Hundreds of Iraqis killed in four-day battle for Kifl (3rd Infantry UPDATE)

Reuters AlertNet ^ | 29 Mar 2003 19:45:36 GMT | By Kieran Murray

[11th_VA]

KIFL, Iraq, March 29 (Reuters) - When U.S. tanks rumbled into this town on the Euphrates river, irregular Iraqi forces set up sniper nests up and down the main street, opening fire from doors, windows, market stalls and patches of open ground.

A crimson sunset painted the street red and visibility fell to less than five meters (15 feet) as a swirling sand and dust storm kicked up when the guerrilla units attacked.

U.S. officers said fighters in minivans, pick-up trucks and cars drove straight at the oncoming tanks. Others took to canoes, rowing down the river and trying to fix explosives to the main bridge.

But the guerrilla-style forces were vastly outgunned by the tanks of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, and hundreds of Iraqis have died in this town over the last four days.

The officers said the tank unit fired two 120 mm high velocity depleted uranium rounds straight down the main road, creating a powerful vacuum that literally sucked guerrillas out from their hideaways into the street, where they were shot down by small arms fire or run over by the tanks.

"It was mad chaos like you cannot imagine," said the tank unit's commander, who identified himself as "Cobra 6" as he did not want friends and neighbours back home to know what he had been through.

"We took a lot of fire, and we gave a lot of fire," he said.

"You couldn't see anything except all those hues of red and the sound of fire from all sides. It was not earthly. I'll have nightmares about it."

Dozens of bodies still littered the streets on Saturday.

Some were wrapped in blue and black body bags, but others were still out in the open, rotting in the midday sun. Several spilled out of their charred and shattered cars and trucks, burned beyond recognition.

HIGH COST

Iraq's efforts to stall the U.S. military advance towards Baghdad appear to include putting elite officers in with irregular paramilitary or guerrilla structures at strategic points.

In Kifl, which lies north of Najaf and about 130 km (81 miles) south of Baghdad, the strategy may have slowed the U.S. forces, but only at an extremely high cost.

Some U.S. soldiers estimate that at least 1,000 Iraqis were killed here since the fighting began at dusk on Wednesday, and everyone puts the number in the hundreds.

Officers say just one U.S. soldier has died.

Sporadic mortar fire and bursts of sniper fire kept U.S. troops alert in the town late on Saturday, but officers said most of the resistance in the town had been overcome.

The main danger was now posed by an artillery unit about 16 km (10 miles) to the north.

"I'm sure there are still some knuckleheads in the town, but the real problem is what's outside," said Colonel Joseph Anderson of the 101st Airborne Division, which moved in to help secure Kifl on Saturday.

Wave after wave of Iraqi soldiers and paramilitaries had set up mortar positions at an old brick factory on the edge of town, getting dropped off from civilian vehicles at a large tree that U.S. forces here now call the "Gateway to Hell".

U.S. officers said they had destroyed up to 50 vehicles making drop-offs there, adding the brick factory, like much of Kifl, was now virtually abandoned.

The canoes lie empty on the river beds and only U.S. soldiers walk up and down the town's main streets.

Some families were still seen in their homes on the edge of town on Saturday, tending to sheep and goats as U.S. tanks and trucks rolled by with nervous soldiers looking out over the fields, their guns loaded for any new guerrilla threat.

While the guerrilla tactics appeared to have failed in Kifl, the Iraqis claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb which killed at least four U.S. soldiers on Saturday at a military checkpoint near Najaf.

[Grampa Dave]

Reuters would have had Americans calling for FDR to surrender in any battle that we had in WWII.

Its reporters must have to flunk a drug test to be hired.

[Clean_Sweep]

"Anyone know what weapon system Iraqi snipers use? Draganov?
"

I doubt they are talking about real sniper fire. This is meant to mean they were hidden, taking pot-shots.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Somebody once said: "War is Hell"

[Grampa Dave]

Maybe this caused that sucking sound and sucked the Iraqis from their hiding places.

[A Simple Soldier]

Sorry dude, but your nephew was hoodwinked by some of the older guys in his unit. To be honest, most guys in the Armor community believe this, but it is a myth that has been around for more than a few years.

The kinetic energy unleashed on impact by these type of rounds is so incredible, it essentially vaporizes/liquifies human tissue. Plus the secondary explosions from a hit to the fuel or main gun ammo carousel(Soviet designed tanks had virtually no regard for crew comfort or suvivability) make for a nice pyrotechnic display (and the true cause of popped turrets).

That is why you "never" find bodies in tanks hit by SABOT rounds.

[Future Snake Eater]

Veterans of Grand Theft Auto III will recognize this scene.

LOL!

[gcruse]

"We'd shoot a machine gun at them and they wouldn't stop

Wonder how much qat you have to chew to get that high?

[SauronOfMordor]

I'm thinking that the shockwave effects from a hyper-sonic projectile going thru a semi-confined space (ground and walls, but open to the sky) might be different from what you would see in an open area.

[Congressman Billybob]

Nothing -- no weapon ever yet invented -- can be fired entirely through a tank. Even the oldest and least sophisticated tanks are protected by at least four inches of steel on the front, sides and tops. No projectile actually "penetrates" through that. The DU shells, however, does the best approximation, by drilling a hole through the impact surface.

Billybob

[Carry_Okie]

The U.S. military cleans up the bodies to prevent diseases from being spread after they decompose, Nixon said. The body bags were laid in rows of five on a shaded roadside so that the deceased's heads faced Mecca, the holy city for Muslims.

One could never imagine the Iraqis giving a US soldier a Christian burial. Even in defeat, the Iraqis don't deserve the US Military.

[arthurus]

Wave after wave of Iraqi soldiers and paramilitaries had set up mortar positions

The author had this neat phrase he wanted to use but didn't have any place where it would be relevant, or else he doesn't even know what it means, so he just inserted it almost randomly.

[Prince Charles]

"But the guerrilla-style forces were vastly outgunned by the tanks of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division, and hundreds of Iraqis have died in this town over the last four days."

This is how it will have to be. The Fedayeen must be exterminated to a man.

[JohnBovenmyer]

Don't belive even Monica has an aperture than can clear 120 mm.

Jimmy Carter might.

[FredZarguna]

Anyone know what weapon system Iraqi snipers use? Draganov?

Appears we were using the Dragemoff counter technique.

[Joee]

Thanks! I sure would like to see that, but not under those circumstances.

[r9etb]

I've seen these rounds fired over open ground. They leave a dust trail over ground and plants and trees all bend in the vicinity. If a round is fired down a narrow street or alley then that suction would be magnified certainly. Still, that much though?

Is it suction, or is it a shock wave effect? I think these rounds are supersonic. Along a narrow street, the shock wave would bash people hard, and then they'd simply fall down.

At any rate, I'll bet nobody outside those tankers even knew you could do that.

[Illbay]

The plains Indians knew how to fight, and much better than this. Man for man, they were better than our cavalry.

Well, they knew how to fight the way THEY were accustomed to fighting. But their way of fighting was more like a game than war.

When they really wanted to put one over on the enemy, they did it sneakily, at night, slitting throats and stealing horses.

When they went "visible" it was no more "war" than a teens' game of "Capture the Flag."

FWIW, this myth that they were a "great horse cavalry" is baloney.

[dighton]

The officers said the tank unit fired two 120 mm high velocity depleted uranium rounds straight down the main road, creating a powerful vacuum that literally sucked guerrillas out from their hideaways into the street, where they were shot down by small arms fire or run over by the tanks.

Is the tank commander having a litle fun with the reporter?

Dunno the subject first hand, but that's how I'd bet.

[bootyist-monk]

I could swear that I read a similar antidote with a Challenger tank in Basra a few days ago. Crew claimed that they had fired down a street and pulled everyone into the center of the street from the vacuum of the shell.

[laz17]

creating a powerful vacuum that literally sucked guerrillas out from their hideaways into the street, where they were shot down by small arms fire or run over by the tanks.

Just reading this makes me smile.