Baghdad, Dec 01: Fifty-four Iraqis were killed in the
northern city of Samarra as US forces used battle tanks and
cannons to fight their way out of two simultaneous ambushes,
the military said today. But local residents said troops fired
randomly at townspeople, and that most of those who died were
civilians caught up in the clash.
Yesterday's fighting was the bloodiest combat reported
since the end of the war that ousted Saddam Hussein's regime.
A US military spokesman said the clash was initiated by
attackers, many wearing uniforms of Saddam's Fidayeen
paramilitary force, who simultaneously attacked two US convoys
at opposite sides of Samarra, 100 km north of Baghdad.
Television news images showed scenes of
devastation, with buildings pockmarked by hundreds of bullet
holes, and about two dozen badly damaged cars, apparently run
over by armored vehicles. A bus abandoned in the middle of a
street had its front sheared off. Fences and walls of several
residential homes were destroyed, apparently by shelling.
Lt. Col. William Macdonald of the 4th Infantry Division
said that after barricading a road, the attackers opened fire
from rooftops and alleyways with bombs, small arms, mortars
and rocket-propelled grenades. US troops responded with 120mm
tank rounds and 25mm cannon fire from Bradley fighting
vehicles.
US fire destroyed three buildings the attackers were
using, Macdonald said.
"It sounds like the attack had some coordination to it,
but the soldiers responded, used their firepower, used tank
and Bradley fire and other weapons available to them, to stop
this attack and take the fight to the enemy," he said.
Bureau Report
