Bloody Battle in the Desert
| Las Vegas Sun Coalition soldiers fought suspected insurgents near a Syrian border town in a battle that killed 12 militants, injured a 6-year-old girl and wounded six coalition soldiers, the U.S. military said Tuesday. The fighting, which included a U.S. air strike, occurred Monday around the town of Qaim, when the coalition forces tracked down and confronted a small group of suspected members of the terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq, the military said. The group is led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq’s most wanted man. He has declared his allegiance to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network and has been tied to many bombings and kidnappings since the U.S.-led invasion removed Saddam Hussein from power two years ago. Monday’s battle occurred after coalition forces searching an area of suspected insurgents followed a truck to an isolated tent and shed east of Qaim, the U.S. military said in a statement. There, men from the truck and from inside the tent and shed loaded materials onto the vehicle. the military said. When it began to drive off, coalition forces stopped the truck, and the suspected insurgents - armed with assault rifles and hand grenades - opened fire, the statement said. In the battle that followed, nine adult male insurgents were killed and one wounded, and the 6-year-old girl received injuries to her head and one leg, the military said. A U.S. air strike killed three other insurgents and destroyed the tent and shed, the statement said. Six coalition soldiers - whose nationalities were not released - were wounded and taken to a nearby military medical facility, where they were in stable condition, the statement said. The girl’s injuries were not severe. Searching the site of the battle, coalition forces found false identification cards, foreign currency and other evidence of direct ties with Zarqawi’s terrorist group and other insurgent groups based outside Iraq, the military said. |
| MNF IraqCredible reporting led Multi-National Forces to a suspected insurgent location in Al Qaim May 2, and consequently, Coalition forces witnessed suspicious activity in the vicinity. The forces then followed a truck, which departed from the possible terrorist site, to a remote and isolated camp site consisting of a tent and a shed east of Al Qaim.
Once at the camp site, the truck stopped and approximately 10-12 armed adult males began loading material from the shed and tent to the truck. Those loading the materials consisted of people already at the campsite and those who had arrived in the truck. Once they finished moving the materials, several men climbed into the vehicle and then backtracked on the same route from which they had traveled toward the original suspected terrorist site. Before the occupants in the vehicle could reach their destination the commander of the operation decided to interdict the vehicle; upon stopping the truck, the suspected insurgents opened fire on the Coalition forces. A firefight ensued with nine enemy adult males killed in action and one enemy wounded. Additionally, one female child, approximately six-years-old, sustained a minor injury to her right calf and to her head. The injuries were not life threatening. The child and the wounded terrorist were immediately evacuated to Coalition medical facilities. All nine terrorists killed were each heavily armed with assault rifles and hand grenades. Three other terrorists were killed in an ensuing air strike that targeted and destroyed the tent and the shed associated with the terrorist activity. Coalition forces found fake identification cards, foreign currency, and other evidence that provided proof of direct ties with the Zarqawi terrorist network as well as with networks outside of Iraq. Six Coalition forces were injured in the firefight. They are all in stable condition. |
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