- Title: IRAQ: US FORCES WERE INVOLVED IN A FIREFIGHT IN TIKIRT
- Date: 3rd September 2003
- Summary: (W1) TIKRIT, IRAQ (SEPTEMBER 3, 2003) (ACCESS ALL) 1. TRACKING SHOT OF U.S SOLDIERS FROM 1ST BATTALION, 22ND REGIMENT PATROLLING THROUGH STREETS OF TIKRIT 0.03 2. MCU SOLDIER TALKING ON RADIO 0.08 3. LV FIREFIGHT/CIVILIAN CAR COMING TO A STOP ON STREET 0.22 4. LV HEAVY MACHINE GUN FIRE AND EXPLOSIONS 0.41 5. GV LARGE FIRE BURNING WHERE SUSPECTED ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE (RPG) ATTACKER WAS LOCATED 0.46 6. SLV SOLDIERS RUNNING DOWN STREET 0.52 7. MCU SOLDIER LOOKING THROUGH NIGHT SCOPE 0.56 8. SLV BRADLEY FIGHTING VEHICLE ARRIVING 1.04 9. LAS SOLDIERS WALKING DOWN ROAD 1.09 10. LV FIRE BURNING 1.14 11. LV OF HELICOPTERS FLYING OVERHEAD 1.20 12. SV SOLDIER BEHIND MACHINE GUN 1.24 13. SLV OF ARRESTED SUSPECTS (NOT FROM AMBUSH) 1.27 14. SV SUSPECTS BEING CUFFED 1.31 15. MCU (English) LT COLONEL STEVE RUSSELL, COMMANDER OF 1ST BATTALION, 22ND REGIMENT SAYING: "We do go out every time expecting some kind of contact, when it happens we try to be ready for it and if does not happen, it's a good night." 1.41 16. LAS OF VEHICLES AT SCENE 1.46 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 18th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TIKRIT, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAAEIP8BM4N53OFV5S5ETWF00O5
- Story Text: US Forces were involved in a firefight in the Iraqi
town of Tikrit
Mortar bombs were fired at the U.S. military base in
Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit on Wednesday and U.S.
troops surged out in Humvees and armoured vehicles to repel
the attackers, Reuters witnesses said.
There were no immediate reports of American casualties
in the firefight which lasted around 15 minutes but U.S.
forces said they thought at least one Iraqi was killed.
U.S. officers said six mortars flew over the base which
occupies Saddam's former palace on the banks of the river
Tigris and landed in empty lots in the city.
A reconnaissance unit on patrol was the first to engage
the attackers and U.S. Humvees backed by Bradley fighting
vehicles and Apache helicopters rushed to join the fight.
They were fired on by rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and
machineguns.
Tracer fire lit up the sky as the Americans returned
fire, leaving a patch of land and debris in flames.
"We go out every time expecting some kind of contact,
when it happens we try to be ready for it and if does not
happen, it's a good night," said Lieutenant Colonel Steve
Russell, who leads 4th Infantry Division's First Battalion,
22nd Regiment, listening to small explosions coming from
flames.
U.S. forces in Iraq are coming under almost daily
attack nearly five months after Saddam was toppled by U.S.
led forces and 67 U.S. servicemen have been killed since
Washington declared major combat over on May 1.
U.S. commanders have said they believe Saddam is hiding
out in the vicinity of Tikrit, which sits on the banks of
the Tigris about 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad. His
two feared sons, Uday and Qusay, were hunted down and
killed in a fierce shootout at a villa in the northern city
of Mosul last month.
In recent weeks, U.S. forces, led by the 4th Infantry
Division, have kept up a relentless pursuit of Saddam and
his loyalists, conducting hundreds of patrols and raids in
and around Tikrit and three provinces surrounding the town.
Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell's unit headed into
central Tikrit after the clash to raid a house where a
suspected bomb-maker was believed to be hiding.
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