BAGHDAD , November 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - US warplanes continued their missile attacks on the Iraqi resistance bastion of Fallujah, destroying several buildings and causing casualties, as residents braced for a full military assault after the re-election of US President George W. Bush.

In a further sign the few coming days would likely witness a major confrontation, the US-picked Iraqi government is reportedly forming a shadow administration to run Fallujah if a combined force of US Marines and Army soldiers is ordered to assault the insurgent stronghold, according to The Associated Press, citing the US military Thursday.

The US military stepped up their daily air raids while applying heavy psychological warfare tactics as well. Iraqis in Fallujah insisted, meanwhile, US attacks have so far managed in destroying buildings, killing hundreds of civilians and sending anti-US sentiments sky-rocketing.

The city has been coming under repeated US attacks under claims of harboring anti-US foreign fighters.

In April, at least 700 Iraqis, mostly women and children , were killed and1 , 500others injured in Fallujah when the US occupation forces imposed a tight siege on the town and intensified air strikes on its densely-populated areas.

On September18 , Amnesty International blasted the US for its barbaric on Fallujah.

On Thursday, November4 , attacks by US warplanes sent up plumes of black smoke from the eastern edge of Fallujah.

A woman was seriously wounded and a teenage girl lost her right leg in the strikes, hospital official Isam Muhammad told Al-Jazeera.

Witnesses have said AC-130s - cargo aircraft equipped with cannon and machine guns - were in action for at least half an hour late Wednesday while tanks shelled the town on the ground, according to Al-Jazeera.

The bombardment was said to be the heaviest on the town for several weeks.

It coincided with heavy ground trainings and a stepped up rhetoric against the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi that proved immune to US continuous air raids and assaults since the US occupation of Iraq started over 19 months ago.

Psychological Warfare

"The Iraqi interim government is establishing a government to take over Fallujah, it's an Iraqi government," Maj. Jim West, a Marine intelligence planner, told reporters at a US base outside Fallujah, according to AP.

The military has $ 75million in reconstruction funds available for the city, Navy Cmdr. Steven Stefani, told AP.

"He said a psychological operations campaign is already under way, with an AM radio station broadcasting messages about the intent of US forces and instructions to residents of Fallujah."

"We're trying to tell them they have friends out there who care about them, who may have to attack and here's what we want them to do," West told AP. "It's not to take over the city; it's to return the city to you."

Speaking to Al-Jazeera from Fallujah, Iraqi journalist Abu Bakr Al-Dulaimi said the city's citizens feel that US communiqués about an imminent large-scale attack against their city and Ramadi is an attempt to destroy their morale.

"However, the possible attack on Fallujah does not affect their high spirits," he added.

"Fallujah citizens have showed indifference towards Bush's re-election as they believe the US policies are clear and consistent when dealing with Islam, Muslims and the Iraq case," Al-Dulaimi pointed out.

The US military, on their part, usually claim targeting what they term "insurgent targets", during their night raids. The sister city of Fallujah , Ramadi, was also under destructive attacks.

Thousands of families have already fled Fallujah, 50 kilometers ( 30miles) west of Baghdad , where US ground troops have massed since mid-October.

Bush’s Reelection


"US troops will enter Fallujah, Latifiyah, Ramadi and Qaim all at once in the next few days after Bush's re-election," Mohammed al-Askari, a former Iraqi army officer turned political analyst, told AFP, referring to major Iraqi resistance bastions.

US and Iraqi officials are desperate to crush the mounting resistance ahead of national elections planned for January, and have threatened force if necessary.

"These elections are important," Bush said in his first post re-election news conference in Washington , vowing to ensure commanders on the ground in Iraq would receive extra troops if necessary to "complete their missions".

US-picked interim premier, Iyad Allawi, on a trip to Europe, has threatened to attack all Iraqi cities that resist the presence of foreign troops, most Iraqis still view as occupying troops almost five month after the so-called "power transfer to Iraqis".

Negotiations between the government and delegates from the town collapsed in mid-October after Allawi threatened the city with invasion if it did not surrender the reportedly most wanted man, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.

The Fallujah people have repeatedly maintained that they did not harbor the wanted man.

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