A U.S. helicopter flies over Haifa Street in Baghdad, January 24, 2007. REUTERS/Ceewan Aziz
Posted on 01/24/2007 9:21:59 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. helicopters attacked gunmen holed up inside high-rise buildings in Baghdad on Wednesday in what the U.S. military said was an operation to regain control of a major street cutting through the heart of the city.
Thirty suspected insurgents were killed and 35 more detained during day-long gunbattles in the area, Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said.
U.S. armoured vehicles firing their heavy machine guns joined the fighting between U.S. and Iraqi forces and militants in Haifa Street, U.S. military spokesman Major Steven Lamb said.
He said U.S. troops also fired mortars after coming under machinegun, mortar and rocket-propelled grenade attack during the operation to restore Iraqi security control of the Sunni insurgent stronghold, which lies within 2 km of the Green Zone, the heavily fortified compound housing Iraq's government.
"A lot has been coming from high-rise buildings. We are firing at terrorists in those buildings," Lamb told Reuters.
The battle came a day after U.S. President George W. Bush told a joint session of the U.S. Congress in his annual State of the Union address that America dared not fail in Iraq and called on lawmakers to support his plan to send more troops.
Lamb had no details on casualties. A local resident said earlier he had counted six bodies, all men, one of whom had a rifle lying next to him.
A local journalist said he helped transport 37 wounded people to hospital, including women and children, in three ambulances that managed to get through the security cordon.
Haifa Street, a long thoroughfare of high-rise buildings built by Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s, runs along the west bank of the Tigris River that cuts through the capital.
While the area was too dangerous for journalists to venture into, helicopters could be seen circling overhead amid the repetitive thud of mortar fire. U.S. and Iraqi forces said they killed more than 100 militants there earlier this month.
The Iraqi government said then the area was riddled with "terrorist hideouts" and said it had captured many foreign Arab fighters linked to al Qaeda in that operation two weeks ago.
The U.S. military said Wednesday's mission was "not an operation designed solely to target Sunni insurgents, but rather aimed at rapidly isolating all active insurgents and gaining control of this key central Baghdad location".
Battling growing Sunni-Shi'ite violence, Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has announced a major security plan for Baghdad, vowing to crack down on violence on all sides. But his aides stress it has not yet started.
Bush has said he is sending 21,500 more troops to Iraq, most to bolster the new crackdown, despite fierce opposition from Democrats who now control Congress, resistance within his own party and public scepticism.
"On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of the battle. Let us find our resolve, and turn events towards victory," Bush told Congress.
The U.S. military said two U.S. Marines were killed in combat on Tuesday in western Anbar region, heartland of the Sunni insurgency, where Bush plans to send 4,500 fresh troops.
HAIFA STREET
In Wednesday's Haifa Street operation, the U.S. military said "direct, indirect and air support fire assets were used in support of troops in contact from high rise buildings".
Two residents told Reuters they saw a large armoured force of U.S. and Iraqi troops enter Haifa Street at 6 a.m. (3:00 a.m. British time). They said the shooting had died down by late afternoon.
The Muslim Scholars Association, a leading Sunni clerics group, condemned the raid as part of "a campaign of genocide" against Sunnis and said a number of buildings had been damaged and people killed.
Security sources said a helicopter owned by Blackwater, a U.S. security company, that crashed in the area on Tuesday was forced down after the pilot was shot dead.
Three others on board the aircraft, which had been guarding a diplomatic convoy on the ground, may have been shot on landing, they said, although other reports suggested they died when the aircraft crashed. A fifth person on a second Blackwater helicopter was also shot dead.
U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad paid his condolences to the security contractors, who helped protect U.S. embassy personnel, saying he had known them personally.
Gunmen opened fire on the motorcade of Iraq's higher education minister, Abd Dhiab al-Ajili, on a highway in southern Baghdad on Wednesday, killing one of his guards and seriously wounding another, the minister told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Tabassum Zakaria in Washington, and Ahmed Rasheed, Aseel Kami and Alastair Macdonald in Baghdad)
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=126822007
Last updated: 24-Jan-07 16:49 GMT
Le Pay Back.
fyi
Way to go Boys, Get Some!
Reduce Baghdad to rubble and burn what remains.
"Thirty suspected insurgents were killed and 35 more detained during day-long gunbattles in the area, Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said."
The Wrath of the US Army.
Thanks for the info, good to see.
Okay...this is what is going to start happening.
In every story of how the Americans and Iraqi military are kicking insurgent butt....there will be twice as many lines talking about the women and children that get hurt or die.
It is inevitable in a city of 6 million people..PLUS the insurgents WANT as many women and children to die as possible..in order to get Biden and all of the other wimpy Congresscritters to scream to pull all of the troops NOW!!!
Peace Through Superior Firepower PING!
Those high rises are literally across the street from the Green Zone, and Haifa street is legendary for it's Sunni insurgent sympathies. We've found some very senior al-Qa'ida in Iraq leaders in some of those buildings, including Zarqawi's right hand man, Abu Azzam, the (formerly living) Emir of Baghdad. Amazing that they're so close to the Green Zone you could walk it in a few minutes.
*****************************
The U.S. military said Wednesday's mission was "not an operation designed solely to target Sunni insurgents, but rather aimed at rapidly isolating all active insurgents and gaining control of this key central Baghdad location".
Meanwhile back in the Washington Beltway:
Senators eye rejection of Bush war plan (Republican turncoat alert)
Then set up (gasp) camps. Sort the women, children and men and start determining who the younger men are. Anyone outside the camps would not be protected.
Make it so uncomfortable that the good guys, will take care of the bad guys themselves.
Might need to level those high rises!
Good. Take off the gloves and let them feel the wrath of American fire power.
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
Give'em hell boys. No matter what the world opinion says,you guys are on the right side of history and civilization. God bless each and every one of you brave warriors.
Then set up (gasp) camps. Sort the women, children and men and start determining who the younger men are. Anyone outside the camps would not be protected.
Make it so uncomfortable that the good guys, will take care of the bad guys themselves.
The administration is turning off the TV. the reporters and reporterettes can do their worst. The assault will intensify.
A U.S. helicopter flies over Haifa Street in Baghdad, January 24, 2007. REUTERS/Ceewan Aziz
Get er done, boys!
"A local journalist said he helped transport 37 wounded people to hospital, including women and children, in three ambulances that managed to get through the security cordon."
Here we go again, Reuters using Arab sources. Wonder if this is the same guy who reported 12 bodies were burned in a mosque -- the story that ended up being a lie? Or maybe the green helment guy left lebanon for Iraq.
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