indicated that it belonged to Zarqawi's organization.
In the house, the soldiers found letters reportedly written by Zarqawi to his
lieutenants, medical supplies from the U.S. Agency for International
Development and boxes of ammunition from the Chinese and Jordanian armies.
Nearby were medical supplies from the International Red Cross.
The house, a simple cement structure, was on a block that Army Maj. David
Johnson described as a "one-stop shop for terrorists."
"That part of town is the most dangerous place on earth," said Johnson, a
historian attached to 1st Infantry Division's Task Force 2-2, which conducted
the raid.
U.S. military officials have said they do not know where Zarqawi is or whether
he remained in the city when American and Iraqi ground forces swept in the
night of Nov. 8.
Military officials said Fallujah was a hub for foreign fighters who joined
Zarqawi's terrorist network. U.S. and Iraqi forces have been engaged in a
fierce and costly battle to rid Fallujah of the fighters who had taken over the
city.
Uniformed insurgents in black masks attacked troops from the neighborhood
several days, ambushing them with more than 15 rocket-propelled grenades,
mortar rounds and sniper fire. U.S. warplanes and artillery subsequently bombed
the area.
U.S. soldiers and Iraqi security forces went back to the neighborhood on
Wednesday to look through the rubble.
Johnson, who was on the raid, said the soldiers discovered at least nine bodies
dressed in military fatigues, including a man who was identified as Sudanese.
Iraqi security forces, acting as translators, identified the letters, which
were written in black ink on white paper, as correspondence between Zarqawi and
his top aides.
The letters reportedly contained requests for financing and weapons, Johnson
said.
The soldiers also found bicycles and messenger notes with instructions such as,
"Go to the flour factory. There is something there for you."
An underground tunnel ran from a dirt fighting position outside the house to a
walled courtyard inside the compound. Soldiers hauled out boxes filled with
passports and identification cards.
In warehouse buildings not far from the house, soldiers found a classroom with
drawings of U.S. F-16 and F-18 fighter planes, a repair shop for anti-tank
rounds and a factory for making car bombs that had a Ford Explorer inside with
Texas license plates. A garage with a roll-up door had been turned into a
makeshift mosque.
Dead bodies were scattered among the rubble, the stench coming from craters in
the concrete. Soldiers said they found nobody alive on Wednesday.
In the kitchen of the house, there were cucumbers about to spoil and other
rotting vegetables. The soldiers also found crutches and eight-inch artillery
shells made for battleships.