US Anti-guerrilla Sweep in Central Iraq, 70 Killed

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 13, 2003

US Anti-guerrilla Sweep in Central Iraq, 70 Killed

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Authorities were planning Friday morning to interrogate the lone survivor of a U.S. raid on what they said was a terrorist training camp in central Iraq, U.S. military officials said. As many as 70 combatants were killed and a large cache of weapons was seized in the heavy engagement, a major combat operation that U.S. officials described as real warfare.

NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski reported from the Pentagon that Air Force F-16s dropped six 2,000-pound precision-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition weapons, or JDAMs, in the attack on what U.S. officials called an extremist camp at al-Asad, west of Baghdad.

U.S. ground troops confiscated a sizeable cache of weapons, including at least three dozen shoulder-fired SAM 7 anti-aircraft missiles, as well as rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, the officials said.

RPGs and mortars are the main weapons that have been used in a vexing string of recent hit-and-run attacks on U.S. military forces, who entered the fourth day Friday of a larger operation to disarm resisters in the region just north of Baghdad. U.S. troops have taken nearly 400 prisoners, believed to be Baath Party supporters and loyalists of deposed President Saddam Hussein, in the overall operation, U.S. officials said.

U.S. forces killed about 70 "enemy combatants" in Thursday's raid at al-Asad, among them foreign fighters, the officials said. "This is real warfare going on here," one of the officials said on condition of anonymity. "This was a major combat operation."

Only one of the fighters at the camp was known to have survived, they said. He was in U.S. custody, but his condition was not immediately known, and U.S. officials were waiting for the chance to question him.

U.S. officials quoted by The Associated Press confirmed NBC's report, saying the attack occurred about 1:45 a.m. (5:45 p.m. Wednesday ET) and was followed later in the morning by a ground assault. The officials gave no details about the camp or why it was designated as a terrorist installation, the AP said.

A U.S. AH-64 Apache attack helicopter attached to the 101st Airborne Division was shot down in the operation, the first aircraft downed by ground fire since Saddam was ousted two months ago.

A pair of Apaches fired on "irregular forces" at the scene, while U.S. ground troops secured the site and rescued the two-man crew, both of whom were uninjured, NBC News reported from northern Iraq.

MAJOR SWEEP

Events Thursday marked a sharp escalation of U.S. military activity.

In the overall sweep through northern areas, dubbed Operation Peninsula Strike, 10 to 15 Iraqis were killed Thursday and four U.S. soldiers suffered gunshot wounds in Duluiyah, said Sgt. Forest Geary of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Three of the injured Americans were flown to Germany for medical care, he said.

Fighter jets, attack helicopters and unmanned aerial drones backed up ground troops during the operation, which is aimed at rooting out the organizers of attacks on occupation forces. In three days, the operation had taken nearly 400 prisoners believed to be Baath Party supporters and Saddam loyalists, U.S. military officials said.

"As we receive actionable intelligence, we strike hard and with lethal force," Army Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, said in a briefing Thursday. "Iraq will be a combat zone for some time."

Air Force Lt. Ryan Fitzgerald, a spokesman for Central Command, said he had no information on the capture of any of the 55 most wanted members of Saddam's regime. He said that U.S. officials armed with intelligence on particular suspects were questioning those who had been captured and that prisoners deemed not to be hostile would be released.

The heavily wooded area provided good cover for ambushers, but the searches failed to turn up more than a few light arms and rocket-propelled grenades, weaponry commonly found all over Iraq, said troops involved in the operation.

"When we came down here, we really expected the worse. That has not been the reality," said Sgt. Todd Oliver of the Army's 173rd Airborne Division. "We came here searching houses and knocking down doors. If they were here, they're gone now."

SADDAM SUPPORT IN 'SUNNI TRIANGLE'

The region north and west of Baghdad is part of the so-called Sunni triangle, the heartland of support for Saddam's now-banned Baath Party and not far from ex-leader's hometown of Tikrit. Saddam is a Sunni Muslim.

About 1,500 troops from the 3rd Infantry Division were sent to Fallujah, a Sunni city of 200,000 people, and the neighboring towns of Khaldiyah and Habaniyah.

Since U.S. forces entered Fallujah in April, four U.S. soldiers have been killed and 21 others have been wounded by insurgents, while U.S. troops have killed at least 23 Iraqis and wounded 78 others.

In Habaniyah, a top U.S. commander said his men had made significant progress in restoring security.

"There are three elements we are having to deal with, first, armed bandits; second, former Baath Party officials are paying people to attack us; and then the Fedayeen," said Maj. Gen. Buford Blount III, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division. The Fedayeen were a paramilitary force set up by Saddam's regime.

U.S. intelligence has made progress in figuring out which groups are responsible for which attacks and U.S. troops are working to dismantle them, Blount said.

Anecdotal evidence, such as large amounts of cash seized during arrests of militants, suggests that someone is paying the militants to attack U.S. troops, said Sgt. Brian Thomas, an Army spokesman in Baghdad.

The attackers have used guerrilla tactics allowing them to strike U.S. military vehicles and escape. They also appeared to be co-ordinating raids with signaling devices, including flares, military officials said.

Duluiyah, which was largely untouched during the war, is said to be a likely place of refuge for die-hard Saddam fighters.

Source: agencies

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