US troops kill 46 Iraqis trying to ambush them in central Iraq

Nov. 30, 2003

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

FN Alert:

 

Banner: US forces kill 46 Iraqis trying to ambush them in central Iraq.

 

Steve Centanni: 46 Iraqis were killed and 8 others were taken captive.

 

 

 

Across wire:

4th Infantry Division repelled multiple ambush attacks, at least 18 Iraqi attackers, 5 US soldiers were wounded. No reported deaths.

[leadpenny]

Just reported by Charles McCord on the Imus in the Morning program:

Number of enemy dead in attack now put at 56.

[leadpenny]

Jim Maceda is reporting that the attack was conducted by soldiers of the Feydayeen (sp?). They were dressed in black uniforms with red headscarfs.

I have not read through the rest of the thread and apologize if I'm repeating info.

Side note: Maceda said that reporters are no longer riding around in marked vehicles. They are using hired cars in an attempt to blend in.

[scotsman1]

Best news I have heard in a long time..........now lets finish every last one..........

[evad]

"He's not a perfumed prince in from New York. Rogers earned his spurs."

I'm sure..actually I didn't even know who he was.

My dig was at our boy in the senate.

[anglian]

The spin has begun.Death toll has risen to 54 - From bbc,,,A "Frightened witnesses in Samarra" told a correspondent for the FRENCH news agency AFP who managed to enter the city...(by chance they just happen to be there at the time),that US forces had repeatedly come under attack on Sunday.

However, they added that.In the aftermath of one attack at about 1255 (0955 GMT), An American tank had opened fire on....workers leaving a factory at the end of their shift, killing two and wounding "many".
Iraqi doctors said eight civilians were killed by US fire in the exchanges, reported AFP.

The BBC's Peter Greste, also in Samarra, says there is an unmistakeable sense of anger among local people - who say the US response to the attacks was indiscriminate and unnecessary.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/middle_east/3251690.stm

[anglian]

LMAO. Bloodthirsty Freepers celebrate Iraqi deaths http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=798799

[b4its2late]

56 is a good number. Though next time I want to see at least 56 times that amount...

[WoofDog123]

"(Hmmm, wonder if AC130's were involved...)
"

Can spectres operate in iraq safely, given the composition of hand-held weapons (i.e. any sams?) the enemy uses?

[TexKat]

Wonder why I do not see any teenagers jumping for joy here:

Iraqis stand by a car destroyed during yesterday's gun battle in Samarra, some 110 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Monday Dec. 1, 2003. The U.S. military said 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city of Samarra as U.S. forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes Sunday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqis inspect cars destroyed during yesterday's gun battle in Samarra, some 110 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Monday, Dec. 1, 2003. The U.S. military said 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city of Samarra as U.S. forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes Sunday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A man prays for the victims who died in a charred bus in a US army raid on Samarra. The US military confirmed that the attacks on US troops in Samarra were "coordinated" and targeted two convoys transporting the new Iraqi currency.(AFP/Cris Bouroncle)

I quess they just cannot find anything to be jubilant about.

Iraqis stand around a damaged car in gun battle in Samarra, 110 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad Monday, Dec. 1, 2003. The U.S. military said 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city of Samarra as U.S. forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes Sunday. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

An Iraqi child stands beside a bloody footprint outside a mosque in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad December 1, 2003. American troops said on Monday they had killed 54 guerrillas, some wearing the uniform of Saddam Hussein 's feared Fedayeen militia, in a firefight to fend off attackers in the tense Iraqi town. Attacks across Iraq over the weekend also killed seven Spanish intelligence agents, two South Korean contractors, two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, a Colombian contractor and two U.S. soldiers. Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

I guess this one still has not learned a lesson. I guess it will take him to give his life in order to do so.

An Iraqi boy gestures in front of a burned-out car in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, December 1, 2003. U.S. troops said on Monday they had killed 54 guerrillas, some wearing the uniform of Saddam Hussein's feared Fedayeen militia, in a firefight to fend off attackers in the Iraqi town of Samarra. Attacks across Iraq at the weekend also killed seven Spanish intelligence agents, two South Korean contractors, two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, a Colombian contractor and two U.S. soldiers. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A prisoner is kept under guard by US soldiers in Iraq . Three men suspected of belonging to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network have been captured by US troops in the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul.(AFP/File/Robert Schmidt

Iraqis inspect a pick-up truck destroyed during yesterday's gun battle in Samarra, some 110 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad, Monday Dec. 1, 2003. The U.S. military said 54 Iraqis were killed in the northern city of Samarra as U.S. forces used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes Sunday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

An Iraqi man holds up a Moslem flag beside two corpses in a morgue in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, December 1, 2003, allegedly killed during shootouts a day earlier. A U.S. commander said Monday that said the testimony of those involved in gun battles suggested 46 attackers were killed in a fierce battle to fight off coordinated ambushes on convoys by guerillas, though the Army had earlier said the death toll was 54. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Iraqis inspect a burned-out bus in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, December 1, 2003, after U.S. troops fought their way out of two simultaneous ambushes. U.S. troops said on Monday they had killed 54 guerrillas, some wearing the uniform of Saddam Hussein's feared Fedayeen militia, in a firefight to fend off attackers in the Iraqi town of Samarra. Attacks across Iraq at the weekend also killed seven Spanish intelligence agents, two South Korean contractors, two Japanese diplomats and their Iraqi driver, a Colombian contractor and two U.S. soldiers. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

[MEG33]

That top car seems to have been run over by a tank!

[randog]

why, all of a sudden, are these thugs wearing uniforms of any kind?

Off hand I would say that this was their last gasp.

That's what it sounds like to me. Perhaps the war of attrition (being picked off one by one) is wearing them down mentally and physically.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you for the pics, Kat. I meant to ping you to this thread yesterday.

Notice that none of these citizens of Samarra are afraid to be out in the street with the American forces nearby.

Reuters, at least, called the Hussein loyalist-thugs "attackers."

AFP, 'enemy press caption writer'*:

A man prays for the victims who died in a charred bus in a US army raid on Samarra.

*...imho.

[petercooper]

Awesome! - someone should have blown away the "children" dancing atop the bodies of the Spaniards that were killed.

[TexKat]

Staff Sgt. Bruce Jones

Staff sergeant: Samarra battle was 'extremely scary' 'I kept thinking about my wife and my son'

Monday, December 1, 2003 Posted: 10:16 AM EST (1516 GMT)

(CNN) -- U.S. forces responded Sunday to simultaneous ambushes on convoys in northern Iraq with heavy firepower, killing at least 46 attackers, according to military officials. No Americans were killed in the gunfights, which took place in Samarra, about 75 miles north of Baghdad.

Staff Sgt. Bruce Jones described the intense battle Monday from Samarra to CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien.

JONES: My mission and my platoon's mission was to actually escort the Iraqi currency exchange into two different banks in Samarra. ...

We escorted them in. As soon as we got to that location, we started receiving direct fire via small arms, AK-47s. My guys from both the east and the west bank started returning fire back to the point of origin and neutralizing any targets they'd actually seen.

During the course of the firefight, we started receiving not only small-arms [fire]. We had incoming and direct fire from mortars. We also had RPGs coming through here just hitting us all around.

As far as my thoughts during that, it was -- it was an extremely scary time. I remember I talked to my wife yesterday morning. I've got a 10-month-old son. He'll be 10 months old on the fourth of February, the fourth of December, excuse me. And she told me, she said, 'Don't do anything stupid. Don't put yourself in any harm's way or anything like that. Just be extremely careful.'

And I reckoned during the course of that fight, we were -- I kept thinking about my wife and my son. And I kept communicating with my team that I had with me and I was looking at the rest of the squad that was there and making sure they were doing their job. They were all well. They were doing an excellent job as far as returning fire and everything. And I, you know, was saying a little bit of prayer while I was in the middle of it. I was talking to the man upstairs, saying, 'God, please keep us safe,' and putting some rounds down the range. ...

O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of how long this firefight lasted and what kind of firepower U.S. troops used to return fire.

JONES: [M]y understanding is it was only supposed to take us about 30 minutes in the actual Iraqi currency exchange, to drop off the money. And I estimated that about an hour and a half, two hours, is what I would just estimate. The firepower that the U.S. had, as far as we had some tanks out there. We had some Bradleys. I had an MP squad with me and I had another one at the other bank. We were using 40-millimeter machine guns. We were also using our regular M-4 rifles and 249 SAWs plus some 50-caliber machine guns.

O'BRIEN: Tell me a little bit about any civilians. I heard and read that there was a barricade blocking off the streets. Did it seem to you that there were no civilians around? Did that seem surprising to you?

JONES: Well, what they attempted to do -- and we don't know if it's actually civilians. I called them all terrorists. If they're blocking the streets or if they're attempting to block the streets, then obviously they're not a civilian. They're some sort of combatant. They're helping out the terrorist projects with that. I'm a true believer of that. These guys were trying to throw vehicles in the way, taxi cabs, a couple of white pickup trucks and everything, to actually block the roads as we tried to egress out with the convoy.

We did have to -- we did have to ram some vehicles out of the way to get our people out, to get our people out of there safely and securely. But civilians in the area, you know something's going to happen as soon as you get in there and all the civilians basically clear out of the way. So if you go into a street or part of the city that's normally busy and there's nobody around, you'd better get your guns up and ready to go.

O'BRIEN: Before I let you go -- I know you said you spoke to your wife yesterday. You've got a 10-month-old son. While we've got you up on the satellite, anything you want to say to them?

JONES: Yes. Mercedes, Nicholas, they're -- they're my heart and my soul right now. What I'm doing over here, I'm doing to protect the freedom and the future freedom of my son. And, you know, they're my driving force behind everything that I do.

[World'sGoneInsane]

On the Yahoo News, under "other headlines", this is what it reads:

U.S. Troops Say Kill 46 in Fierce Iraq Battle Why use the word "say"? It's very subtle, but that's the media for you.

[MEG33]

Thanks,TexKat.God bless him.I knew at least 2 vehicles looked like they had gotten in the way of a tank.If this was a regular delivery of money,I may be wrong about the terrorists being tipped.This was probably this soldier's first firefight.

[JebRudy2008]

As Trent Lott advised, let the mowing begin!

[calljack]

KABC radio this morning carried this story and identified the 8 captured as "hostages". I was under the impression that those captured in war were "prisoners". I must have missed the memo.

[MEG33]

Good grief..Hostages?

[kinghorse]

smells like payback for the corpse dancing. I like it. Keep killing the teenage scum until they cease and desist. Don't need to catch them in the act. Just engage an enemy and count the bodies afterward. I got no problem with this. Hope they were all under the age of 21. Because those of the testosterone driven problems. Young punks in need of killing.