U.S., Iraqi forces launch offensive in Mosul
Kidnapped CARE director may have been killed, official says
 |  A U.S. Marine takes a nap as his unit gets mail delivered to the front line in Falluja on Tuesday. |
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| ON CNN TV |
 Watch for CNN correspondents' frequent updates on the situation on the ground: live reports from the U.S.-Iraqi offensive in Falluja.
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 VIDEO |
 U.S. Marine under investigation for shooting an apparently unarmed insurgent.
 In eastern Falluja, foreign insurgents are fighting to the death.
 Fallujans search for food and water, amid fighting.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Army and Iraqi forces launched an anti-insurgent offensive Tuesday in the northern city of Mosul, a military spokeswoman said, as coalition forces continued a similar assault on rebels in Falluja.
Meanwhile, the kidnapped director of CARE in Iraq apparently has been put to death, the humanitarian organization said Tuesday.
Margaret Hassan, who was born in Ireland and had lived in Iraq for 30 years, was kidnapped October 19 by a group that did not identify itself.
A British Foreign Office official discussing the Hassan case said, "there is a video. ... We believe it is probably genuine, but we cannot be certain at this time." (Full story)
In Mosul, commanders initiated an attack on the western side of the the city at the request of provincial Gov. Duraid Kashmoula, said Army Capt. Angela Bowman.
The troops involved in the offensive involve two brigades, one U.S. and the other Iraqi. The number of soldiers in a brigade is roughly 3,000 to 5,000.
According to a military statement released Tuesday, "All bridges in the city are closed to civilian vehicle and pedestrian traffic. These operations are targeting isolated pockets of insurgent fighters that continue to operate in the city."
Rebel attacks on Iraqi police stations in Mosul last week preceded Tuesday's U.S.-Iraqi operation.
Insurgents overran nine police stations on Thursday, and fighting has continued since.
On Monday, Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Nakib said insurgents controlled three or four police stations, although a U.S. military spokesman there contradicted the report, saying, "all police stations are under the control of the Iraqi government and Iraqi police."
Also Monday in Mosul, a car bomb detonated near a U.S. military patrol, wounding five Americans.
Car bombs Sunday in Mosul killed two Iraqi national guardsmen and wounded 11 others.
Also Sunday, a "special police commando" was kidnapped from a Mosul hospital. He was found decapitated a day later, Bowman said.
Mosul is under a 4 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in an effort to curtail the violence.
Mosul, with a population of roughly 1.7 million, is the third-largest city in Iraq after Baghdad and Basra.
Falluja fighting
U.S. warplanes hit insurgent positions in Falluja overnight and multinational forces continued house-to-house searches for rebels Tuesday.
Highly accurate, 500-pound bombs called JDAMs -- Joint Direct Attack Munition -- were dropped on suspected insurgent hideouts overnight in the southern sector of the city, military sources said.
The U.S. Air Force also used AC-130 Spectre gunships, armed with 105 mm cannons and 40 mm guns, to blast remaining insurgent pockets.
Although the military is claiming to have secured Falluja, it has not routed out all insurgents, especially those who have retreated to well-fortified underground bunkers to withstand the U.S. onslaught.
Commanders said the operations were dangerous but necessary, adding that aid distribution centers have opened to offer civilians food, water and medical supplies as fighting abated in some areas.
Recent reports have told of the deaths of civilians looking for aid amid the fighting.
An Iraqi brigade commander said Monday that an insurgent sniper killed a woman as she made her way to a mosque for food.
In a separate incident, a sniper killed someone standing in line for supplies, U.S. Army Col. Craig Tucker said.
The office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights Tuesday said it is "deeply concerned" about the civilians in Falluja caught in the crossfire and called on all parties to take "every possible precaution" to protect residents.
According to a statement from the office, high commissioner Louise Arbour is "particularly worried" about the "poor access" for humanitarian aid delivery and the lack of information about casualties. (Full story)
At last report from the U.S. military, 38 U.S. troops and six Iraqi forces have been killed in the assault since the Falluja operation began on November 7. U.S. casualties include 275 Americans wounded in the fighting.
U.S. officials said between 1,000 and 2,000 insurgents have been killed and 1,000 people have been detained. Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler, however, said that most of those detained likely had nothing to do with the insurgency and would be released soon. Both U.S. and Iraqi commanders said they thought most of the insurgents had fled before the coalition assault began.
Other developments
An attack on a U.S. Army convoy north of Baghdad Tuesday morning killed an American soldier and wounded another, according to a military statement. The Combined Press Information Center said the attack took place near Balad and described it as an "indirect fire attack" -- typically meaning mortar fire. The death brought the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war to 1,197, including 931 in hostile action, according to the U.S. military.The U.S. military is investigating a videotaped incident in which a Marine allegedly shot and killed an unarmed, wounded insurgent in Falluja. (Full story)The Army is recommending punishment for about two dozen soldiers from an Army Reserve unit in Iraq that refused orders to drive a fuel convoy because they believed it was too dangerous, officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Preliminary findings faulted about 24 members of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, which is based at Rock Hill, South Carolina. (Full story)Iraqi National Council member Naseer Ayaef, a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, was detained by U.S. forces and Iraqi police Tuesday on suspicion of storing weapons and explosives, said Ayad al-Samarrai, the party's secretary general. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for information about the report.A U.S. intelligence official said the voice on the latest audiotape supplied to broadcasters is "likely (Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's) voice." The comment came after CIA officials completed a routine technical analysis of the tape. The agency also compares tapes purporting to be from known terrorists with other samples of their voice. On the tape, al-Zarqawi urges insurgents in Iraq to attack Americans, whom he called "weak" and "heavy with wounds." Iraqi interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told Arabic-language television channel Al Arabiya on Monday that Iraqi forces had arrested an insurgent leader involved in kidnappings and beheadings. Allawi identified the leader as Mu'ayyed Ahmed Yassin, known as Abu Ahmad, and said other "significant arrests" had been made of people who "have cooperated with [al-Zarqawi] and al Qaeda."Hungary's parliament on Monday rejected a proposal for the nation's 300 non-combat troops in Iraq to remain there until the end of March 2005, according to The Associated Press. The 191 to 159 vote obliges Hungary's military contingent to leave Iraq by the end of 2004, the AP reported. (Full story)CNN's Jane Arraf and Barbara Starr contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
