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Iraqi fighters regain control of camp?
 About 30 to 40 fighters were seen at a lakeside training camp attacked by US and Iraqi forces, an AFP correspondent who visited the site has said. The correspondent, who travelled with other journalists to the camp at Lake Tharthar, 200km north of Baghdad, said he saw 30 to 40 fighters there on Wednesday. The remains of three burnt vehicles were seen on a dusty road leading to the camp in the village of Ain al-Hilwa. A few mud huts were partly destroyed and a few big craters gouged the ground. One of the fighters, who called himself Muhammad Amer and claimed to belong to the Secret Islamic Army, said they had never left the base. He denied that scores of his fighters had been killed and said only 11 of his comrades perished in airstrikes on the site.Iraqi commanders said 85 suspected anti-US fighters were killed in an assault by Iraqi troops and US aircraft on the camp Tuesday, adding that no one was captured and others had fled by boat. Asked about the presence of rebels at the camp late Wednesday, a member of the Iraqi police commandos that took part in the operation said Iraqi and US troops withdrew from the area at about 6.30pm (1530 GMT) on Tuesday. "The commandos killed 35 and US air raids killed 50. But no one was captured and many escaped by boat," General Adnan Thabit, a senior advisor to the interior ministry, earlier told AFP by phone from Samarra. "During the fight, 30 boats left." A statement from the outgoing government, which confirmed the number of fighters killed, said one Algerian was captured. Local hospitals told AFP they had received no casualties from the battle. Posted by: Fred 2005-03-24 |
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