Taking Falluja won't finish all rebels - Iraqi FM

Wresting control of Falluja from rebels will improve the overall security situation in Iraq but will not end all violence against US-led forces and the interim government, Iraq's foreign minister said yesterday.

Hoshiyar Zebari also said the US-led assault on Falluja was not facing the stiff resistance expected and could be completed within days. US forces advanced to the centre of Falluja, Iraq's most rebellious town, yesterday. "So far, the reports I have had from Baghdad, are that it is going very smoothly. Yes, there is resistance here and there, but not the kind of very stiff resistance that one would expect," Mr Zebari told Reuters in Cairo.

"I personally believe it will be over very soon... within days," said Mr Zebari, who is on an official visit.

The Falluja assault would have "a major impact on the overall security situation" by denying rebels a key base, capturing militant leaders and sending a warning message to other rebels not to challenge the government, he said.

But capturing Falluja would not solve all the security problems, he said.

"We don't think that containing Falluja or re-establishing government control and authority there will end Iraq's problem," he said.

"I believe the same measures will be applied to other small cities for instance, south of Baghdad," he said, in reference to areas just south of the capital including Latifiya, where insurgents are active.

"There are also some difficulties in Diayla, in Baquba, east of Baghdad ... and some parts of Mosul city," he said.

Attacks in Baquba and other cities have killed some 60 people since Monday night.

The United States says 1,000 to 6,000 fighters, some followers of Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and others Saddam Hussein loyalists, are holed up in Falluja.

"I would not be surprised if some of them have left the city or dispersed," Mr Zebari said.

"But for them to get themselves reorganised or reestablished in another safe, secure area will take time," he said.

Mr Zebari said the US-backed government would compensate Falluja residents and rebuild the town, where US forces tried and failed to crush the insurgents in April and May.

"It's not just a military victory, we have to win the minds and the hearts of the population," he said.

US warplanes have been bombing Falluja regularly over the last few months, in what the military says are strikes on bases used by Zarqawi allies. Falluja doctors have often reported the deaths of women and children in the strikes.

Mr Zebari said he might leave Egypt, where he has met officials, for Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf states to explain the Falluja situation.

Other Iraqi envoys had been sent to Syria, Turkey and Iran to inform their governments about the situation, he said.