"Basically there's a lot of stuff blowing up right now," said Lt. Todd Hildebrant, 28, of Grafton, Mass., who was one of several soldiers from Task Force 2-2 of the Army's 1st Infantry Division watching the fireworks from their operations center outside the city.
Military commanders said the advance from the north was intended to surprise the insurgents, who they believe were expecting an assault from the west, a relatively quiet part of the city that U.S. forces easily took on Sunday night.
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, urges Iraqi troops to free the people of Fallujah "taken hostage" by insurgents.
(Pool Photo/Mehdi Fedouach Via Reuters)
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_____From Fallujah_____
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Photo Gallery: U.S. forces began a long-anticipated urban offensive on the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah.
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MSNBC Video: Post's Spinner speaks live from the field on the battle for Fallujah.
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Video: Scenes of U.S. soldiers taking over two bridges and a hospital in Fallujah's western outskirts.
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Iraq Casualties
Number of total U.S. military deaths and names of the U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war as announced by the Pentagon yesterday: 1,133 Fatalities
In hostile actions: 871
In non-hostile actions: 262
Spec. Cody L. Wentz, 21, of Williston, N.D.; Army National Guard 141st Engineer Battalion, based in Williston, N.D.; Killed Nov. 4 on a supply route; no location available. Sgt. Carlos M. Camacho-Rivera, 24, of Carolina, Puerto Rico; 368th Transportation Company, 11th Transportation Battalion, based at Fort Story, Va. Died Nov. 5 at the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad of wounds received in Fallujah earlier that day. Pvt. Justin R. Yoemans, 20, of Eufaula, Ala.; 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery, based at Fort Hood, Tex. Killed Nov. 6 at the 31st Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad of wounds received in Baghdad earlier that day. All troops were killed in action unless otherwise indicated. Total fatalities include three civilian employees of the Defense Department. A full list of casualties is available online at www.washingtonpost.com/nation SOURCE: Defense Department's www.defenselink.mil/news The Washington Post
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U.S. and Iraqi forces stormed Fallujah General Hospital late Sunday night without firing a shot, said 1st Lt. Lyle Gilbert, a spokesman for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. But when insurgents fired rockets at the building, and when the Marines securing nearby bridges tried to push forward slightly, insurgents launched a counteroffensive that resulted in a five-hour gun battle, witnesses said.
Col. John R. Ballard, commander of the Marine 4th Civil Affairs Group, based in Washington, said the military had been planning for weeks to secure the hospital as a prelude to a potential battle.
"We've surrounded it to protect it," Ballard said. "The key word here is to protect."
Rafe Hyad, the hospital's general manager, said U.S. forces locked him in a room after breaking down the doors.
They "ordered me not to go out," he said. "They searched all the rooms, asking for the reason why every one of the patients is here. We have a lot of pregnant women and premature children in the hospital."
Witnesses said U.S. airstrikes hit another hospital that had been established about three months ago by the former president of the United Arab Emirates.
Vick reported from Baghdad. Special correspondents Omar Fekeiki near Fallujah and Khalid Jaffar and Bassam Sebti in Baghdad contributed to this report.
