Hideouts of horror Iraqi troops find 'hostage slaughterhouses'

Three Americans are among those who have been beheaded.
NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- Iraqi troops have found "hostage slaughterhouses" in Fallujah where foreign captives were held and killed, the commander of Iraqi forces in the city said today.
Troops found CDs and documents of people taken captive in houses in the northern part of Fallujah, Maj. Gen. Abdul Qader Mohammed Jassem Mohan told reporters.
Notorious al-Zarqawi
The most notorious abductions in Iraq have been by the Al-Qaida-linked group led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was believed to be in Fallujah but who commanders now say likely fled the city before the huge offensive launched this week by U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Mohan did not say that remains of captives were found and did not comment on whether the houses were believed to be linked to al-Zarqawi or any of several other militant groups that have claimed kidnappings.
"We have found hostage slaughterhouses in Fallujah that were used by these people and the black clothing that they used to wear to identify themselves, hundreds of CDs and whole records with names of hostages," the general said at a military camp near Fallujah.
Still held
Mohan was unsure if the hostage records included the names of any of the at least nine foreigners still in the hands of kidnappers -- most notably, British aid worker Margaret Hassan, French journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot and two Americans.
"I did not look closely" at the documents, he said.
More than 170 foreigners have been kidnapped this year, and more than 30 of them have been killed by their captors.
Al-Zarqawi's followers have beheaded three Americans, two Britons, a Japanese and a South Korean, usually releasing grisly videos showing the decapitations.
Swift advance
Meanwhile, U.S. forces bottled up insurgents in a narrow strip of Fallujah today after a stunningly swift advance that seized control of 70 percent of the militant stronghold.
The speed of the U.S. drive may indicate that most Sunni fighters and their leaders abandoned the city before the offensive and moved elsewhere to carry on the fight, officers said.
At a U.S. camp outside Fallujah, government spokesman Thair al-Naqeeb said "many armed groups" in the city had asked to surrender and that Iraqi authorities "will extend amnesty" to those who have not committed major crimes.
Elsewhere in Iraq
A wave of insurgent violence in other parts of Iraq continued, with at least 18 people killed in fighting today, including a U.S. soldier and a foreign contractor. Authorities clamped an immediate curfew on the northern city of Mosul as U.S. and Iraqi forces clashed with gunmen there.
Fierce fighting also took place in Baghdad, to the south, and in Ramadi, a Sunni stronghold where explosions shook the city as U.S. troops and gunmen battled near the main government building.
The insurgents have been seeking to open a "second front" to divert U.S. and Iraqi forces from the Fallujah offensive.
Beheading threatened
Earlier today, kidnappers abducted three members of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's family in Baghdad. The kidnapping of Allawi's cousin, Ghazi Allawi; the cousin's wife; and the cousin's daughter-in-law may be part of the campaign.
Armed men snatched the three from their home in Baghdad Tuesday night, al-Naqeeb said. The next day a militant group calling itself the Ansar al-Jihad threatened to behead the hostages within 48 hours unless the Fallujah siege was ended. The group's claim to be holding the captives could not be verified.
Still, U.S. and Iraqi troops were pushing ahead in Fallujah. Maj. Francis Piccoli, of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said U.S. forces now control 70 percent of the city and had pushed insurgents into a narrow section flanking the main east-west highway bisecting the city.
He said troops would move on that strip of territory today. "The heart of the city is what's in focus now," he said.
At least 71 militants have been killed as of the beginning of the third day of intense urban combat, the military said. As of Tuesday night, 10 U.S. troops and two members of the Iraqi security forces had been killed. Marine reports today said 25 American troops and 16 Iraqi soldiers were wounded.
City hall seized
U.S. and Iraqi forces seized Fallujah's city hall compound before dawn after a gunbattle with insurgents who hit a U.S. tanks with anti-armor rockets. Iraqi soldiers swept into a police station in the compound and raised a flag above it.
Gunmen fired on troops from a mosque minaret, sparking a battle there, BBC's embedded correspondent Paul Wood reported. Marines said the insurgents waved a white flag at one stage but then opened fire, prompting the Marines to call in airstrikes, Wood said.
Tank gunners opened fire on insurgents in a nearby five-story apartment building, and flames shot from several windows of the building.
Residents reported heavy clashes and artillery shelling in the Jolan and Jumhuriya neighborhood, along the central highway.
Bodies in the streetsBodies lay on the streets of Jumhuriya, with dogs hovering around them, witnesses said. Residents said they were running out of food in a city that had its electricity cut two days ago.
Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, the commanding general of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, visited the battlefield today with an Iraqi general and said the insurgents in Fallujah are in disarray.
"We are very comfortable with where we are," he said.
Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Tuesday he believed the most wanted militant leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had escaped Fallujah. He predicted "several more days of tough urban fighting" in the city.
Most insurgents likely fled the city before the assault began so they could fight elsewhere, officers said today. Iraqi and U.S. commanders had been warning for weeks that they would invade Fallujah to re-establish government control.
"That's probably why we've been able to move as fast as we have," said one officer from the Army's 1st Cavalry Division, who asked not to be named.
Fallujah's defenses have crumbled faster than U.S. commanders expected, With their command networks broken down, bands of three to five guerrillas were left fighting for self-preservation rather than as part of a larger force, officials said.
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