IRAQ: U.S TROOPS CLAIM TO HAVE KILLED 54 FEDAYEEN GUERILLAS IN GUN BATTLE IN SAMARRA

Record ID: 377111

  • Title: IRAQ: U.S TROOPS CLAIM TO HAVE KILLED 54 FEDAYEEN GUERILLAS IN GUN BATTLE IN SAMARRA
  • Date: 30th November 2003
  • Summary: (U3) TIKRIT, IRAQ (NOVEMBER 30, 2003) (REUTERS - QUALITY AS INCOMING) 1. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT COLONEL WILLIAM MACDONALD, 4TH INFANTRY DIVISION, READING STATEMENT "In the afternoon of 30 November the 4th Infantry Division and taskforce Iron Horse soldiers repelled multiple ambush attempts on two separate logistical convoys killing 46 attacke
  • Embargoed: 15th December 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TIKRIT, SAMARRA , IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA8GD5KQ6YVRQX0NDNAE1ZZB1Z
  • Story Text: U.S. army says Samarra battle kills dozens of Iraqi
    guerrillas - some wearing the uniform of Fedayeen militia.



    American troops said on Monday (December 1) they had
    killed 54 guerrillas, some wearing the uniform of Saddam
    Hussein's feared Fedayeen militia, in a firefight to fend
    off attackers in the tense Iraqi town of Samarra.

    Attacks across Iraq at the weekend also killed seven
    Spanish intelligence agents, two South Korean contractors,
    two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, a Colombian
    contractor and two U.S. soldiers.

    The U.S. military said guerrillas with mortars, assault
    rifles and rocket-propelled grenades staged simultaneous
    attacks on Sunday (November 30) on American convoys in
    Samarra, which lies between Baghdad and Saddam's hometown
    Tikrit. U.S. troops fought back.

    "The 4th Infantry Division repelled multiple ambush
    attempts," Lieutenant Colonel William MacDonald told
    reporters on Sunday.

    MacDonald added that the attack resulted in U.S.

    soldiers "killing 46 attackers and wounding at least 18 and
    capturing eight".

    Five U.S. soldiers and a civilian with them were also
    wounded.

    Residents of Samarra said that U.S. forces fired
    randomly on people, and that most of those who died were
    civilians caught up in the clash.

    But doctors in the town's hospital told Reuters they
    knew of only six people killed in the battle that raged for
    much of Sunday afternoon. It was unclear whether there
    were more bodies not yet recovered. Doctors said identity
    documents found on two of the dead suggested they were
    Iranians.

    The fighting caused devastation, with buildings
    pockmarked by hundreds of bullet holes, and about two dozen
    badly damaged and completely burned-out cars. A bus
    abandoned in the middle of a street had its front sheared
    off. Fences and walls of several residential homes were
    destroyed, apparently by shelling.

    In all of the clashes coalition firepower overwhelmed
    the attackers resulting in significant enemy losses,
    MacDonald said.

    Samarra , 60 miles north of Baghdad sits in the heart
    of the so-called Sunni Triangle, where opposition to US
    operations in Iraq has been fierce. The main road linking
    Baghdad and Tikrit runs through Samarra, and has been the
    site of regular ambushes on trucks. Convoys are protected
    by armoured vehicles that travel in front, in back and
    among the vehicles.

    The violence underscored the growing audacity of
    guerrillas in Iraq and the tougher tactics the U.S. Army
    has adopted in response. Since President George W. Bush
    declared major combat over on May 1, 187 U.S. soldiers have
    been killed in action. November was the deadliest
    month for American troops since the start of the war to
    oust Saddam, with at least 74 killed in action.

    Occupying forces also suffered their deadliest single
    attack during the month, a car bombing in the southern town
    of Nassiriya that killed 19 Italians and nine Iraqis.


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