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Iraq Insurgents Gun Down 4 U.S. Marines
Insurgents gunned down four U.S. Marines west of Baghdad on Monday, and South Korea said it would go ahead with plans to send thousands more troops to Iraq despite a threat by Iraqi kidnappers to kill a South Korean seen pleading for his life on a videotape. A videotape delivered to Associated Press Television News showed four Marines in uniform lying dead in what appeared to be a walled compound in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 60 miles west of Baghdad. One of the Americans was slumped in the corner of a wall. The bodies had no flak vests - mandatory for U.S. troops in contested areas - and at least one was missing a boot. One fieldpack was left open next to a body as if the attackers had looted the dead before fleeing.
Rat bastards.
Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy operations chief, confirmed the killings but gave few details. He said a U.S. quick reaction force found the bodies after the troops failed to report to their headquarters as required. American officials had been concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Ramadi, located along a belt of Sunni militancy running westward from Baghdad along the Euphrates River. Last week, seven Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members were arrested for planting a roadside bomb that killed a policeman and wounded seven civilians in Ramadi. Most of the kidnappings of foreigners over the past two months are believed to have occurred along that belt.
Posted by: Steve White 2004-06-22
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=36112