Iraqis, with black tape binding their eyes and mouths, stand after being detained by US marines during a house-to-house search in Fallujah (AFP)

BAGHDAD, November 13 (IslamOnline.net) – With the US offensive on the densely-populated Iraqi city of Fallujah enters day six, US troops have arrested and raided homes of the bloody incursion’s critics to make sure that the public only hear the American version.

The latest raid targeted Sheikh Mostafa Al-Zini, member of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), which represents up to 3,000 of Iraq's Sunni mosques, at dawn Saturday, November 12, Al-Jazeera satellite channel reported.

Zini was arrested for leading an anti-US march after Friday prayers in front of Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad.

A day earlier, US and Iraqi troops burst into the homes and offices of two prominent Sunni scholars after both men had made fiery public speeches condemning the US-led onslaught and voicing their support for resistance fighters, US Night Ridder News Service reported Saturday, November 13.

AMS Chief Sheik Hareth Al-Dari said US and Iraqi forces burst into his home on Baghdad's outskirts after shouting through loudspeakers orders to send women to safe rooms or "face the consequences."

Dari's son, Muthanna, told Al-Jazeera television the troops confiscated cell phones and personal weapons in the pre-dawn raid. His father was questioned briefly.

Sheik Dari has emerged as one of the most vehement critics of the US occupation of Iraq and has become well known for anti-American diatribes.

Since the Fallujah offensive began on Monday, November 8, Dari has deemed Iraqi security forces cooperating with Americans as collaborators.

Earlier this week, he issued a fatwa, ordering Iraqis to boycott January's parliamentary elections to protest the Fallujah assault.

A boycott could undermine the elections if it resulted in a lack of representation for Sunnis, who make up about 35 percent of Iraq's population.

"Inciting Shiites"

A library photo of Sheikh Dari (AFP)

Another attack targeted outspoken scholar Sheikh Mahdi Al-Sumaidaie for fueling tensions and "inciting" Shiites against the "necessary" US-led incursion.

The senior Sunni scholar, his top aide and others were arrested during a raid on Ibn Taymiya mosque in Baghdad.

On Friday, Sumaidaie criticized the Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, Iraq's highest-ranking Shiite authority, for not condemning the US-led offensive on Fallujah.

Sumaidaie reminded Shiites that Sunni groups had spoken up in August when US and Iraqi forces massed outside the Imam Ali shrine in a standoff with Shiite resistance fighters in the southern holy city of An-Najaf.

"We reproach Sistani for not officially taking a position on the offensive, and we call on him to do so," Sumaidaie said.

An Al-Sistani aide, who requested anonymity, Sistani didn't intervene in military matters.

However, Sistani did step in during the Najaf standoff, brokering a last-minute peace agreement with the young Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr.

Fallujah, the aide said, was different. The city had spun so far out of control that there were no peaceful solutions.

"What could he do?" He Asked. "Issue a fatwa saying the Shiites in the army and National Guard should desert and not fight in Fallujah? That's nonsense. It's not practical."

Some 10,000 US marines and army forces, alongside some 2,000 Iraqi national guard soldiers unleashed a long expected onslaught on the resistance hub Monday, November 8, capping long nights of massive US raids.

As the offensive enters Saturday day six, US troops are controlling much of the city, seizing key positions such as mosques, schools and government buildings.

But the onslaught looked set to come at a heavy price for the US military as 22 US troops have been killed and up to 200 others evacuated to the US military hospital in the German city of Landstuhl so far.

There were no clear figures on the number of civilian casualties. As much as two-thirds of Fallujah's 300,000-strong population was thought to have left the city ahead of the fighting.

The US military further put at 600 the number of resistance fighters killed in the offensive.