- Attempts by tribal leaders in deposed Iraqi leader Saddam
Husseinâs home city of Tikrit to broker a ceasefire with US forces
appear to have failed.
Despite the last-ditch effort to stave off an assault on the last major
town under Baathist control, US troops continued their assault on Tikrit,
apparently ignoring an appeal from 22 leaders for an end to the attack
so that a peaceful surrender could be negotiated.
Iraqi troops and paramilitaries had fled the town, said Al-Jazeera TV correspondent
Youssef Al-Sharif, who interviewed armed men who said they represented
leaders of the 15 main tribal family groups in the city 175 kilometres
north of Baghdad.
The men said they took up arms to protect the town from a possible attack
by Iraqi Kurdish fighters or Peshmerga moving in from the north after Iraqi
troops and paramilitary fighters left. They also said they wanted to prevent
the looting that has gripped major Iraqi cities since US forces entered
the heart of the capital on Wednesday.
"We are carrying arms to defend our city from the Kurds. We do not
want them in our city. We have no problems with the Americans. We want
peace but we will not allow the Kurds to come in," one unidentified
man told Al-Sharif.
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- Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and youngest son Qussay
have headed the Tikriti clan based in their home town
"We have 15 tribes here and the leaders of the tribes are negotiating
with the Americans. We don't want to fight the Americans. The Iraqi military
left the city five days ago," said the armed man.
Another resident Youssef Abdul Aziz said, "We are ready to surrender,
but let them stop their bombardments. After that we are asking for just
two days to persuade the Fedayeen to lay down their arms."
US troops launched their ground assault for Tikrit with hundreds of tanks
after weeks of aerial bombardment.
Witnesses reported the sounds of fighting from the outskirts of Tikrit.
A spokesperson for the US Central Command (Centcom) in Qatar said US forces
were inside of the town.
"We are actively engaging any forces we need to," he said.
Asked to describe the fighting, he said it was 'spotty' but added that
"when you are engaged in a firefight it is always fierce."
Some 250 US armoured vehicles have entered the city and Brigadier General
John Kelly said five Iraqi tanks had been destroyed on the outskirts and
at least 15 people killed, embedded Canadian journalist Matthew Fisher,
told CNN.
"They've brought forward a great number of Cobra assault helicopters
and marine F-18s overhead," he said.
US forces believe that about 2,500 elite Republican Guard and Fidayeen
Saddam are holding out in the city.
Centcom officials said Tikrit and other parts of the north between Baghdad
and Kirkuk where remnants of Iraqi forces were allegedly resisting are
now main targets for US-led forces.
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