IRAQ:U.S. MARINES ENGAGED IN HEAVY CLASHES WITH SCORES OF INSURGENTS NEAR A MOSQUE IN WESTERN IRAQ

Record ID: 649091

  • Title: IRAQ:U.S. MARINES ENGAGED IN HEAVY CLASHES WITH SCORES OF INSURGENTS NEAR A MOSQUE IN WESTERN IRAQ
  • Date: 11th October 2004
  • Summary: (U6) HIT, IRAQ (OCTOBER 11, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. LV EMPTY STREET/ AL SHARKI MOSQUE IS IN THAT STREET/ HUGE EXPLOSION/SMOKE DOWN THE STREET 0.11 2. LV MASKED INSURGENT IN STREET / SHOOTING 0.23 3. LV MINARET FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL 0.30 4. SV/LV SMOKE IN THE STREET (2 SHOTS) 0.48 5. LV HELICOPTERS FLYING (2 SHOTS) 1.06 6. LV AMBULANCE ON THE ROAD/ROAD/HELCOPTER FLYING IN DISTANCE (3 SHOTS) 1.31 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HIT, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA7HU61XDE96OH96Y0IV20YR0T
  • Story Text: U.S. marines engaged in heavy clashes with scores of
    insurgents near a mosque in western Iraq.




    The US military said it engaged in heavy clashes
    with insurgents in western Iraq on Monday (October 11),
    leading to U.S. air strikes which damaged a shrine and left
    it ablaze.

    A U.S. military spokesman said marines came under fire
    from around 100 insurgents near the town of Hit, about 170
    km (107 miles) west of Baghdad, and engaged in an hour-long
    firefight.

    The spokesman said insurgents had taken fighting
    positions in the Al Sharki mosque, a Sunni shrine, and that
    they called for air strikes on the shrine which set it
    alight and damaged it.

    The area has been a rebel stronghold over the past 18
    months, particularly around the towns of Falluja and
    Ramadi, which lie just east of Hit.

    Hit is on the main road that follows the Euphrates
    river towards Syria, a route that U.S. forces suspect is
    used by foreign fighters to enter Iraq and bring supplies
    to guerrillas.

    U.S. forces have engaged in fighting near mosques
    previously in the Iraq conflict, most notably around the
    Imam Ali shrine in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf earlier
    this year, but relatively
    little damage has yet been done to shrines.

    Insurgents often accuse U.S. forces of damaging
    mosques, while the U.S. military says guerrillas use the
    holy sites as shields from which to attack them.


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