ITN Archive - Second Battle of Fallujah Frontline Footage of Iraq War's Deadliest Urban Combat (2004)

In November 2004, Fallujah became the site of the Iraq War’s fiercest urban battle, as more than 12,000 US, British, and Iraqi troops launched a determined assault to reclaim the city from entrenched insurgents. Over six weeks, coalition forces fought through a maze of fortified houses and booby-trapped streets in what would become the bloodiest battle for American service members since the Vietnam War. They were opposed by a loose alliance of local resistance fighters, Ba'athist loyalists, militants from various Sunni groups, and foreign jihadists fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

Entire neighbourhoods were reduced to rubble, as intense coalition artillery and aerial bombardments accompanied a gruelling campaign of house-to-house fighting. 107 coalition troops were killed and more than 600 wounded, while between 1,200 and 2,000 insurgents were killed and around 1,500 taken prisoner. Reported numbers of civilian deaths range from 581 to 3,000, with 150,000–200,000 civilians being displaced by the fighting. Presented here is a series of ITN reports covering the Second Battle of Fallujah and its aftermath.













Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washington, D.C.

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