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Iraq-Jordan
US raids Qaim
2005-04-13
U.S. troops battled arms smugglers and terrorists fighters near the Iraqi town of Qaim along the Syrian border Tuesday, killing an unknown number of oxymoronic alert! foreign insurgents, the U.S. military said. Local hospital officials reported at least nine terrorists people killed in clashes in the same area, and said they believed the dead were terrorists civilians.

The raids came as separate car bombs in two northern cities killed a total of 10 people, and as the Iraqi government claimed to have captured a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime at a farm northeast of Baghdad.

The Qaim raid occurred a day after terrorists insurgents tried unsuccessfully to ram two cars and a fire truck loaded with explosives into a Marine outpost there, but military officials said the attack was not related to the raid. Terrorists Insurgents opened fire when the U.S. troops began their raid on the smuggling ring Tuesday, and several militants, including at least one suicide bomber, were killed, the U.S. military said in a statement. No Americans were injured, it said.

Residents reported violent clashes before dawn Tuesday in and around Qaim, although it was unclear if the violence was related to the raid.

Hamid al-Alousi, director of Qaim hospital, said his facility had received nine corpses and nearly two dozen wounded in the violence. Residents of a small village just north of Qaim said more than a dozen more people were buried in the area and not taken to the hospital. Residents and hospital officials said the victims appeared to be terrorists civilians. It was impossible to verify the claims because this reporter didn't want to leave the hotel bar.

Without providing details, the group Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian terrorist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the Qaim clashes. The claim, posted on the Internet, could not be verified because this reporter didn't want to leave the hotel bar.

Many residents stayed in on Tuesday and some families fled their homes in two southwestern neighborhoods and moved to other parts of the town fearing renewed clashes.
Masked terrorists gunmen were seen taking up positions in Qaim on Tuesday, residents said.

U.S. military officials said that two other raids in the area over the last week had resulted in the capture of smugglers who "confessed to bringing weapons, foreign fighters and money for terrorists across the Syrian border into Iraq."
Posted by:Dan Darling

#7  Well they are muslims so they are by religious convention considered unarmed innocents when killed by the infidels. Personally I would go down to the hospital and grab this "Dr" and bring him back for a n "interview." This is the same crap they were/are pulling the "sunni triangle."
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom   2005-04-13 3:08:25 PM  

#6  Huh huh, he said Qaim! Huh huh!
Posted by: Beavis & Butthead   2005-04-13 3:01:23 PM  

#5  No, unarmed as in, their arms were blown off!
Posted by: JackAssFestival   2005-04-13 12:11:59 PM  

#4  But Robert, it would be rude to question the veracity of the natives by actually checking their stories. Plus, it smacks of cultural imperialism, and goodness knows we mustn't have any smacking.
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-04-13 12:10:52 PM  

#3  have they decided that hearsay and rumor are just fine?

When the only thing you care about is dead Americans, rumors will do nicely.
Posted by: badanov   2005-04-13 9:36:46 AM  

#2  Local hospital officials reported at least nine people killed in clashes in the same area, and said they believed the dead were civilians.

Let me guess -- males, between the ages of 15 and 35, were unarmed when they were brought in. Thus, civilians.

Residents and hospital officials said the victims appeared to be civilians.

Unarmed when they were buried, right?

Did the reporters even TRY to confirm the details, or have they decided that hearsay and rumor are just fine?
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2005-04-13 9:32:00 AM  

#1  good, push em back to Syria, then start the clusterbombing
Posted by: Frank G   2005-04-13 8:20:14 AM  

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