Posted on 06/13/2003 5:08:18 PM PDT by blam
'100 Iraqis killed' in clashes with US troops
By Jack Fairweather and Peter Foster in Baghdad
(Filed: 14/06/2003)
American forces in Iraq last night claimed to have killed up to 100 Iraqis in three days of fighting north of Baghdad, as coalition troops tried to eradicate the last pockets of resistance in Iraq.
At least 27 Iraqis were reported killed yesterday when a US tank patrol came under fire in the town of Balad, 90 miles north-west of Baghdad, the US military said.
The incident was the latest in a series of clashes in the "Sunni triangle" around Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town, where elements loyal to the ousted dictator have continued to harry coalition forces. The operation, codenamed Peninsular Strike, comes after several weeks of low-level skirmishes in which 40 American soldiers have been killed since May 1.
The guerrilla attacks have been concentrated in Baghdad and two nearby areas - to the west around Ramadi and Falluja, and to the north around Balad, Baquba and Tikrit. US military and diplomatic sources continue to discount claims that the resistance is being centrally organised, blaming localised pockets of pro-Saddam fighters. The mopping-up operation began on Thursday with air and land strikes on what was described as a terrorist training camp outside Balad.
Up to 70 Iraqis were reported killed and almost 400 held for interrogation. Local sources said the resistance was fuelled by resentment at the heavy-handed tactics of US forces. Later it was confirmed that some 70 of prisoners had been released because they were too young, too old or "of no intelligence value". The US military said at least 70 surface-to-air missiles, 75-78 rocket-propelled grenades and 20 AK-47 assault rifles were found at the "camp".
There was further confusion when the US Central Command claimed to have arrested 74 "suspected al-Qa'eda sympathisers", an assertion that appeared to support pre-war claims in Washington that Arab al-Qa'eda fighters had poured into Iraq in support of Saddam. Lt Gen David McKiernan, a senior US commander in Iraq, appeared to back away from those claims yesterday, saying it was "premature" to speak of ties to al-Qa'eda.
In a separate incident in northern Iraq, Turkish authorities said investigations were under way to establish whether sabotage was to blame for a blast on a section of pipeline in the Kirkuk oilfield.
US engineers said there was a fire on the main oil export pipeline from Kirkuk to Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, but said it was due to a gas leak. Turkish reports described it as sabotage.
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