World News 10-11-2004 US Tightens Grip On Rebel City who: Lt Gen Thomas Metz what: Says coalition advance on Fallujah is ahead of schedule where: Iraq when: Yesterday snippet: "US troops pushed into the centre of Falluja yesterday," says The Guardian, "fighting their way from house to house and shooting through bands of militants in their drive to recapture the city that has been the centre of insurgency since the fall of Saddam Hussein." The BBC reports that resistance has been lighter than expected and the US-led forces have achieved their objectives on or ahead of schedule so far, according to Lt Gen Thomas Metz, the American officer in charge of the assault. In spite of claims two weeks ago that there were "6,000 heavily armed militants" in the city, says Kim Sengupta in The Independent, the coalition has in fact only encountered "small groups of fighters, sometimes no more than 20 strong" and the Americans "vastly outnumber and outgun them". Meanwhile, The Telegraph says "terrorists" have been firing their guns indiscriminately in the streets of Ramadi 30 miles west of Fallujah, in an apparent show of defiance. And prime minister Iyad Allawi has imposed an indefinite curfew on Baghdad between every night between 10.30pm and 4.00am. And in breaking news, The Times says three members of Mr Allawi`s family have been kidnapped by gunmen. "Spokesman George Sada told Reuters a first cousin of the Prime Minister, the cousin’s wife and another family member were seized from their home in Baghdad this morning." [... more]

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