- Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 19 March
2005. Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial
board The Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org
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- Ninwa Province Tall `Afar.
- Fierce battle near of Tall `Afar midday Saturday.
March 19, 2005.
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- In a dispatch posted at 1:25pm Saturday afternoon, the
Mafkarat al- Islam correspondent in Tall `Afar reported that fierce fighting
was then under way between the Resistance and US marines south of the city.
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- The correspondent wrote that witnesses said that a detachment
of an estimated 100 Resistance fighters a short while before had encircled
a group of US Marines and swooped down on them from all sides. Resistance
fighters were using all the usual weapons in the attack, such as light
and medium-weight machine guns, pipe rockets, and shoulder-fired missiles.
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- At the time of writing, the correspondent reported, the
Resistance had the Americans completely surrounded and were trying to wipe
them out, but the Marines put up such extremely heavy fire on the Resistance
attackers that the Resistance was forced to halt for about 10 minutes to
regroup and resume the assault.
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- The correspondent, who was in the vicinity of the fighting,
reported that at the moment he could see four US Marine vehicles that had
been totally destroyed. The Resistance, however, had been surprised by
the unprecedented strength of the American Marines' defense, but that the
balance still lay in favor of the Resistance at that time.
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- Resistance shoots down Black Hawk as Tall `Afar battle
continues.
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- In a dispatch posted at 2:52pm Mecca time the Mafkarat
al-Islam correspondent in Tall `Afar reported that a short while earlier
the Resistance had shot down a US Black Hawk helicopter with ground machine
gunfire in the city. The correspondent said that he had no information
at that time as to the fate of the crew, but noted that fighting was still
under way. Since the earlier report, the Resistance had in fact received
reinforcements as Resistance fighters flocked to the city to join the attack
on a group of surrounded Marines.
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- Resistance battles Marines until 3pm, killing a reported
40 Americans. US responds with murderous air strikes on civilian neighborhoods
of the city, killing more than 57 civilians.
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- In a dispatch posted at 7:30pm Mecca time Saturday night,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported from Tall `Afar that the fierce fighting that
raged earlier in the day between the Resistance and US Marines lasted until
3pm local time. The Resistance inflicted heavy losses on the American invaders.
Meanwhile US aircraft carried out bombing raids in on civilian houses where
women and children were living in an attempt to draw Resistance fighters
away from the battle with the Marines.
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- The American bombing took place around 2pm Saturday afternoon
and was an effort to try to draw the Resistance fighters away from the
battlefield towards the center of the city where they would fall into what
the Resistance fighters called an "death pocket ambush."
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- The correspondent reported that the Resistance exhausted
the US occupation troops, shot down one helicopter, destroyed more than
seven American tanks and five Humvees and killed more than 40 US troops
and wounded more than 20 others in a mountainous area known for its rocky
rough terrain west of Tall `Afar.
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- After determining that the Resistance would be finishing
off the remaining Marines whom they had surrounded and fought for hours,
the US command decided to bomb civilian houses in the center of the city
and three other houses in the south as a diversion.
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- US aircraft dropped leaflets on Iraqi Resistance forces
fortified behind high hills warning them of the consequences if they did
not withdraw. The punishment, it said, would be painful for them. The Americans
carried out their threat when they bombed 11 civilian houses. The American
air raids killed and wounded dozens of women, children, and elderly persons
Mafkarat al-Islam reported.
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- One of the Resistance commanders told the Mafkarat al-Islam
correspondent, "the occupation forces bombed out homes and families
to draw us back and get us to give up the battle." But the Resistance
did not withdraw, but continued to fight, bombarding the US positions a
full hour after the American air raids.
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- A Resistance source said that the Resistance fighters
did not withdraw from the battle even though they knew that their homes
were being bombed. They only withdrew after receiving the order to pull
back. The source noted that the Resistance lost only three men martyred
and four wounded in the battle, and the wounded are all in good condition.
The city was at that time holding funeral services for the martyrs killed
in the battle.
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- A medical source in Mosul Hospital said that more than
32 children were killed in the American bombing and that the number was
still on the rise because many of the wounded were so badly injured that
they were not likely to survive. In addition to the children, 14 women
were killed by the US air raids, five of them pregnant at the time of death.
Eleven men, most of them in advanced years, were also killed.
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- The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported that at
the time of reporting, US forces had surrounded and cut off all communications
from the area. The US troops had also shut off water, electricity, and
internet services from the area, and called out members of the puppet police
and puppet so-called "Iraqi national guard" from the city to
deploy in all the streets and between the neighborhoods.
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- For their part the puppet governor and mayor of the city
of Tall `Afar both tendered their resignations in protest against the American
bombing of civilian houses in the city.
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- In his dispatch the correspondent described the situation
in the city by saying that the Resistance was preparing for a very large
battle to avenge the innocent blood of the civilians. The correspondent
reported that he was at the time of reporting watching as cranes and construction
machinery worked into the night, continuing to extract bodies from under
the rubble of houses ruined by the American air attacks.
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- Mosul.
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- Resistance bomb kills three US troops in Mosul Saturday
morning.
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- An Iraqi Resistance roadside bomb exploded by a passing
column of four US Humvees in Mosul at 9am local time Saturday. Witnesses
told Mafkarat al-Islam that the blast destroyed a Humvee and killed three
US troops instantly, wounding a fourth mortally.
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- A source in the local puppet police said that the bomb
exploded Saturday morning killing three US troops and wounding a fourth.
The US military, meanwhile, claimed in a statement it broadcast to the
people of Mosul that the blast only wounded four of its troops, failing
to mention any deaths as is usual after every Resistance attack in the
city.
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- Al-Anbar Province. Ar-Ramadi.
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- Twelve US troops reported killed in Saturday morning
car bombing.
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- An Iraqi Resistance car bomb exploded by a passing column
of US armored vehicles in ar-Ramadi on Saturday morning. Mafkarat al-Islam
reported that the blast destroyed a Humvee and a Bradley armored vehicle
and left 12 US troops dead.
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- A source in the local puppet police said that a Resistance
martyrdom fighter in a white explosives-laden car drove into a US patrol
in ar- Ramadi at 9am Saturday morning. The source said that the blast destroyed
two US vehicles and killed 12 US troops and then he said that the explosion
also took the lives of more than 10 local people. The Mafkarat al-Islam
correspondent said, however, that local residents of the area where the
bombing took place denied that there were any civilian casualties.
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- In addition, the director of ar-Ramadi General Hospital
also denied that there had been any civilian casualties, saying that the
dead were all Americans and that the Resistance martyrdom fighter had taken
advantage of the fact that the street was clear of passersby and cars to
drive into the US column and detonate his bomb.
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- Al-Hadithah.
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- Resistance shoots down US helicopter Saturday morning.
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- In a dispatch posted at 11:25am Mecca time the correspondent
of Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier Iraqi Resistance
fighters in al-Hadithah had shot down a US Apache helicopter over the eastern
parts of the city. Ahmad ash-Shahir, a colonel in the puppet "Iraqi
army," told the correspondent that the Resistance fired a SAM-7 rocket
and shot down a US helicopter that was about to attack their position in
the eastern parts of al- Hadithah. Ash-Shahir said the crew was killed
instantly.
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- Hit.
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- Resistance car bomber blasts through barricades, blows
up 16 US troops at front gate of US base in Hit.
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- An Iraqi Resistance car bomb exploded at the gates of
the US `Ayn al- Asad base in Hit at about 8am Saturday morning, killing
16 American troops and wounding three more. The correspondent for Mafkarat
al- Islam in the city reported Captain Layth Kazim of the joint US-Iraqi
puppet force that was newly formed to try to put down the Resistance in
al-Anbar Province as saying that a Resistance martyrdom fighter wearing
a puppet police uniform drove an explosives-laden puppet police car with
police license plates on it into the base. The martyrdom fighter was able
to burst through the three security barriers and get as far as the main
gate where US troops are posted before blowing himself up, totally destroying
the gate and killing 16 US troops and wounding three more.
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- The source said that US forces immediately arrested the
puppet police chief in Hit and two of his aides to interrogate them regarding
the car bombing and the extent of their involvement in the attack, if any.
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- Al-Qa'im.
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- US troops free captured children after beatings, interrogation.
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- US forces released the children they had kidnapped to
use as human shields on Friday, the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam
in al- Qa'im reported Saturday. The mother of one child said her son had
been bruised on his face and back as a result of beatings inflicted by
the American troops. The child, `Umar al-Faruq `Abd al-Haqq, who is not
more than nine years old, said "the Americans started asking us about
our fathers and what they do and whether they like the Resistance or not."
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- `Umar went on, "We told them, `they hate the Mujahideen
and the Resistance,' because we were afraid of them the Americans. So they
hit us hard because they knew we were lying. One of the soldiers asked
me, `if you hate them, why do you pray in the mosques for them to defeat
us, and give them food and let them stay in your houses?'"
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- `Umar said they were forced to go to spend the night
without having had lunch or supper.
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- Al-Fallujah.
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- Resistance bombardment targets US camp east of al-Fallujah.
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- In a dispatch posted at 5:35pm Mecca time Saturday afternoon,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while before Iraqi Resistance forces
fired four Grad rockets into the US base east of al-Fallujah in the agricultural
area. The bombardment sent plumes of smoke rising up from inside the compound
and the four explosions shook the city.
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- Resistance bomb Friday night kills four Iraqi puppet
troops in al- Fallujah.
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- An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded in al-Fallujah at 8pm
on Friday evening local time by a patrol of the puppet Iraqi forces, destroying
a pickup and killing five puppet troops. Sources in the puppet "army"
confirmed the report to Mafkarat al-Islam in a statement issued Saturday
morning. The puppet statement said that the bomb had not been discovered
by the Americans when they swept through the area.
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- Resistance land mine kills three US soldiers in al-Fallujah
Friday afternoon.
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- An Iraqi Resistance land mine blew up under a US patrol
in al- Fallujah at 4pm Saturday afternoon local time. The local correspondent
for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the blast, which took place in the
an-Nazal neighborhood near the al-Firdaws Mosque, killed three US troops.
The correspondent wrote that after the attack, US forces closed off the
area and arrested a number of owners of stores and construction firms nearby
in the course of raids in the neighborhood. This was the third attack on
US occupation and Iraqi puppet troops in the city within the last 24 hours,
the correspondent noted.
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- Resistance car bomb explodes at US checkpoint in al-Fallujah
late Saturday, killing or wounding 15 US soldiers.
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- In a dispatch posted at 10:10pm Mecca time Saturday night,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier an Iraqi Resistance
car bomb had exploded at a US check point in the al-Mu`allimin neighborhood
in downtown al-Fallujah. The correspondent reported a source in the police
at the scene of the attack said that a white Nissan car blew up at the
checkpoint killing or injuring 15 US troops.
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- In his dispatch the correspondent wrote that American
troops were closing off the area in which the attack took place at that
time.
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- The correspondent noted that on Friday the Resistance
had distributed leaflets in the city saying that the Battle of al- Fallujah
had not ended and was not going to end. The statement called on the occupation
forces not to celebrate just because they got into the city that they called
the Kaabah of the Mujahideen.
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- Resistance bombards US, puppet positions in al-Fallujah
Saturday.
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- Iraqi Resistance forces bombarded a number of US and
Iraqi puppet force positions on Saturday afternoon. Mafkarat al-Islam reported
that the Resistance fired 15 Grad rockets at a US command post outside
the city between 3:30pm and 4pm local time, and on the as- Sumud Club and
the offices of the puppet governor inside the city.
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- Resistance bombards US position south of al-Fallujah
Saturday night.
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- Two Iraqi Resistance mortar rounds blasted into a US
strong point near `Amiriyat al-Fallujah at 8pm Saturday night, Mafkarat
al-Islam reported.
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- Resistance double bombing leaves 10 Iraqi puppet troops
dead, Friday.
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- Ten members of the puppet so-called "Iraqi national
guard" were killed in Friday when the Iraqi Resistance ambushed them
southwest of al-Fallujah. The correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam in the
city reported that two bombs that were planted next to each other exploded
near the al-Firdaws mosque west of the city on Friday, killing 10 puppet
troops.
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- Baghdad.
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- Four US troops killed in bombing in ad-Durah late Saturday
morning.
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- An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US armored column
in the First al-Mahdiyah district of the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-
Durah at 11am local time Saturday morning. Mafkarat al-Islam reported a
source in the puppet so-called "civil defense force" as saying
that the bombing destroyed a Humvee and left four US troops dead.
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- Witnesses told the correspondent that Resistance fighters
planted the bomb by the side of the road at dawn and warned local people
that it was there and to avoid it. The fighters stayed in the area but
out of sight of the passing US column that came into the area at 11am.
They confirmed the casualty figures given by the puppet defense force source.
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- The correspondent reported seeing US troops close off
the area after the attack, and evacuate the bodies of their dead when a
helicopter landed for that purpose.
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- Board of Muslim `Ulama' mark second anniversary of US
illegal invasion.
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- On the occasion of the second anniversary of the US invasion
of Iraq, the Board of Muslim `Ulama' Scholars issued a statement denouncing
the illegal occupation of their country and noting that in the last year
all the excuses used by the Americans for their invasion had been disproved.
The statement reaffirmed the national unity of Iraq and praised the sacrifice
and jihad of all Iraqi fighters for liberation, independence, and complete
sovereignty in the country.
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- The Board also convened the first meeting in memory of
the martyrs and in solidarity with prisoners. The meeting was attended
by a large number of prominent persons.
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- Salah ad-Din Province.
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- Bayji.
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- Resistance bombards US base in Bayji Saturday morning.
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- Iraqi Resistance forces fired 11 Tariq and Katyusha rockets
into the US base west of Bayji near Tikrit in northern Iraq. The correspondent
of Mafkarat al-Islam in Bayji reported that the barrage hit the US base
at 7am local time Saturday morning, striking southern parts of the facility
and sending flames and dense smoke into the sky.
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- A captain in the puppet police disclosed to the correspondent
that 30 US troops were killed or injured in the bombardment and several
military vehicles destroyed. The source added that one of the dead was
an American general.
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- Tikrit.
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- Three Iraqis die when US army truck rams their vehicle
on the highway.
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- Three Iraqis were killed at about 8am on Friday morning
when a US military truck crashed into their car on the road between Tikrit
and Kirkuk in northern Iraq. The Chinese Xinhua News agency reported a
source in the Tikrit puppet police as saying that a column of US military
trucks was heading towards Kirkuk on Friday when one of the American trucks
crashed into a civilian car that was going in the other direction "leveling
it with the road," according to the source. The crash killed three
persons in the civilian car. The puppet police source said that the bodies
of the three victims were extracted from the car and taken to Tikrit Hospital,
180km north of Baghdad.
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- Witnesses said that the American truck was part of a10-truck
US military convoy. They said that the American vehicles were driving in
the middle of a two-lane road. The US military had no comment.
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- Diyala Province. Ba`qubah.
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- Two US troops killed by roadside bomb in Ba`qubah at
noon Saturday.
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- An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US armored vehicle
column in the al-Ba`th neighborhood in central Ba`qubah at 12 noon Saturday.
Mafkarat al-Islam reported witnesses who live in the area as saying that
the bomb was planted by the side of the road leading to the Iraqi Immigration
and Personal Status Department building. The blast disabled one US Bradley
armored vehicle and killed two US troops and wounded six more. The correspondent
reported meeting a lieutenant in the Iraqi puppet military who confirmed
that the blast killed two US troops and wounded six more. He said that
the wounds of those injured were in varying degrees of severity.
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- Resistance pounds US base in Ba`qubah.
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- In a dispatch posted at 7:40pm Mecca time Saturday night,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier Iraqi Resistance
forces began firing a barrage of heavy mortar shells into the US headquarters
in Ba`qubah, east of Baghdad. The correspondent in the city reported that
at the time of writing, the Resistance had been striking the US base with
120mm mortar rounds for about a quarter of an hour.
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