Fallujah (Iraq), November 10
Skirmishes erupted in the centre of Fallujah today as US forces fanned out through the streets after seizing one third of the Iraqi city in fighting the rebels that left 10 US troops dead.

As the largest military operation since last year’s invasion entered its second full day, the exact casualty toll was impossible to gauge, but scores of militants have been killed in air and ground fire.

Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi launched the battle to reclaim the Sunni Muslim bastion, seen as the epicentre of an insurgency plaguing Iraq, to boost security so that key elections could go ahead as planned in January.

In another drastic attempt to restore order Mr Allawi announced a night curfew for Baghdad and the surrounding areas yesterday, just two days after he declared a state of emergency in most of the country.

In a two-pronged attack on Fallujah, the Marines, backed by crack Iraqi troops, have moved down from the north spreading through the dusty alleyways and devastated, sometimes booby-trapped, buildings.

“Tanks are patrolling parts of Michigan”, the military road cutting east-west through the centre of the rebel enclave, Marine Colonel Michael Schupp, the commander leading the Marines, told AFP.

As dawn broke today, an AFP correspondent with the Marines, reported that some fighting had broken out again after clashes ended during the night.

A tank platoon that moved along Falluja’s main street saw fighters who had just come under mortar fire climb on to rooftops and fire rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and machineguns.

Tank platoon commander Lieut Joe Cash said the guerrillas were unleashing coordinated attacks.

“They hit us from one area and then another right afterwards. There is in-depth organisation. There were small-arms attacks all night,” he said.

Cash said the Marines found many weapons caches around Falluja, including some in mosques. — AFP, Reuters

Baghdad, November 10
A cousin of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, the cousin’s wife and his daughter-in-law were kidnapped last evening from their house in Baghdad, a source from the Premier’s political party said today.

Three cars with at least six men inside pulled up to the house in the southern district of Al-Kadisiya from where they took Ghazi Allawi and his two family members, the source from the Iraqi National Accord said.

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, had no further details about the attack, which took place hours after the tough-talking Prime Minister declared a night curfew in Baghdad in a bid to curb escalating violence.

The attack puts further pressure on the Premier after he launched a full-scale assault on the rebel-held city of Fallujah on Monday, seen as the epicentre of an insurgency that has gripped Iraq.

Scores of foreigners, caught up in a wave of kidnapping that has characterised the insurgency, have ended up in Fallujah, believed to be an operating base for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers — the most ruthless gang of hostage-takers in Iraq.

DUBAI: An Islamist group said in an Internet statement it abducted three relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and threatened to kill them in 48 hours if the state did not halt a raid on Fallujah and free prisoners.

“If the agent government does not meet our demands within 48 hours we will behead them (the hostages),’’ the hitherto unknown Ansar al-Jihad (Holy War Followers) Group said in a statement.

It demanded the release of all Iraqi female and male prisoners and an end to the ‘’assault’’ on the rebel-hold city of Fallujah. — AP/Reuters

Islamabad, Nov 10
Terming as “muted” India’s response to President Pervez Musharraf’s recent formulation to resolve the Kashmir issue, Pakistan today said New Delhi had not reacted with an “open heart” to the proposals.

“Unfortunately, the Indian response is muted and it has not responded to the opinions with an open heart,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told state-run PTV.

He also said Gen Musharraf has assured the people of Pakistan’s firm stance relating to UN resolutions or aspirations of Kashmiris, and the country’s participation in the ongoing dialogue process with “open eyes”.

Gen Musharraf showed substantial flexibility and offered the options, he said, commenting on the General’s October 25 suggestions of dividing Kashmir on both sides of the LoC into seven regions, demilitarising them and changing their status.

After Gen Musharraf made the remarks, India said any such proposal or suggestion should be taken up only at the ongoing composite dialogue process. “We have heard these comments. We do not believe that J and K is a subject on which discussion can be held through the media,” External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna had said.

Mr Khan said Gen Musharraf has made the most bold statement on the issue of Kashmir and has called for a new approach for the resolution of the 50-year-old problem.

He noted that Gen Musharraf has also rejected the idea of turning the Line of Control into a permanent border.

Any solution based on turning the Line of Control into permanent border “is unacceptable to Pakistan, as it is a base of the dispute and not the solution to the dispute.”

Mr Khan said time had come for the two sides to explore new and bold options to find a solution that was acceptable to Pakistan, India and Kashmiris.

To a question, he said “if we want the resolution of Kashmir, we must step forward from the ongoing stated position and show flexibility.”

He said India should respect the opinion of Kashmiri leaders and give them permission to visit Pakistan. The contacts among the parties to the Kashmir issue will resolve the long-standing problem, he added. — PTI

Vienna, November 10
Major industrial nations are close to an agreement on where to build the world’s first nuclear fusion reactor in a project to try to replicate the way the sun generates energy, a joint statement said.

It did not say where the 12 billion dollars international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) would be located, but EU officials said they were confident it would go to Cadarache, France, and not a rival Japanese site.

After talks involving the EU, the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea, a joint statement issued late yesterday said: ‘’All parties were greatly encouraged by the positive atmosphere and expressed their optimism that the process was now proceeding effectively towards a fruitful conclusion among the six parties in the near future.’’

The careful wording of the statement appeared to support the EU’s optimism. It said the two potential hosts, the European Union and Japan, had presented ‘’the results of recent intensive bilateral discussions on the balance of roles and responsibilities of host and non-host in the joint realisation of ITER’’.

Discussions would resume soon to seek a final agreement.

EU sources said Japan had effectively conceded that it would not win the contest and was holding out for industrial and scientific compensation.

A European Commission spokesman stepped back from EU threats to press ahead and build the reactor in France with whatever partners it could find if there was no global agreement. “We’re not there yet. We are still in a multilateral process,’’ spokesman Fabio Fabbi said after the talks.

Nuclear fusion has been touted as a long-term solution to the world’s energy problems as it would be low in pollution and use limitless sea water as fuel. — Reuters