- SOUTHERN IRAQ (Reuters) -
U.S. Marines have defeated Iraqi forces in a battle on the outskirts of
the southern city of Basra on Saturday, taking many prisoners, a Marine
captain said.
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- "The enemy has been defeated outside the west of
Basra," U.S. Marine Captain Andrew Bergen told Reuters. "There's
plenty of prisoners, I would say hundreds."
-
- He said three Marines had been wounded in the battle
when a man in civilian clothes fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank
support vehicle.
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- "It's definitely a big victory, especially (with)
the limited number of casualties," he said.
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- It was not immediately clear who controlled Basra itself.
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- Bergen said tank units of the 1st Marine Division had
fought troops and tanks from Iraq's 51st Mechanized Division through the
day, but he had no details of the number of forces involved. He had no
details of Iraqi casualties.
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- He said British troops would take charge of the prisoners
around Basra.
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- Hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, bridge
building and other support vehicles rumbled north in the general direction
of Basra and the road north to Baghdad in a series of convoys throughout
the day, churning up clouds of dust.
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