FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - Witnesses in Fallujah say as many as 40 people are dead after U.S. forces apparently struck a mosque filled with people while doing battle with insurgents there.
They say the mosque was hit by rocket fire from a U.S. helicopter.
Up until that point, reports indicated that at least 30 Americans and more than 150 Iraqis were dead in the fighting for the city -- the scene of last week's brutal killings of four U.S. civilian contractors.
Anti-American violence intensified and spread to cities in northern Iraq on Wednesday as a U.S. helicopter went down and a Marine commander confirmed 12 of his men had been killed in fighting west of Baghdad.
Allah better keep makin those virgins...
U.S. to 'Destroy' Shiite Militia |
Wednesday, April 07, 2004 ![]() BAGHDAD, Iraq A top U.S. general in Iraq vowed on Wednesday to "destroy" a Shiite militia led by wanted radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr (search) that has launched a wave of attacks against coalition forces in southern cities. "We will attack to destroy the al-Mahdi Army," Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt (search) told reporters. "Those attacks will be deliberate, precise and they will be successful." He said U.S. forces were trying to hunt down members of the al-Mahdi Army in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City (search) in Baghdad, and he called on al-Sadr to surrender. "If he wants to calm the situation ... he can turn himself in to a local Iraqi police station and he can face justice," Kimmitt said. U.S. authorities announced an arrest warrant for al-Sadr, whose al-Mahdi Army militia battled U.S. and other coalition troops since Sunday in a half dozen cities, including Baghdad and mainly Shiite cities of the south, killing eight U.S. soldiers and two coalition soldiers. Kimmitt said al-Sadr -- along with Sunni guerrillas who have opposed U.S. forces for months -- are waging violence to disrupt the June 30 handover of power from the Americans to an Iraqi government. "All the Iraqi people that are watching this understand this. It all comes down to extremism versus moderation," Kimmitt said. "The extremists want to .. take this country back to an authoritarian regime or even worse .. some sort of Talibanization of this country." |
Dear AP--You don't have to thank me for the correction.
40 combatants....
Nice kill ratio. Need to bump it up to about 12/1 though.
:O)
Hanson makes the point in Carnage and Culture that high kill ratios are common when West meets East.