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Fierce fight edge forward { March 31 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58618-2003Mar31.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58618-2003Mar31.html
U.S Forces Edge Toward Baghdad After Fierce Fight
Reuters
Monday, March 31, 2003; 10:37 AM
By Andrew Gray
NEAR IMAM AIYUB, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops fought Iraqi militia and Republican Guard units near the site of ancient Babylon on Monday in what is thought to be the closest land battle yet to Baghdad.
On a front about 70 miles south of the capital, U.S. forces said they advanced to the outskirts of the city of Hilla after fierce fighting in which many Iraqis and at least one American were killed.
There was also action around a bridge over the Euphrates river at Hindiya, just 80 km from Baghdad, where U.S. troops encountered Iraqis firing from buildings and foxholes dug in along a road through the date-growing region.
A military official told Reuters that U.S. forces took control of a jailhouse at Hindiya and found maps for the defense of the city, detailing where Iraqi forces were camped.
As an intense artillery barrage opened up on Baghdad's southern outskirts on Monday, some U.S. ground units seem to be probing toward the capital, attacking Iraqi defenders, including elite Republican Guards.
They are also keeping Iraqis guessing about where the bulk of U.S. troops in the west may cross the Euphrates.
"We're coming. Where the regime is, we're coming," U.S. Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a briefing in Qatar. He said some Republican Guard units were in "serious difficulty."
Fighting around Imam Aiyub, several km south of Hilla on the eastern, or Baghdad, side of the Euphrates, began at around 7 a.m. Hilla, with a population of 300,000, is the main city between Imam Aiyub and Baghdad.
Reporters traveling with U.S. troops heard mortar and artillery fire and saw smoke rise near a main road.
NORTHENMOST ADVANCE
Most of the U.S. force in the area between the cities of Najaf and Kerbala appear to be still on the western bank.
But the move toward Hilla seemed to be the northernmost advance by U.S. ground forces toward Baghdad along the eastern bank of the Euphrates, about 20 km south of the site of the ancient city of Babylon.
Troops from the 2nd Battalion 70th Armored Regiment and the 101st Airborne Division used tanks, helicopters, mortars and artillery against Iraqi positions after traveling along a road littered with burned-out vehicles from previous fighting.
They also called in British Tornado jets and U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcats to drop laser-guided bombs, U.S. officers said.
The Iraqis hit back with tanks, mortars, small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
U.S. officers called in extra forces and said they had advanced to the outskirts of Hilla and fighting had become more sporadic by the end of the day.
"Two enemy tanks have been destroyed and a host of (Iraqi) infantry," said Captain Brad Loudon of the 2-70 battalion.
A soldier from the 101st Airborne Division was killed by small arms fire, U.S. officials said.
Colonel John Peabody of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division told Reuters correspondent Luke Baker near Kerbala, 10 km (7 miles) from Hindiya, that up to 100 Iraqis were killed in Monday's fighting there. Three Americans were wounded, one critically.
Iraqi prisoners from the battle included an officer who said he was from the Nebuchadnezzar Division of the Republican Guard -- a claim that surprised U.S. commanders who said they believed this division to be based much further north.
Brooks said in Qatar that troops from the Nebuchadnezzar Division, named after an ancient Babylonian king, "may be reinforcements, may be replacing losses."
An Iraqi military spokesman said Republican army forces attacked U.S. troops near Kerbala and destroyed a tank and three personnel carriers. He said U.S. troops were either captured or killed and Iraqi forces "returned to their base safely."
Battle reports could not be independently confirmed. Nor could a report from one U.S. officer that some Iraqis seemed to be trying to shield their positions with women and children.
Soldiers with the 2-70 battalion also said Iraqi forces had used women as shields during the battle near Hilla.
Further east, a separate advance by U.S. Marines appears to have been halted while troops try to consolidate supply lines and tackle Iraqi forces mounting guerrilla attacks on their columns. Reuters correspondents around Nassiriya on Monday saw Marines attack suspected paramilitary bases in two towns. (Additional reporting by Luke Baker and Kieran Murray)
© 2003 Reuters
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