FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Iraqi national security adviser Kasim Dawood said Saturday up to 1,000 insurgents have been killed in the six-day battle for Fallujah, CNN reported.
Dawood also said 200 additional insurgents have been captured and Falluja is "liberated except for some pockets."
However, terrorist leaders Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Abdullah Junabi both escaped, he said.
Dawood said up to 90 percent of the city's residents have fled, so the area is largely deserted.
Lt. Col. Pete Newell, commander of Task Force 2-2 of the 1st Infantry Division, said his unit has cornered the insurgents in southern Falluja -- a stronghold for fighters loyal to al-Zarqawi. He expected to have complete control of the area later in the day.
Humanitarian aid workers entered Fallujah Saturday, six days after a U.S.-Iraqi assault started on the insurgent stronghold, the Telegraph reported.
An Iraqi Red Crescent aid convoy comprised of some 30 volunteers with five trucks and three ambulances passed a U.S. checkpoint and entered the northern part of the Sunni city, now nearly deserted.
At least 22 U.S. soldiers have been killed during the six-day operation and about 170 troops have been wounded, 40 of who returned to the battlefield, CNN reported.
Insurgents in groups of five to 20 have started surrendering in northeast Fallujah, where the U.S. military is in control, said a U.S. official.
