Iraq: major fighting; demos banned; foreign volunteers

[John M Cox <coxj@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Fighting.html

      June 13, 2003

ABOUT 100 IRAQI FIGHTERS DIE IN FOUR DAYS OF CLASHES

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 9:58 a.m. ET

BALAD, Iraq (AP) -- U.S. forces killed 27 Iraqi fighters in a ground and
air pursuit Friday after the Iraqis attacked an American tank patrol
north of Baghdad, bringing the opposition death toll in four days of
skirmishes to about 100, according to the military.

Friday's clash came as American forces pressed forward with a massive
sweep to crush resistance by supporters of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime
north of Baghdad.

Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said U.S. forces were sifting through
intelligence that ``foreign fighters'' may have been at an alleged
terrorist training camp northwest of Baghdad bombed early Thursday by
U.S. forces.

In Washington on Friday, a senior Pentagon official, speaking on
condition of anonymity, said about 70 opposition fighters were killed in
Thursday's attack -- most apparently non-Iraqis from other countries in
the region.

If confirmed, it would be the first indication since the war's end that
non-Iraqi volunteers were still in the country. Before the war in March,
Iraq claimed that thousands of Arab fighters poured into the country to
resist the invasion. They provided some of the stiffest resistance once
American forces entered Baghdad.

Separately, U.S. troops acting on an intelligence tip arrested 74 people
described as sympathizers of the al-Qaida terrorist network in a raid
Thursday near the northern city of Kirkuk, said the U.S. Central Command.

U.S. Central Command said an ``organized group'' ambushed the tanks with
rocket propelled grenades near Balad, about 35 miles from the capital on
the main highway north. The statement did not mention U.S. casualties.

The patrol returned fire and killed four of the assailants in the initial
gunbattle, the military said.

When the rest of the attackers fled, Apache helicopters joined the chase
along with tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, killing 23 more
assailants. The statement did not say whether any escaped.

Witnesses said the attackers rushed the tank column from a thicket of
reeds near sunflower fields on an isolated rural road a few miles south
of Balad.

Bassem Abdul Rahim, a 22-year-old farmer, said he was hiding with his
family in his house about 150 yards away when he heard the shooting and
saw flashes of gunfire. After the clash, the Americans took away the
bodies, he said.

The tank patrol was from the Army's 4th Infantry Division, based in Fort
Hood, Texas.

The attack was the latest in increasing resistance to the American-led
occupation of Iraq since the war was declared over on May 1. Since then,
about 40 Americans have died in ambushes and sniper fire, mainly in
central Iraq where Saddam drew most of his support.

Six U.S. soldiers have been wounded in the past 24 hours in fighting
throughout Iraq, Capt. John Morgan, spokesman in Baghdad for the Army's V
Corps, said Friday.

U.S. military officials in Baghdad declined to give details of Friday's
sweep north of Baghdad, saying the operations were ongoing and more
fighting was possible.

On Thursday, American warplanes bombed an alleged training facility 90
miles northwest of Baghdad, looking for members of the now-banned Baath
Party, Iraqi paramilitary groups and ``other subversive elements,'' said
a military statement.

A fierce ground battle followed the air strike in which the Iraqi forces
suffered heavy casualties. One American soldier was wounded, said the
U.S. Central Command.

``It was a tough fight. They were well-trained or well-equipped, and
clearly well prepared for this, for the fight they had,'' Myers said at a
Washington briefing Thursday.

Also on Thursday, Iraqi fighters shot down an Apache helicopter gunship
-- the first American aircraft downed by ground fire since Saddam's
ouster two months ago -- and a U.S. F-16 fighter-bomber crashed Thursday.
The crews of the aircraft were rescued unharmed.

Earlier this week, U.S. forces launched a sweep through towns of the
so-called ``Sunni triangle'' north of and west of Baghdad in central Iraq
and marked at its top by Tikrit, Saddam's hometown.

Coalition forces did not give a total of Iraqi casualties in the
operation, but said about 400 Iraqis have been arrested and many were
being interrogated. No Americans have been killed, said Sgt. Forest Geary
of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division.

Hundreds of U.S. troops moved in hard and fast through the area, centered
on the town of Duluiyah 30 miles north of Baghdad. With helicopters
whirring overhead and tanks offering cover, they kicked down doors and
pulled out residents, looking for snipers who had harassed them for weeks
from the shelter of thick woods.

``During the day, the people are calm and friendly, but at night they've
been ambushing us,'' said Geary.

The aggressive raids angered people in Duluiyah, who complained of
needlessly heavy-handed tactics by the Americans. A man complained his
6-year-old son was handcuffed, and a family claimed that a man died of a
heart attack because U.S. forces refused to let them give him his
medicine.

As part of the effort to root out militants, the American civilian
administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, on Thursday banned gatherings,
pronouncements or publications that incite disorder or violence against
the U.S.-led occupation forces, or the return of the Baath Party.

U.S. military officials also said two Iraqi prisoners were shot trying to
escape from a camp Thursday. One of the men later died of his wounds and
the other was recaptured, U.S. Central Command said.

The United States is holding more than 2,000 Iraqis, including more than
half of the 55 Iraqi most-wanted by Washington.






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