IRAQ As battle flares, help arrives

An Iraqi official and a journalist were killed.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. troops clashed with Sunni insurgents west of the capital today, and gunmen assassinated Baghdad's deputy governor as fresh American soldiers arrived in the capital -- reinforcements that will push U.S. military strength in Iraq to its highest level since the summer of 2003.
American artillery pounded suspected insurgent positions in Fallujah, witnesses said, where U.S. forces are gearing up for an offensive if Iraqi mediation fails to win agreement to hand over foreign Arab fighters and other militants.
In time for elections
U.S. and Iraqi officials hope to curb the insurgency in Fallujah and other Sunni strongholds in time for national elections by the end of January. Voter registration for the January balloting began today.
To provide enough security for the voting, Army units slated to depart are being held back until after the election. The delays in departures and the arrival of new units will push the total U.S. military presence in Iraq to around 142,000.
At Camp Victory North, the sprawling headquarters of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, the mess hall and housing trailers were brimming to capacity with the arrival of the 3,700-member Louisiana-based 256th Enhanced Separate Brigade, a National Guard unit that has been rolling into the Iraqi capital the past few days.
The arrival of the 256th was supposed to have been timed with the departure of the 1st Cavalry's 2nd Brigade, which was scheduled to prepare to return to Fort Hood, Texas, in November. But the Pentagon delayed the 2nd Brigade's departure by two months, military officials said.
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, warned on Sunday that efforts to resolve the standoff in Fallujah with militants have entered their "final phase" and that his patience is running short before launching "a military solution."
Warned of casualties
In a speech that seemed aimed at preparing the Iraqi public for an onslaught, Allawi warned of civilian casualties, saying that if he orders an assault, it would be with a "heavy heart."
"But I owe, owe it to the Iraqi people to defend them from the violence and the terrorists and insurgents," he said.
U.S. officials say the final order for an all-out attack on Fallujah will come from Allawi. Commanders have estimated that up to 5,000 Islamic militants, Saddam Hussein loyalists and common criminals are holed up there.
In a position that appeared to contrast with Allawi's, the country's interim president said a military assault was the wrong solution, according to an interview published Monday.
President Ghazi al-Yawer told the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas that dialogue must continue and that insurgents "want nothing but a military solution, and the continuation of bleeding among Iraqis."
Official killed
The deputy governor of Baghdad province, Hatim Kamil, was killed when gunmen opened fire on his car in the southern Doura neighborhood, Iraqi authorities said. Two of his bodyguards were also wounded in the attack, officials said.
Insurgents have killed dozens of Iraqi politicians and government workers in recent months in a bid to destabilize the country's reconstruction.
One U.S. Marine was killed and four others wounded Sunday when a bomb exploded in Ramadi, one of the leading insurgent strongholds. There were no other details available. U.S. forces have been clashing with insurgents for weeks in Ramadi, located about 70 miles west of Baghdad.
An Iraqi freelance television cameraman who provided material to Associated Press Television News and others was killed Monday while filming skirmishes between U.S. Marines and Iraqi insurgents in Ramadi.
Diaa Najm, in his early 40s, was fatally injured by bullets in the head and the back, police Capt. Naser Abdullah said. His body lay in the street for nearly an hour before rescuers could retrieve it, witnesses said.
Najm was believed to be the 24th journalist killed in Iraq this year.
Rocket attack
In the city of Tikrit in Iraq's Sunni Triangle, a rocket slammed into the Sunubar Hotel late Sunday, killing 15 Iraqis and wounding eight others, hospital officials said. The target may have been an American position that was targeted by a second rocket. U.S. officials said there were no American casualties.
The newly arriving troops leave Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of the 1st Cavalry, in charge of eight Army brigades, or more than 32,000 soldiers.
The five elemental brigades of Chiarelli's division were expected to begin the process of pulling out of Iraq in late January, after the return of the Army's Georgia-based 3rd Infantry Division, which arrives for its second tour in Iraq. The 3rd Infantry led the charge to Baghdad and captured the city in April 2003.
Three brigades under Chiarelli's command will stay behind in Iraq: the 256th, the Arkansas-based 39th Enhanced Separate Brigade and the 2nd Brigade of the Army's 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum, New York.
Also staying longer will be 3,000 soldiers of the Tikrit-based 1st Infantry Division headquarters. They previously were to have been replaced in January, before the elections, by incoming troops from the 42nd Infantry Division, New York National Guard.
Early next year, the Army's III Corps will transfer control of overall war fighting duties in Iraq to the 18th Airborne Corps, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.