Ukraine Troops Pull Out of Al Kut (Cuts off Highway to Basra)

South African News 24.com ^ | April 7, 2004 14:38 | wire report

[threat matrix]

Ukraine Troops Pull of Of Kut

Ukrainian troops Wednesday withdrew from the Iraqi city of Kut, south of the capital Baghdad after heavy fighting with supporters of radical Shiite Muslim Cleric Moqtada Sadr who now control the city, the defense ministry said.

'At the request of the Americans, and to preserve the life of our military, the commander of the Ukrainian contingent decided to evacuate the civil administration staff and Ukrainian troops from Kut,' the ministry said in a statement.

'The operation began at dawn Wednesday..under escort from attack helicopters,' the ministry added.

[threat matrix]

latest unconfirmed updates also say that the Marines have taken the center of Fallujah..

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[GROOVY]

Geez, you would think sadr's people would have been smart enough to see the way we decimated Iraq's real army and their "elite" republican guard and realize that they are just committing suicide by going against us. They don't stand a chance. The question is

What were they thinking?

[ConservativeMan55]

The libs will try and make this into an all out pull out. Which it is not.

This is just like what we did in Fallujah the other day.

We went into the center of the town, and then pulled back out to the edges.

[Reader of news]

We have to pray for our troops. God bless them. God bless America!

[lafroste]

Rope-a-Dope? Cut and run from Kut while simultaneously driving the vermin from Falujah (sp?) and Karbala; leave Kut alone for a while and let the surviving mahdi army assemble there, then...

I predict that the US won't retake Kut for 2 to 3 days. Even vermin need time to travel.

[threat matrix]

Great article over on Strategy Page.com-- Fallujah Islamo Facists: Meet the US Marines! http://www.strategypage.com/onpoint/articles/200446.asp

[Flyer]

'At the request of the Americans

Sounds like Kut may not be a good place to be real soon.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Marines battle insurgents in two Iraqi towns as fighting spreads in south; mosque hit in Fallujah -AP Breaking News
BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer
(04-07) 06:32 PDT FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) -- [snip] ... Ukrainian-led forces and al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army clashed in the city of Kut, southeast of Baghdad, overnight, and at least 12 Iraqis were reported killed and 20 wounded, hospital officials said. Witnesses reported the gunmen killed a British civilian working for a foreign security company in the city.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said its troops were forced to evacuate Kut early Wednesday after al-Sadr forces hit the position with mortar fire throughout the night.

"There were no Ukrainian casualties, but several dozen militants were killed," said Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Andriy Lysenko. ... [snip]

[threat matrix]

Several DOZEN Islamofacists killed? Bully for the Ukranians!

[cripplecreek]

Sounds like a strategic retreat to me. I have feeling there will be a series of devastating earthquakes to strike the city soon.

[threat matrix]

Sounds like they collared a whole bunch of Islamo-fanatics while waiting for the MOABS to srike.

[Little Ray]

They are thinking that they can hide amongst the Iraqi civilians and rely on the US's unwillingness to inflict massive collateral damage. Or operate from mosques and rely our "political correctness" to preserve their sanctuaries.

Here's hoping they don't get the chance to learn different; if the story is true about bombing a mosque "because we wanted to kill the people inside" then we are starting to deal with crap the right way.

[AFPhys]

Ahh... good... another "target of opportunity" presents itself for our fighting forces...

Keep it up, "insurgents" !!!

[jocko12]

NOW ARE PEOPLE ARE OUT LEVEL KUT.

[Justa]

Highway 9 to the West also goes to Basra.

[blanknoone]

I think it is pretty weak that the Ukranian army can't deal with a religious nut job militia. Still, I guess its better to have Ukranians pulling out than having french 'allies' surrender to them.

[threat matrix]

Flesh them out and them kill them all!

[threat matrix]

Like another poster said, this may be a 'strategic withdrawal' taking down 50-60 Islamofacists while incurring no casulties on the Ukrainian side.