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Civilians die in gunfights on border
American troops fighting insurgents killed scores of civilians in protracted battles in a remote town on Iraq's Syrian border last week. The deaths, not previously reported due to the remoteness of the area, will raise tensions still further in the country and make the increasingly frantic attempts by the US-led coalition to ensure security and stability even harder.
| My sympathy meter hasn't stirred. Sorry, al-Guardian... |
The battles on the western frontier - seen as critical to cutting off the flow of logistic support and volunteer fighters from Syria - are going unnoticed. Last Saturday in al-Qaim, a city of around 100,000, US marines were surprised by a contingent of 'anti-coalition fighters' - a loose alliance of former Baath party cadres and foreign militants behind the recent upsurge in violence. Five marines were killed and nine wounded. Medical sources in al-Qaim said the main hospital in the city had recorded 31 deaths, including the city's police chief, two women, a seven-year-old boy and a five-month-old baby, and 47 wounded. Locals claim the dead were civilians shot by snipers or caught in crossfire. US official sources say most of those killed were armed fighters. The news will further inflame public opinion in Iraq where many have been angered by heavy-handed US military tactics.
| I wonder why nobody's fired up over the heavy-handed Bad Guy tactics? No one on our side shoots babies intentionally. Seems like everyone on the Bad Guy side's happy to blow up buses full of little kids. |
Locals say the number of civilian casualties in al-Qaim could be much higher as street fighting prevented many dead and injured being taken to hospital. Islamic custom is to bury bodies as soon as possible and many casualties are said to have been interred in makeshift graves. Medical sources in al-Qaim say doctors treated people by telephone because fighting made it impossible to bring the wounded to hospital. 'They just gave instructions on the telephone,' said a source. 'That means we don't know how many were injured or might have subsequently died of their injuries.'
| My heart bleeds. Maybe the local gunnies and the imported snuffies will help with the burials. |
Posted by: Fred 2004-04-25 |
