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Americans Beat Iraqis Near Nasiriya
U.S. Marines defeated Iraqi forces near the southern city of An Nasiriyah in the sharpest engagement of the war so far, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. But in a separate engagement, Iraqi forces ambushed an army supply convoy and 12 soldiers were missing. I hope somebody's looking for them â and for their captors... Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said about 10 Marines were killed in a faked surrender by Iraqi forces outside of An Nasiriyah. The Marines came under fire while preparing to accept what appeared to be surrendering Iraqis. Same thing happened in Gulf War I, at Khafji. It's a favored tactic... "We of course will be much more cautious in the way we view the battlefield as a result of some of these incidents," said Army Lt. Gen. John Abizaid. But he stressed that coalition forces would continue to place high priority on avoiding civilian casualties. Then we'll continue to take higher casualties... "It was a tough day of fighting for the coalition," Brooks said. Abizaid called the fighting there the "sharpest engagement of the war thus far." It'll get tougher as we get closer to Baghdad, unless they start hitting whoever's in front of us very hard and stop trying to coax them out... "But the Marines were successful," Abizaid said. "They defeated the enemy. First reports indicated they destroyed eight tanks, some anti-aircraft batteries that were in the region, and also some artillery, along with a number of infantry." Iraqi military officials claimed earlier that 25 American soldiers were killed in the operation in An Nasiriyah, a major crossing point over the Euphrates River northwest of Basra. Abizaid, speaking at the Qatar headquarters of U.S. Central Command, said he thought fewer than 10 troops were killed in the fighting and that "a number" of troops were wounded. He said coalition forces encountered significant resistance in the city. I hope to hell they're cleaning it out... FOLLOWUP: In what a defense official called "the sharpest engagement of the war so far," U.S. Marines suffered heavy casualties in fighting Sunday around the key Euphrates river crossing an-Nasariyah. The United States suffered 50 casualties in the ten-hour gun battle over bridges in the area with Iraqi troops â including members of the highly-trained Sedaveen [sic â probably Saddam's Fedayeen] militia. U.S. soldiers east of the city came under artillery fire. At least eight Marines killed in action were seen being taken from the scene. There was fighting in the streets of the city, with some enemy troops shooting from rooftops and the back of pickup trucks. The Marines used tanks and armored vehicles, and called in A-10 "tank killer" aircraft. Iraqis fought to the death in combat that field commanders said was "heavier than expected." Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-03-23 |
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