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Posted on 04/10/2003 7:35:39 AM PDT by formercalifornian
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Marines fought a fierce four-hour battle on Thursday at a Baghdad mosque where senior Iraqi leaders had been thought to be holed up, as U.S. warplanes attacked areas of the city under the control of Arab fighters.
Fighting was also reported near an oil refinery in southwestern Baghdad. Reuters cameraman Ahmed Bahaddou saw U.S. troops collecting 21 bodies, apparently Iraqi soldiers and civilians, on a road leading toward the international airport. Witnesses said other corpses had already been picked up.
U.S. military officials said one Marine was killed and more than 20 wounded north of the city center in the battle around the Imam al-Adham Mosque and a nearby presidential palace.
"We had information that a group of regime leadership was attempting to organize...a meeting. The fighting in and around the mosque complex could not be avoided as enemy forces were firing from the area of the mosque," said Captain Frank Thorp, spokesman at U.S. Central Command war headquarters in Qatar.
At Baghdad international airport, Major Rod Legowski of the 1st Marine Division said he could not confirm whether Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) had been in the area during the battle but that the Marines were aiming at targets of "significant military value."
"The mission was successful," he said, adding that fighting lasted more than four hours, with Marines coming under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 assault rifles.
Legowski said the fighting was over but that the Marines were "still clearing the mess up."
ARAB FIGHTERS ON STREETS
Non-Iraqi Arab volunteer fighters were in control of several streets in the Aadhamiya district, where the mosque is located, and also in the nearby Waziriya district. This correspondent saw Arab fighters manning checkpoints and patrolling the area.
Arab fighters were also out in force on the streets of the Mansur district west of the Tigris river, close to the Iraqi intelligence service headquarters.
U.S. planes swooped overhead, hitting targets in areas under Arab control. But U.S. troops were nowhere to be seen in Mansur.
There was also no sign of Iraqi forces. Abandoned Iraqi artillery pieces and missile launchers could be seen in the streets. The Arab fighters appeared to be putting up the main resistance to U.S. troops in the city.
Thousands of "Mujahideen" volunteers from across the Arab world are thought to be in Iraq (news - web sites). Ahead of the war, an audio tape believed to be from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) exhorted Muslims to fight U.S. forces.
In the northeast of the capital, U.S. Marines swept through the Saddam City district in the early hours of Thursday, blasting forces still loyal to Saddam with heavy artillery, mortar and machinegun fire.
Planes buzzed the area in support of the Marine units and soldiers reported seeing Iraqi anti-aircraft fire arching up into the night sky against the noisy but invisible aircraft.
Military sources said the area around Saddam City, home to about two million impoverished Shi'ite Muslims, was the Marines' final objective on the eastern flank of the city center.
In Qatar, a senior U.S. general said American forces had completed a cordon around Baghdad to stop Iraqi forces moving in and to block any escape attempt by senior Iraqi leaders.
"The outer cordon in the vicinity of Baghdad really is complete," Major General Victor Renuart told a briefing.
"We believe we have cut the major routes in and out of the city, eliminating the opportunity for large forces to move in and reinforce, and certainly complicating the problem of anyone trying to leave the city."
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Imam Al-Adham Mosque - Baghdad: Islamic wall pattern. This mosque in Adhamiya was built over the shrine of Imam Abu Hanifa, who gave his name to the Hanafites. He was buried in Al-Khaizuran Cemeteries in 767 A.D., whereupon a small township grew up around the shrine called Mahallat Abi Hanifa. Three hundred years later, in 1066, the SELJUK sharaful Mulk Abu Said Al-Khuwarazmi renovated the shrine, built a large dome over it, and built a Hanafite school adjacent to it. The building went into cycles of change, destruction and reconstruction over the centuries, and was renovated by the Ottoman sultans and walis several times.
I don't think they will. Not now.
Prayers for the 20 of our wounded and their families... Prayers for the family of the fallen one.
Smoke billows in central Baghdad on April 10, 2003. U.S. Marines fought a fierce four-hour battle y at a Baghdad mosque where senior Iraqi leaders had been thought to be holed up, as U.S. warplanes attacked areas of the city under the control of Arab fighters. (Kyodo/Reuters)
But in reality, we made a fake tape of 'Osama' saying this, so we could gather as many whackos as possible in one place heh heh heh... Suckers!
Yes, the Future Terrorist Club is being decimated.
Right on.
Enough kid gloves for "holy" Mosques HQing rings of steel killing U.S. troops.
Time to give a warning of surrender, then light it up with a dead on strike from an F-117.
It is to be hoped.
I think it's great that they'd all get together where we can round them up and dispose of them.
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