Posted on 03/26/2003 4:22:57 AM PST by kattracks
U.S. Marines leave trail of death on road north
By Sean Maguire
NORTH OF NASSIRIYA, Iraq, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines pushing north towards Baghdad left a trail of death on Wednesday as they fought off sporadic Iraqi attacks along the way.
This correspondent saw about two dozen corpses among wrecked vehicles littering the road north of Shatra, including a bus with its back end blown off and bodies hanging out of the back.
Iraqi small-arms fire had erupted earlier in the town of Shatra, 40 km (25 miles) north of Nassiriya, where the Marines had fought their way across the Euphrates river on Tuesday.
U.S. artillery fired back, allowing the Marines to get through Shatra after a two-hour delay.
A small armoured reconnaissance unit went ahead of the main convoy, clearing the road and setting up "security corridors" in each of several small mudbrick towns along the road.
The main convoy of several hundred military vehicles forged cautiously on, passing stark evidence of the firepower used by the advance unit to quell any Iraqi resistance.
A corpse sprawled by two charred trucks. Further down the dusty two-lane highway lay a burned-out car and a minivan with its windows shot out. Two handcuffed Iraqis appeared.
Near a wrecked bus were several corpses and scattered body parts on the road. A truck was still burning. To the right, a small fuel tanker truck was ablaze.
Two men knelt by the road with their hands in the air, watching the convoy head north through scrubby countryside dotted with palm trees, passing more destroyed vehicles.
Another bus, which appeared to have been heading northwards in the same direction as the Marine convoy, had bodies protruding from what was left of its shattered rear.
Marine officers had said they were ready for more resistance along Highway 7 leading to Kut, some 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Baghdad, especially from militia units like the Saddam Fedayeen, who had held the Marines up for two days in Nassiriya.
They said they were using armour and tanks to protect the convoy, balancing the need to guard themselves against Fedayeen ambushes and the need to protect innocent civilians.
The Marine commander has told his men to fire only if fired on, and then only if they had "clear eye contact" with a target.
U.S. military officers have been warned that thousands of Fedayeen might be heading south from Kut down Highway 7. They were also expecting to meet regular Iraqi troops on the road.
03/26/03 07:19 ET
Perhaps he wouldn't mind so much if someone explained to him that these were the folks that would dearly love to feed him to a shredder.
Becki
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