IRAQ: UNITED STATES SOLDIERS IN IRAQ ARE HOLDING 40 MEN SUSPECTED OF ATTACKING A U.S. CONVOY

Record ID: 338103

  • Title: IRAQ: UNITED STATES SOLDIERS IN IRAQ ARE HOLDING 40 MEN SUSPECTED OF ATTACKING A U.S. CONVOY
  • Date: 19th September 2003
  • Summary: (W5) TIKRIT, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 19, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV U.S. SOLDIER STANDING NEXT TO HUMVEE 0.03 2. SV FROM INTERIOR OF CRACKED GLASS OF WINDSHIELD 0.07 3. MCU (English)(AUDIO AS INCOMING) COLONEL JAMES HICKEY, COMMANDER OF FIRST BRIGADE OF FIRST INFANTRY DIVISION BASED IN TIKRIT, SAYING: "We were involved in quite a few direct firefights
  • Embargoed: 4th October 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TIKRIT, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAC2UN0AOTVTVF1WUMDHHV07UNF
  • Story Text: United States soldiers in Iraq are holding 40 men
    suspected of attacking a U.S. convoy.




    U.S. troops were holding 40 suspected Iraqi
    guerrillas on Friday (September 19) following a night-long
    battle near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

    A U.S. convoy was travelling from Baghdad to Tikrit
    when it came under fire approximately eight kilometres from
    Tikrit. Three U.S. soldiers were ambushed and killed in
    part of a series of coordinated attacks east and west of
    the Tigris river late on Thursday (September 18).

    Colonel James Hickey said U.S. forces encircled an area
    of farmland on the east side of the river Tigris before
    capturing the Iraqi fighters.

    "We were involved in quite a few direct firefights
    throughout the evening and through the morning hours again.

    And right now we have about 40 detainees of military-aged
    males, a number of males quite unusual for that particular
    area, we are quite familiar with that particular farm area.

    So we feel very very confident that we have under our
    control the individuals that attacked our patrol," he said.

    Backed by attack helicopters, U.S. troops battled
    guerrillas until first light.

    The damage caused by an improvised explosive device
    was visible on the windscreen of one of the American Humvee
    vehicles.

    The ambush brought to 76 the number of U.S. soldiers
    killed in guerrilla attacks since major combat operations
    were declared over on May 1 after the U.S.-led invasion
    which ousted Saddam Hussein.

    It was one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. soldiers
    which have been concentrated in the so-called "Sunni
    Triangle", the heartland of support for Saddam which
    stretches west from Baghdad and north to Tikrit.

    Two U.S. soldiers wounded in the ambush were raced in
    the back of a Humvee all-terrain vehicle to Saddam's former
    palace in Tikrit, now an American military base.

    The fighting began at 8 p.m. (1600 GMT) when assailants
    in a pick-up truck fired on a U.S. infantry unit south of
    Tikrit which responded with mortar and heavy machinegun
    fire.

    At the same time, a U.S. army camp nearby came under
    attack and returned fire. Hickey said the apparent
    coordination of the attacks marked a change in tactics for
    the anti-American fighters whose attacks in the past have
    appeared to be spontaneous or opportunistic.

    But Hickey denied anti-American resistance was on the
    increase, saying there had been a fall-off in attacks in
    the Tikrit area in recent weeks.


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