Iraq's interim government will declare a nationwide arms amnesty next week, but insists the city of Fallujah must turn in foreign militants or face assault, National Security Adviser Kassim Daoud said yesterday.
Daoud would not be drawn on the timing of a Fallujah offensive if the city did not hand over militants led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"We have a timetable and we will stick to it," he said.
US forces released overnight Fallujah's chief negotiator, whom they detained on Friday, after day-long battles and air strikes on the outskirts of the rebel-held Sunni Muslim stronghold.
"Next week, we will announce a nationwide arms collection drive," Daoud said, but gave few details of the arms amnesty.
In a country awash in weaponry, Iraqis are permitted to keep personal guns, such as pistols and assault rifles, at home. Previous gun amnesties since last year's US-led invasion of Iraq have involved heavier weapons.
Daoud said a cash-for-weapons scheme already under way in Baghdad's Sadr City district, a stronghold for Shiite militants, had been extended to Thursday.
He said many people still wanted to disarm in Sadr City.
"It would not be fair to search houses now when these people have not had enough time to turn over their weapons," he said.
Loyalists of fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had been fighting US troops in Sadr City before the arms hand-over was agreed.
Fallujah is an even tougher challenge for the interim government and its US backers.
"I think the residents of Fallujah don't want this sort of peace. They want real peace, not a peace that stabs in the back and strikes and destroys homes and kills women," Fallujah representative Khaled al-Jumaili said after his release.
US Marines detained the bearded cleric on Friday while he was taking his family out of the city for safety.
Asked what evidence the government has that Zarqawi's group is operating in Fallujah, Daoud said: "There are many of his followers, jihadists [holy warriors]. The proof is there."
Meanwhile, a car bomb detonated in northern Mosul yesterday as a civilian convoy drove by, killing one Iraqi and wounding four others, said Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings of Task Force Olympia.
Three civilians wounded in the 10am attack were evacuated to a military hospital, he said. One Iraqi civilian was killed and another was injured. The blast came almost 24 hours after a similar bombing on a Mosul bridge on Sunday that killed five civilians and wounded 15.
Also See Story:
Baghdad sees a glimmer of hope
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it plans to revise the export control list for strategic high-tech products by adding 18 items under three categories — advanced 3D printing equipment, advanced semiconductor equipment and quantum computers — which would require local manufacturers to obtain licenses for their export. The ministry’s announcement yesterday came as the International Trade Administration issued a 60-day preview period for planned revisions to the Export Control List for Dual Use Items and Technology (軍商兩用貨品及技術出口管制清單) and the Common Military List (一般軍用貨品清單), which fall under regulations governing export destinations for strategic high-tech commodities and specific strategic high-tech commodities. The
RSS