Posted on 03/23/2003 8:04:08 AM PST by JohnHuang2
US fights on to secure Iraqi port of Umm Qasr
UMM QASR, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. forces used planes and tanks on Sunday in a battle to dislodge Iraqi fighters from the southern port town of Umm Qasr, where at least 120 Iraqi Republican Guards were reported to be dug in.
After two air strikes by British Harrier jets, each dropping one 500-pound bomb and sending columns of black smoke curling into the air, some Iraqis could be seen waving white flags and surrendering.
But as night fell U.S. soldiers were still using machinegun, artillery and mortar fire in an attempt to flush another group of Iraqi fighters from a hideout.
A U.S. commander on the spot said there had been no U.S. casualties in the battle and that two carloads of Iraqis had given up. It was "hard to tell" if there were Iraqi casualties.
Referring to the airstrikes on a building, Captain Rick Crevier added: "It made sense for us to do this. Rather than send men in there, we're just going to destroy it."
On Saturday, U.S. officials had said they had won control of the strategic town, Iraq's only deep-water port and a crucial part of U.S. and British plans to begin bringing in humanitarian aid to show they are serious about helping ordinary Iraqis.
Referring to Sunday's battle, a British officer said: "There are small pockets of resistance, but fighting in built-up areas is a slow and painstaking process."
Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie McCourt, at the Qatar command headquarters of U.S. and British forces in the Gulf, said: "We are in no rush, the overall plan stands as it is."
At a Baghdad news conference, Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said: "The heroic Iraqi fighters in Umm Qasr will throw the infidel British and American mercenaries to certain death."
Reuters correspondent Adrian Croft said the battle erupted after U.S. forces came under fire on Sunday morning. Marines opened up with bursts of heavy machinegun fire in an area where they had set up a headquarters in the town.
Crevier, commander of Fox Company of the 2nd Battalion 1st U.S. Marine Regiment, said a captured Iraqi officer had told them that 120 Republican guards were dug in.
After the bombing runs, Staff Sergeant Nick Lerna, with the ground troops attacking the Iraqis, said: "Once the building was hit there was a lot of movement...people started popping out everywhere."
He said the Iraqis were a "much larger force than we expected."
The Iraqi troops were holding out in a sandy residential area for port workers that is laced with electricity pylons, cranes, and low sandy-coloured buildings.
The Marines initially called in two M-1 Abrams tanks to shell and machinegun the targets and later pulled back the armour to clear the area for the air strikes.
The tanks also used heavy machineguns to rake several buildings and a line of trees where Iraqi forces were believed to be dug in. One direct hit heavily damaged a three-storey building in a compound where the Iraqi flag was still flying.
Live television showed U.S. troops lying on their bellies about 300 metres (yards) from the building under attack. Black smoke billowed from the target area and one tank could be seen advancing slowly towards the building.
After an afternoon lull, fighting began again on the perimeter of the new port area, with U.S. military sharpshooters taking shots at what they said was a group of Iraqi fighters in a compound about two km (miles) away.
Later, commanders used artillery and mortar fire to blast the Iraqi redoubt, where one military source said about 10 Iraqis were believed to be taking refuge.
The Marines said on Saturday that U.S. and British forces had taken 400 to 450 Iraqi prisoners in fighting around the town, and in the nearby Faw peninsula, which controls access from the Gulf to Iraq's tiny coast.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in Washington on Friday that U.S. and British forces had already captured Umm Qasr. Iraq's information minister on Saturday dismissed Rumsfeld's statement as "illusions and lies."
U.S.-led forces say they need the port to send in humanitarian aid to show ordinary Iraqis that Washington and London are serious about helping rebuild Iraq after their planned overthrow of President Saddam Hussein.
Military experts say the port might also help to resupply U.S.-led forces if the war drags on.
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