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| Iraq |
| U.S. Troops Move Closer to Mosul |
| 2003-04-05 |
| U.S. forces moved closer to Iraq's northern oil city of Mosul on Saturday, after a day of American air strikes on Iraqi frontlines on the road ahead of them. A Reuters team passed one 20-vehicle convoy carrying around 100 U.S. soldiers about five km from Kalak, which until Thursday formed the frontline between the Kurdish-ruled zone in the north and the Iraqi army. The regular forces in the convoy — one truck carried soldiers and 19 Humvees carried troops or weapons and equipment — were the first I had seen in the area as opposed to the U.S. special forces who have been operating with Kurdish fighters. The convoy later turned off the main road and divided into at least three sections that pulled up on side roads. But Reuters television cameraman Dmitry Madorsky saw a 10-vehicle convoy on the move in the Kurdish-controlled city of Arbil, about 30 km to the east of Kalak. Residents waved and cheered. I'm surprised Rooters reported that little tidbit... Kalak overlooks two bridges over the River Zab on the main road connecting Arbil and Mosul, Iraq's third city which is a little over 40 km to the west. Iraqi forces began retreating from Kalak early on Thursday, after around 10 days of sustained bombing. They established a new frontline a few kilometers down the road to Mosul at the village of Khazer, where another strategic bridge lies in no-man's land between the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |