- A US military column was completely wiped out in fierce
fighting with Resistance forces according to the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent
in the town of al-Mundhiriyah, near the Iranian border, east of Ba'qubah.
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- The correspondent, who was at the scene of the battle,
wrote that a US column made up of eight vehicles came under Iraqi Resistance
attack in the Jalabiyah area, known as the at-Tilal or hilly area, at 10pm
Friday night. The Resistance fighters holed up in strongholds in the hills
unleashed a sweeping attack on the US column, using missiles, pipe rockets,
bazookas, and land mines that they had planted in the path of the American
forces before their arrival.
-
- Four US tanks, three Humvees, and one armored vehicle
were destroyed in the fighting that lasted two hours, the correspondent
reported. He said that US dead were in excess of 60 men. An adjutant commander
of the Iraqi border guards confirmed that the entire US column was wiped
out.
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- The correspondent wrote that the smell of blood and burning
flesh pervaded the smoldering wreckage of the US vehicles and all the other
remains of the large column.
-
- US helicopters arrived on the scene 20 minutes after
the battle and began revenge attacks on the local people. The US aircraft
rocketed four houses, killing 19 Iraqi civilians, including 11 women and
children, according to the account of al-Mundhiriyah General Hospital.
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- The Squadrons of Abu Dajjanah al-Ansari announced its
responsibility for the attack that it called "the Battle of 'Khaybar
is Ruined'."
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- When the correspondent filed his report posted at 11:10am
Saturday morning Mecca time, US forces had imposed curfew on al-Mundhiriyah
since the early hours of the morning. The Americans arrested the local
puppet police commander, charging him with helping what they referred to
as "terrorists" - meaning the Iraqi Resistance. They have also
prevented journalists from coming from the Provincial capital Ba'qubah
to al-Mundhiriyah.
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- Read the Full Report
- http://www.the7thfire.com/Iraq_War/resistance_report/feb_19_2005.htm
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