Posted on 03/21/2003 11:08:12 AM PST by JohnHuang2
U.S. Troops Seize Towns in Southern Iraq
By RAVI NESSMAN and ELLEN KNICKMEYER .c The Associated Press
SAFWAN, Iraq (AP) - U.S. Marines took over the shrapnel-covered town of Safwan in southern Iraq on Friday while to the southeast, U.S. and British forces seized the strategic Gulf port of Umm Qasr, military sources said.
``Umm Qasr has been overwhelmed by the U.S. Marines and now is in coalition hands,'' Adm. Michael Boyce, chief of the British defense staff, said in London.
British forces in the area were dealing with ``significant numbers'' of Iraqi troops who had surrendered, Boyce said, but he could not be more specific.
The ground attack on Umm Qasr followed a night of intense shelling by U.S. and British forces. Two U.S. marines were killed Friday, the U.S. Central Command said.
Umm Qasr, located along the Kuwait border about 460 kilometers (290 miles) southeast of Baghdad, would give U.S. and British forces access to a port for military and humanitarian supplies and hasten the end of Iraqi resistance in the south.
In the Safwan area about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, 40 to 50 Iraqi soldiers surrendered to a U.S. Marine traffic control unit.
They came down the road in the open back of a troop vehicle, their hands in the air for about a mile (more than a kilometer) before they reached the marines.
U.S. Marines from the 3rd Battalion 7th Marine Infantry faced little resistance on their way into Safwan. Tanks attached to the battalion attacked five Iraqi tanks just north of the Kuwait border, easily destroying them.
The battalion passed the brown, stone rubble of several buildings it had shelled just minutes before, the air still held the acrid smell of explosives. At least five enormous pictures of a smiling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein stood intact at the border post.
Few people were outside as the battalion rolled in, accompanied by a military truck blaring announcements that warned Iraqis to stay out of the marines' way. The ground was littered with fliers dropped from U.S. aircraft.
One man on the side of the road held a white flag. Another in a long gray robe lay prostrate on the ground, apparently in prayer. Another man in a robe and red headscarf gave the passing convoy the thumbs up.
Except for the destruction near the border, the town of stone buildings appeared nearly untouched by the shelling, artillery fire and helicopter-launched missiles shot over the border by U.S. forces before the marines crossed into Iraq.
Electric power lines and telephone lines remained standing, untouched.
Marines hauled down images of Saddam in a screeching pop of metal and bolts, rigging winch chains to the giant street portraits in newly taken southern Iraq.
As the convoy of Amtracks, HumVees and tanks traveled through town, marines manning 50-caliber machine guns atop hardback HumVees scanned the surrounding area for possible snipers.
Farther up the road, the marines passed the smoking remains of five Iraqi tanks, dug into trenches in the sand. Ammunition in one tank continued to explode as the column moved past.
Some families gathered at their front doors, about 50 meters (yards) from the road, and stared. Others waved. One man, slapped his hands together and made a disgusted gesture, an apparent message for the marines to leave.
Shepherds outside town continued watching their sheep, ignoring the traveling column.
U.S. forces later took control of positions mostly abandoned by Iraq's 32 Mechanized Infantry Brigade, blowing up a few abandoned tanks and armored personnel carriers and engaging in short firefights with a few Iraqi soldiers who stayed back to defend the 32nd's headquarters and barracks or were unable to flee in time.
Earlier Friday, a U.S. Marine was fatally shot after while leading his infantry platoon in a firefight to secure an oil pumping station in southern Iraq.
A second marine was killed Friday afternoon while fighting Iraqi forces near the port of Umm Qasr, the U.S. Central Command said in Doha, Qatar.
U.S. forces ran into mortar fire while taking control of the main highway from Kuwait leading to the key port city of Basra, the heart of Iraq's southern oil facilities. But reports said U.S. and Australian naval forces had secured most of the oil infrastructure around the city.
Australian forces intercepted an Iraqi patrol boat filled with sea mines and other military equipment in the area of Khawr Abd Allah, a stretch of water in the approach to Umm Qasr, a spokeswoman for British forces in the Gulf said Friday. No other details available.
British forces said they ran also met resistance as they moved against Umm Qasr to the south.
Britain's 3 Commando Brigade has secured the areas of the al-Faw peninsula, said a British spokeswoman, who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity. The 7 Armored Brigade initiated successful offensive operations earlier Friday to protect the right flank of advancing U.S. forces and was conducting further offensive operations.
U.S. ground forces secured the Rumeila oil fields, the spokeswoman said. There was some damage to the oil infrastructure caused by the Iraqis, but coalition forces managed to prevent any further environmental damage.
Rumeila is Iraq's largest southern oil field, with a total output of 1.3 million barrels a day. Oil from southern Iraq is shipped largely from the Gulf export terminal of Mina al-Bakr.
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