The AFP news agency reported that some 1,000 U.S. ground troops, along with tanks and Iraqi special forces, are moving towards the city.
Lyle Gilbert, a spokesman for U.S. Marines, said the mission is to disrupt militants' ability to conduct terror attacks.
The move followed by a day a pair of suicide bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone that killed at least five people.
Followers of Jordanian activist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for those attacks. Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on 13 October that Al-Fallujah must surrender al-Zarqawi or face a military assault. City leaders have said they have no knowledge of his whereabouts.
The ground offensive followed a night of air and artillery strikes on suspected al-Zarqawi hideouts that hospital sources say left eight Iraqis killed and 23 wounded.
(AFP/Reuters/AP)
[For the latest news on Iraq, see RFE/RL's webpage on "The New Iraq".]
Lyle Gilbert, a spokesman for U.S. Marines, said the mission is to disrupt militants' ability to conduct terror attacks.
The move followed by a day a pair of suicide bombings inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone that killed at least five people.
Followers of Jordanian activist Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for those attacks. Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on 13 October that Al-Fallujah must surrender al-Zarqawi or face a military assault. City leaders have said they have no knowledge of his whereabouts.
The ground offensive followed a night of air and artillery strikes on suspected al-Zarqawi hideouts that hospital sources say left eight Iraqis killed and 23 wounded.
(AFP/Reuters/AP)
[For the latest news on Iraq, see RFE/RL's webpage on "The New Iraq".]
