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| Iraq |
| US warplanes hit Iraqi forces in Karbala |
| 2003-04-06 |
| US warplanes have attacked the Iraqi city of Karbala in a bid to protect their military forces advancing towards the capital city of Baghdad. According to the Al-Jazeera channel, American military sources claimed that their warplanes have hit a center of the Iraqi Republican Guards, the Baath Party's headquarters as well as a munitions depot in Karbala. FOLLOWUP: From the NY Times (requires registration)... American forces entered this city early today and found herds of tanks abandoned by the Iraqi Army and Republican Guard, and pockets of paramilitary fighters who sprayed the allied troops with rocket-propelled grenades and fire from AK-47's. Responding with a lethal combination of strikes from the air and the ground, the Americans chased the paramilitary units past an amusement park to a schoolhouse converted to an armory, and then to a building used by the governing Baath Party. As night fell, the Americans occupied about two-thirds of the city, which is holy to Shiite Muslims. Battles were expected to continue tomorrow morning. While some parts of the city reacted enthusiastically to the developments, there was diffidence elsewhere, military officials said. Some residents told American forces that those contesting the city on behalf of the Iraqi government were actually Syrian paramilitary fighters who had responded to lucrative offers to serve in Iraqi militias, known as fedayeen. That report was not confirmed. If it is confirmed, that's another black mark for Syria. And the locals must have been so-o-o-o-o happy to see them... As American soldiers build in force to attack Baghdad, regular Iraqi troops on the outskirts gave every sign of crumbling. The Iraqi Army, as well as many Republican Guard units, have abandoned their tanks and armored carriers. To some, that is a direct response to the leaflets dropped by United States aircraft, urging the soldiers to leave their vehicles and go home. On Friday morning, American scouts from the Third Infantry Division found a batch of abandoned Iraqi armored vehicles. They were a Soviet-era model known as B.M.P.'s. "Thirty-one B.M.P.'s, fully loaded, ready to go, no one around them," said Sgt. First Class Trevor Marshall. "It's like a used-car parking lot. We said maybe someone's got themselves a dealership." |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 Syria just keeps climbing higher on the"Top Ten"hit list. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-04-07 09:04:46 |
| #2 "1981 BMP-2, lo miles, never seen cmbt, lk new, grn, 31 to choose, call Achmed 555-3432." |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-06 14:20:24 |
| #1 "herds of tanks" I thought a group of Iraqi Tanks were called a gaggle? |
| Posted by: raptor 4/7/2003 8:53:36 AM |