Posted on 08/30/2005 9:16:59 AM PDT by jmc1969
RAMADI, Iraq, Aug. 30 -- U.S. warplanes backed Sunni Arab tribal fighters on Tuesday in what tribal leaders called an unprecedented Sunni-led offensive to drive out Abu Musab Zarqawi's forces.
Three days of ongoing fighting in towns near the Syrian border killed at least 61 people, at least 56 of them Tuesday, said Dr. Ali Rawi, emergency-room director at the hospital in the largest city near the fighting, Qaim, about 200 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Forty-two of them wore the black training-suits and athletic shoes favored by Zarqawi's fighters, Rawi said.
Others appeared to be fighters of a rival tribe or civilians, he said.
Tuesday's bombings and clashes in the towns of Husaybah and Karabilah marked some of the fiercest fighting yet in a growing rift between Zarqawi's insurgents and some tribes of their Sunni Arab base.
The clashes came after insurgents kidnapped and killed 31 men belonging to the Albu Mahal tribe because they had joined the Iraqi security forces, said Sheikh Muhammed Mahallawi, one of the tribe's leaders.
"We decided, either we force them out of the city or kill them," with the support of U.S. bombardment, Mahallawi said.
His tribe also had asked local residents not to aid or house Zarqawi's fighters, he said. Some of the local people refused the request, in a show of support for Zarqawi, he said.
Zarqawi's group said in a statement posted in local mosques that it had lost 17 men.
The fighting, while localized, met the constantly stated U.S. aim of "driving a wedge" between foreign-led insurgents--Zarqawi is Jordanian--and their Sunni Arab base. Resentment of Zarqawi's fighters earlier this month sparked clashes in Ramadi, where Sunni Arab tribes rallied to block his forces in their stated aim of driving Shiite Arabs from the city.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I wonder if they're just an islamic branch of the Heaven's Gate Cult.
identify and kill these traitors...
This is excellent news.
Go US!
Good idea.
Its over for the Zarq man...the end is near...the hand that feeds him just bit him on the a$$.
arrrggg!!! Quagmire!!!!
ummmm wait a second, the Iraqis are leading this?
woohoo!!
:)
LOL. Well, they definitely ended up in the same place.
I hope the capture him alive!
That is hugh.
;-)
All hail the Hail-Bopp.
What was the name of that comet the mothership was hiding behind? Wasn't it Hale-Bop or something like that?
Some of the local people refused the request, in a show of support for Zarqawi, he said.
Yep, probably one person helped Zarqawi and the Post made it seems like many did. The OLD MEDIA is so disgusting.
hmmmm....
me too....
hmmm any chance we can supply them with these with hidden tracking devices?
word was he got a nice piece of shrapnel inbeded into his shoulder during the last campaign by the marines in that region.
Let's hope this time, a big piece of shrapnel gets blasted into the side of his fat head and makes him have a long agonizing painful death.
It should read:
A reporter for the MSN wrote this article, in a show of support for Zarqawi, he said.
"Heaven's Gate Cult."
I thought that would be the "Hitlery Gate Cult". Isn't she the pig in a pants suit (PIAPS)?
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