Gaining a Toehold in Iraqi Town
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HASWAH, Iraq -- Armed men barged into the police station in the center of town several weeks ago and told officers that they had five minutes to get out before the building blew up. The insurgents then demolished the station in a shooting ball of flame and dust.
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FALLUJAH, Iraq -- US forces have seized control of up to 70 percent of this rebel stronghold, US and Iraqi officials said yesterday, as American and Iraqi troops battled insurgents along the city's main street and confronted isolated pockets of gunmen who had slipped back behind US lines.
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The American military and Iraqi soldiers continued today to try to secure the heart of this city rife with insurgents.
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U.S. forces have controlled Tall Afar since Sunday, after deadly battles last week. On Tuesday, soldiers, led by an Iraqi known as "The Source," reopened the city and searched for insurgents.
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BAGHDAD -- US and Iraqi forces pushed deeper into Sunni militant strongholds in Baghdad yesterday, coping with cars rigged with explosives, while British-led teams in southern Iraq used shipping containers to block suspected weapon smuggling routes from Iran.
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With only two months to go until Iraq&#39;s general elections, the local government has yet to devise a plan for registering voters in one of the country&#39;s largest cities.
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FALLUJA: US-led forces have gained control of most of Falluja and insurgents are trapped in the southern part of the Iraqi city, Marine officers said yesterday.
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BAGHDAD -- In a yard cluttered with junked cars, oil drums and columns of tires, Jassim Shelal was furiously trying to recharge the battery of his generator. It was no ordinary task. The lives of a few thousand Iraqis depended on his skill and, above all, his speed.
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American fortunes in Iraq are ever more dependent on feuding Iraqis who seem, at times, almost heedless to American appeals.
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A major assault by US forces to wrest control of the rebel-held town of Falluja loomed closer yesterday after Iraq&#39;s interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, warned that his &quot;patience was running thin&quot; with talks to find a peaceful solution.
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If US forces prevail, keeping the city stable afterward may influence what happens elsewhere in Iraq.
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Frustrated with Iraq's deadlocked central government, the Bush administration is pushing for more power to be given to Iraq's provincial councils, in the hope that local elected leaders will be more accountable to the people they serve.
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BASRA, Iraq  - Bristling with guards, the polling  station looks more like a fortress than a school, but Iraqis in  this Shi'ite Muslim city say the clampdown ahead of Sunday's  election day is reassuring.
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US and Iraqi forces battled their way into the heart of one of Iraq&#39;s key insurgency strongholds Friday in the first of a series of promised major offensives to regain control of areas lost to the rebels.
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One small town provides a snapshot of an electorate riven by tribal infighting
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Defeating the insurgents in Fallujah is critical in the battle for a free Iraq because &#39;&#39;one part of the country cannot remain under the rule
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American, British and Iraqi troops are continuing their effort to root out insurgents south of Baghdad, in an operation aimed at clearing the way for elections to be held in January.