MOSUL, Iraq, Nov 15 (AFP) - A US army combat team has started combing the deserted streets of Mosul searching for rebels whom they say have flocked to Iraq's third-largest city after an all-out assault by US-led forces on their stronghold in Fallujah to the south.
Dozens of Stryker armoured vehicles carrying about 350 infantrymen from the 1st and 3rd battalions of the 24th Infantry Division fanned out north and east of Mosul on Sunday.
One of the monitors inside the high-tech armoured vehicles showed an aerial map of the city replete with blue circles tracking the troops' movements.
Two others showed the empty streets ahead and several plumes of smoke on the horizon.
An old woman pushed a man in a wheelchair on the side of the street while two men scurried across the street as they saw the US military approaching.
The few civilian vehicles in sight were ordered to turn away by a gunner peering through one of the Stryker's turrets.
It was the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. What is normally an occasion for celebrations and family outings was greeted instead by residents in Iraq's northern capital with fear and apprehension.
A series of daring and coordinated attacks by insurgents on police stations in the city on Wednesday left at least five people dead and several wounded.
The provincial governor Duraid Kashmula declared a round-the-clock curfew which was later set from 4:00 pm to 6:00 am.
"Normally all we do is patrol, drive around an area and make sure everybody is doing good, but lately it has been more attacks, way more attacks," said Sergeant Antonio Greene, 28, of the 3rd Battalion's 21st Regiment.
He added that insurgents had tried in recent days to ambush US troops and attack them with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
"That's when we stopped everything and said we need to clear this area and get the weapons off the street," says the Puerto Rico native.
His platoon commander promises a series of operations over the next few days aimed at flushing out the insurgents.
Suddenly the US military vehicles veered off the street and into a cluster of two-storey homes under construction. The doors of the vehicles pushed down and the soldiers ran towards the homes and got down on their knees and pointed their weapons in attack mode.
They had been tipped off that insurgents were using the homes as hideouts or attack bases.
They entered the bare concrete buildings one-by-one.
No one is at home but they find hand grenades, a bag of rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and bomb-making materials
"Since the assault on Fallujah it is definitely getting heated here," said Sergeant Julio Diaz.
"In the past three days everybody noticed the difference, I am pretty sure the insurgents are moving north."
But finding them is another matter given their agility, knowledge of the terrain and more importantly their ability to blend into the general population.
"You do not know who's who," Diaz added.
Iraq's Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan has promised wide-scale operations in Mosul to cleanse it of the influence of what he said were fighters streaming through Syria.
Given that Iraqi forces appear vulnerable in Mosul and unable to hold their ground in the face of insurgent attacks, the burden of any operation is likely to fall on US troops.
And to tackle a sprawling city of more than two million they will need a bigger force than the current manpower in the area.
The 1st Battalion's 5th infantry regiment arrived here a few days ago from around Fallujah.
US-led forces have secured almost complete control of Fallujah, the military said Monday.
Thirty-eight US soldiers have been killed and 275 wounded during the week-long assault on the restive Iraqi flashpoint, according to the army.
At least five Iraqi troops and more than 1,200 insurgents have also died in the largest military offensive in Iraq since last year's US-led invasion.
11/15/2004 03:51 GMT - AFP