US bans civilian traffic on Iraq highways

By PATRICK COCKBURN

BAGHDAD - In a bid to end guerrilla attacks on its supply lines, the US yesterday banned civilian traffic on some of Iraq's most-used highways and declared them free-fire zones.

All vehicles not belonging to the US military will be fired on according to US military command.

The move over the weekend is likely to cause massive dislocation by preventing Iraqis using the highways north and south of Baghdad -- the main economic lifelines of the country -- where insurgents have launched frequent attacks. The main roads to Turkey, Jordan and Kuwait will be cut.

Meanwhile, the extent of the rebellion is continuing to expand to parts of the country hitherto peaceful. Five US marines were killed and nine wounded when hundreds of guerrillas attacked American forces close to the Syrian border on Saturday. The pitched battle started when the Marines were ambushed in the town of Husaybah west of Baghdad according to a reporter from the St Louis Post-Despatch who was with the Marines.

Ten Iraqis were killed and another 30 wounded - both guerrillas and civilian bystanders - a doctor at the nearby city of al-Qaim said. The Husaybah police chief Imad al-Mahlawi was reportedly killed by a Marine sniper.

The attack is important because it shows insurgents operating in larger numbers than before and seeking to relieve the pressure on Fallujah where a shaky truce continues. Marine intelligence said that 300 Iraqi mujahedeen from Fallujah and Ramadi had first attacked an outpost by setting off a roadside bomb and then fired mortar rounds at the Marines when they left their base.

Two British soldiers were injured when their convoy was ambushed in southeast Iraq, the Defence Ministry said yesterday. They were shot during an attack on a joint British Army and Iraqi Civil Defence Corps convoy late on Saturday near the town of Amara.

The US military command in Baghdad was shocked over the last two weeks to find that its truck convoys were coming under repeated attack leading to a shortage of supplies. It has admitted that this is one of the reasons that it needs an extra 20,000 soldiers.

The civilians working for the Coalition Provisional Authority in the heavily fortified 'Green Zone' in Baghdad have been told that they may have to go on army rations because of lack of food.

The aim of banning civilian traffic is apparently to allow the US troops to open fire on anybody other than their own soldiers on the highways. Roadside bombs -- usually heavy artillery shells with a detonator and a command wire or remote control -- have caused devastating losses over the last year.

"Civilians that attempt to drive on these roads may be considered anti-Coalition forces and risk being subject to attack," the US military announced yesterday. "If civilians drive on the closed sections of the highways they may be engaged with deadly force." The military says it will also be repairing these roads but the aim of their closure for an indefinite period is to reserve them exclusively for military traffic.

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Herald Feature: Iraq