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| Iraq |
| Fighting at Najaf |
| 2003-03-25 |
| Between 150 and 500 Iraqi troops were killed Tuesday after U.S. Army forces came under attack near An Najaf, in central Iraq, a senior Defense official said. The official said the American troops had come under attack. No U.S. casualties were immediately reported. Elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment were east of An Najaf when they suddenly came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, the official said. The Iraqis were on foot; it wasn’t clear whether they were from regular army units, paramilitary forces or the Republican Guard. Didn't matter, either... Some of the 7th Cavalry's equipment was damaged in the attack, according to the Defense official. Early estimates of the number of Iraqis killed in the fight varied widely, from 150 to 500. It was not immediately clear what weaponry the Americans used. My guess is everything they had... The 7th Cavalry is part of the Army force driving toward Baghdad. Some elements of the force are farther north, near Karbala, with only the Medina armored division of the Republican Guard between them and Baghdad. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #4 Yep, FNC has an update. The Iraqis attacked during the sandstorm. Perhaps they thought that gave them homefield advantage, to sneak within RPG range? It seems that our Bradleys and their 25mms got a lot of use. Hopefully we'll learn more now that the storm is subsiding. |
| Posted by: (lowercase) matt 2003-03-26 00:07:08 |
| #3 Report is that an Abrahms drove over a bridge that collapsed and they could not get it out of the ditch. 2 others were hit by RPGs in the rear, but were returned to service. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2003-03-25 23:45:13 |
| #2 The abortive Iraqi armor rush from Basra was futile enough, but this? Foot soldiers attacking the 7th Cav? On purpose? I thought these guys weren't allowed to drink. The battlefield postmortem should be very interesting on this one, hopefully we'll get some daylight reports starting soon. And what's with the equipment check? Either something important was damaged, or the reporter was trying to be evenhanded: "Lessee, one hundred fifty enemy kills, but they...dinged the coffeepot! Damn yooouuuuuuu!" |
| Posted by: (lowercase) matt 2003-03-25 21:59:33 |
| #1 Some of the 7th Cavalry's equipment was damaged in the attack equipment had to sent back to Kuwait to clean the spit wads off the windshields. |
| Posted by: Brew 2003-03-25 21:02:49 |