|
Firefight baghdad mosque one marine dead { April 10 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2542246http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=2542246
Fierce Firefight at Baghdad Mosque, U.S. Marine Dead
Thu April 10, 2003 07:53 AM ET
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Marines fought a fierce four-hour battle on Thursday at a Baghdad mosque where senior Iraqi leaders had been thought to be holed up, as U.S. warplanes attacked areas of the city under the control of Arab fighters.
U.S. military officials said one Marine was killed and more than 20 wounded in fighting near the Imam al-Adham Mosque north of the city center and a nearby presidential palace.
"We had information that a group of regime leadership was attempting to organize...a meeting. The fighting in and around the mosque complex could not be avoided as enemy forces were firing from the area of the mosque," said Captain Frank Thorp, spokesman at U.S. Central Command war headquarters in Qatar.
At Baghdad international airport, Major Rod Legowski of the 1st Marine Division said he could not confirm whether Saddam Hussein had been in the area but that the Marines were aiming at targets of "significant military value."
"The mission was successful," he said, adding that fighting lasted more than four hours, with Marines coming under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 assault rifles.
Legowski said the fighting was over but that the Marines were "still clearing the mess up."
ARAB FIGHTERS ON STREETS
Non-Iraqi Arab volunteer fighters were in control of several streets in the Aadhamiya district, where the mosque is located, and also in the nearby Waziriya district. This correspondent saw Arab fighters manning checkpoints and patrolling the area.
Arab fighters were also out in force on the streets of the Mansur district west of the Tigris river, close to the Iraqi intelligence service headquarters.
U.S. planes swooped overhead, hitting targets in areas under Arab control. But U.S. troops were nowhere to be seen in Mansur.
There was also no sign of Iraqi forces. Abandoned Iraqi artillery pieces and missile launchers could be seen in the streets. The Arab fighters appeared to be putting up the main resistance to U.S. troops in the city.
Thousands of "Mujahideen" volunteers from across the Arab world are thought to be in Iraq. Ahead of the war, an audio tape believed to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden exhorted Muslims to fight U.S. forces.
In southwest Baghdad, a Reuters cameraman saw 21 bodies of what appeared to be Iraqi soldiers and civilians. People in the area said there had been heavy fighting earlier and that U.S. soldiers had already removed many more bodies.
And in the northeast of the capital, U.S. Marines swept through the Saddam City district in the early hours of Thursday, blasting forces still loyal to Saddam with heavy artillery, mortar and machinegun fire.
Planes buzzed the area in support of the Marine units and soldiers reported seeing Iraqi anti-aircraft fire arching up into the night sky against the noisy but invisible aircraft.
Military sources said the area around Saddam City, home to about two million impoverished Shi'ite Muslims, was the Marines' final objective on the eastern flank of the city center. (Additional reporting by Luke Baker at Baghdad airport and John Chalmers in Qatar)
|
|
