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| Iraq-Jordan |
| U.S. Forces Strike Insurgents in Iraq |
| 2005-09-13 |
| BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces along the Euphrates River attacked the insurgent stronghold of Haditha early Tuesday, capturing a militant with ties to al-Qaida in Iraq and killing four others, the military said. The assault on Haditha followed a recent offensive to retake Tal Afar, another northern town, which U.S. commanders said netted more than 400 suspected militants. The Iraqi military said its troops had detained 36 others, including a Yemeni citizen, just south of Tal Afar. In southern Iraq, a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of Iraqi security guards and foreign contract workers outside Basra, killing four people, police said. While one Iraqi official said the four dead were Americans, U.S. officials were unable to confirm the report. Insurgents in Baghdad shelled the heavily fortified Green Zone, with two mortar rounds exploding near a military hospital inside the protected area that houses the Iraqi government, parliament and foreign missions, but there were no reports of casualties. Security inside the Green Zone was boosted earlier this month after reports that suicide bombers were trying to penetrate the area. Associated Press Television News video of the aftermath of the Haditha attack showed at least three demolished homes. There were no American casualties, the military said. "Coalition Forces engaged the terrorists and called in close air support. Coalition aircraft destroyed one of the vehicles being used by one of the terrorists," the statement said. Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, is one of a series of towns in the Euphrates River valley controlled by militants. On Monday, officials said the insurgent death toll in three days of fighting in Tal Afar totaled 200. Seven Iraqi soldiers and six civilians also died; the U.S. military said no American soldiers were hurt. "Now, (the guerrillas) are just trying to save themselves by hiding in houses and communities," said Col. H.R. McMasters, commander of the American contingent from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. "The enemy no long enjoys any kind of a safe haven or a support base in the city." "This operation was very precise. We've had access to all the terrorist safe havens," said Brig. General Muhsen Yahya, commander of the Iraqi Army's 1st Brigade in Tal Afar. Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari flew to Tal Afar on Monday to congratulate his army, and Al-Iraqiya state television said he went despite insurgent threats "to attack the city with chemical and biological weapons." There was no known public threat from the insurgents to use unconventional weapons in Tal Afar, but militants made two Internet postings in recent days vowing to stage chemical attacks on the Green Zone. The Islamic Army in Iraq, which has previously claimed responsibility for kidnappings and killings of foreigners, made a bounty offer for the assassination of key Iraqi officials. The militant group called in a Web posting for its "holy fighters to strike the infidels with an iron fist." It offered $100,000 to the killer of al-Jaafari, $50,000 for the interior minister and $30,000 for the defense minister. Iraq's U.S.-trained forces and U.S.-backed government are waging their own media offensive, using the Tal Afar operation to position themselves as a confident and strong team leading the fight to wipe out insurgent forces. "I met today with the commander of the 3rd Division in Tal Afar and his officers and soldiers and found them in high spirits," al-Jaafari said. Hundreds of Iraqis danced, sang and waved flags as the prime minister toured the region. In the Basra bombing, APTN video showed a wrecked SUV at the side of the highway about 20 miles south of the city, near the town of Zubair. British soldiers and Iraqi police blocked off the area. Capt. Mushtaq Kadim of the Basra Rapid Response Unit said the four dead were Americans. But U.S. diplomatic and military officials in Baghdad were unable to confirm the report, saying only that the victims were not diplomats or soldiers. Although southern Iraq, where some 8,500 British troops are deployed, has been mostly calm since U.S. and British forces occupied Iraq more than two years ago, there has been increasing violence there in the past two months. On Sept. 7, a roadside bomb exploded near a passing convoy of U.S. diplomatic security guards, killing four Americans. In other developments Tuesday: • Gunmen shot and killed two Sunni clerics in Baqouba, a town 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. • Two truck drivers delivering concrete blast walls from a factory in Iraqi Kurdistan were ambushed and killed in Baghdad. The blast walls are used throughout Baghdad to secure government buildings, hotels, embassies and other potential targets from suicide bombers. • Police found the body of a former judge in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Sadr City. A note left next to it said: "This is the destiny of those who support Saddam." • A bomb planted aboard a minibus exploded in Hilla, a town 60 miles south of Baghdad. Two civilians were killed and six injured, police said. • In Samarra, north of Baghdad, U.S. soldiers killed two insurgents who were trying to plant a roadside bomb, the military said. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #10 gotta check between the dorsal fin and the tail - the ones' that ain't keepers? step on their necks and crack em |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-13 21:22 |
| #9 Not an expert, but the trend looks like 20 percentum are keepers. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-09-13 19:45 |
| #8 The assault on Haditha followed a recent offensive to retake Tal Afar, another northern town, which U.S. commanders said netted more than 400 suspected militants. A question for anyone in the know... how accurate do you all think these numbers are? |
| Posted by: Glains Theash7392 2005-09-13 19:04 |
| #7 I'm glad they left a note, so we could tell the good murders from the bad ones. Or maybe they just want us to think the good guys are doing what the real bad guys are doing? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-09-13 14:35 |
| #6 Police found the body of a former judge in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Sadr City. A note left next to it said: "This is the destiny of those who support Saddam." Special forces, or the Iraqi 93rd Volunteer Infantry? |
| Posted by: Mike 2005-09-13 12:52 |
| #5 this off topic but why does my name keep changing? Posted by: Uninetle Hupating2229 It's a cookie thing. Does your computer allow cookies? Are you entering a name of your choice in the "Your Name" block before you submit a comment? (If you are doing everything right so far, then you'll have to wait for feedback from the moderators or someone who actually knows something about programming. Good luck!) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-13 11:59 |
| #4 this off topic but why does my name keep changing? |
| Posted by: Uninetle Hupating2229 2005-09-13 11:34 |
| #3 Who was in this vehicle? "Coalition Forces engaged the terrorists and called in close air support. Coalition aircraft destroyed one of the vehicles being used by one of the terrorists," the statement said |
| Posted by: Grins Sluper5274 2005-09-13 11:27 |
| #2 good too see some of saddams henchmen gettin theirs too. Wonder if the liberal media will call his killer(s) insurgents too? |
| Posted by: Uninetle Hupating2229 2005-09-13 11:22 |
| #1 Just let the record show that the Tal Afar offensive effective wiped out an entire enemy battallion. And did so with minimum friendly casualties. How many equivalent battallions can the enemy still muster in Iraq? How many more such losses can they endure before they collapse? |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-09-13 10:46 |