Posted on 11/10/2004 5:36:27 PM PST by blam
70 insurgents killed in mosque battle
By Toby Harnden in Fallujah
(Filed: 11/11/2004)
In pictures: Fight for Fallujah (Go to the site for additional pictures)
American troops scored one of their biggest successes in the battle for Fallujah when an estimated 70 foreign fighters were killed in a massive precision artillery strike on a building in a mosque complex.
Military intelligence officers were last night trying to confirm that a "high-value target" or HVT died in the attack. The man is suspected of being a key lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the most wanted man in Iraq, and responsible for marshalling hard-line insurgence from other Arab countries.
US marines set up a firing position in a building in Fallujah
The strike took place on Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the invasion of the rebel-held Sunni bastion began, after an Abrams tank commander from Phantom troop, part of the US Army's Task Force 2-2, observed large numbers of men converging on a building next to a mosque. "Guys with short brown hair, dark pants and carrying AK-47s were moving in groups of between two and five across the road to a yellow building," said Lt Neil Prakash, the tank commander.
"Then some started throwing Molotov cocktails and pouring gasoline on the road to create a smokescreen."
They apparently thought the smoke would obscure them from view.
US marines take a wounded comrade to a waiting helicopter
Lt Prakash, whose call-sign is Red 6, observed the scene through the optical sight of his tank, 2,400 metres away in an "area of responsibility" or AOR covered by the 1st Company, 8th Marines, west of Task Force 2-2's AOR on the eastern edge of the city.
The constraints of firing into another AOR, where US marines might be operating, and the danger of damaging the mosque, which would have provoked outrage in the Arab world, meant attacking the building had to be authorised at a very senior level.
A Humvee from Phantom troop fitted with a Long Range Acquisition System (LRAS) was moved to within two kilometres of the mosque, well inside its maximum range of 15km, to get a second opinion on what was happening. "The strike was so sensitive that it took more than an hour to approve it," said Maj John Reynolds, operations officer for 2-2. "Normally it happens in minutes."
American tanks engage insurgents on the streets of Fallujah
Lt Prakash was asked to provide a grid co-ordinate, accurate to within a metre, to minimise the chance of hitting the mosque, about 50 metres from the building.
At about 3pm, the higher authorisation came through and Lt Col Pete Newell, commanding 2-2 and with the call-sign Ramrod 6, gave the order to fire a barrage of 20 155mm high-explosive shells from howitzers about three miles away from the mosque.
Specialist James Taylor, manning the LRAS, watched the burst of shells hit.
"They landed on the left side of the building and I saw three bodies fly into the air," he said. "It was awesome."
Lt Prakash radioed that the rounds were right on target and requested 10 more to ensure maximum killing effect.
"One of the men was in a sniper position on the building," said Lt Prakash. "I saw him fall off, hit the ground and bounce up. There were about five bodies that went three, four, five storeys up in the air. I'd already counted between 40 and 50 men going into that building. There were men running out, coughing and doubling over. The second lot of rounds took them out and all those who had been crossing the road.
It is believed that Task Force 2-2 hit fighters gathered to discuss how to retreat after US forces had pushed the insurgents down from the north and in from the east.
Mobile phone intercepts and reports from Iraqi informants suggested there were 70 gunmen in the building and indicated that the very senior Zarqawi lieutenant had perished. A final assessment on who died has yet to be made.
"We are hearing reports saying that the enemy is withdrawing to a central place for a final stand," said Maj Reynolds. "It's like a Gettysburg. We have surrounded the whole area."
GOOD!
Blam, someday, hundreds of years from now, someone will dig up their bones, but not before then I hope!
Good. Kill more.
70 a a day is about 25,000 a year or so, a good start.
Har, har!
Dead muslim jihadist make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Newsspeak: Mosque = anyplace the terrorists are hiding
70 dead terrorists is a good start, Marines! Happy Birthday!
WOW-- I wonder if they each got their full allotment of 72 virgins?
We are still fighting under unacceptable constraints.
Some "holy" sites just look better with lotsa holes in 'em.
:-)
And smoldering ruins...and rubble..and covered in pigs' blood....
I share that warm fuzzy feeling...and when they get to paradise allah is going to give them all 72 plump, white raisins.
FANTASTIC!!!!
Did the UN Approve of this action? Inquiring minds (and John Kerry) want to know.
...."It was awesome."
It must of been, because it was awesome simply to read about. It sounds like some body parts of the thugs in that building have yet to land.
Mohammed lied to these morons.
They BECOME one of the 72 virgins when they are killed.
want to bet it's another mosque..
Turkey Gravy Time.
155's and 105's are what screwed my hearing, many years ago.
I have never posted this before but you certainly deserve it.
LOL! (A New Yorker)
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