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<p>The outcome of the first reported battle since the end of major combat operations in Iraq suggests victory may be closer than most Americans dare to hope.</p> <p>Iraqis wearing the black garb of the Fedayeen Saddam ambushed two convoys carrying cash to banks in Samarra, a small town in the Sunni Triangle about 60 miles northwest of Baghdad. The attacks were well planned and coordinated. The attackers were brave. The attackers died like flies.</p>

<p>The outcome of the first reported battle since the end of major combat operations in Iraq suggests victory may be closer than most Americans dare to hope.</p> <p>Iraqis wearing the black garb of the Fedayeen Saddam ambushed two convoys carrying cash to banks in Samarra, a small town in the Sunni Triangle about 60 miles northwest of Baghdad. The attacks were well planned and coordinated. The attackers were brave. The attackers died like flies.</p>

The US army came under renewed pressure on Wednesday over its conduct in a battle at the weekend in the central Iraqi town of Samarra, as Iran's senior religious leader accused the American forces of "a savage massacre" in which 54 locals were reportedly killed. The battle, in which US forces attempting to deliver new Iraqi currency to two Samarran banks were ambushed by a small force of insurgents - said by US officials to have been dressed as fighters from Saddam Hussein's fedayeen militia - has led to wildly differing accounts from American military officials and local witnesses. Hospital...

<p>The outcome of the first reported battle since the end of major combat operations in Iraq suggests victory may be closer than most Americans dare to hope.</p> <p>Iraqis wearing the black garb of the Fedayeen Saddam ambushed two convoys carrying cash to banks in Samarra, a small town in the Sunni Triangle about 60 miles northwest of Baghdad. The attacks were well planned and coordinated. The attackers were brave. The attackers died like flies.</p>

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Pressure is mounting on the United States military to support its claim to have killed 54 Iraqi guerrillas in the biggest battle since George Bush declared an end to major combat seven months ago. Scepticism about the US's version of the death toll has been expressed within upper echelons of the occupation authorities. A US combat leader who was involved in the battle has also denounced the military's account of the battle. The controversy began on Sunday last week when Iraqi guerrillas attacked two US military convoys escorting new Iraqi currency to banks in Samarra, a Sunni town which is...

Letter from Grad in Samarra Here is a note from one of our young Grads that was shared with me, I thought you all might enjoy hearing about what our troops experience on a daily basis...These troops are truly amazing young people! Friends and Family, Sorry to write so much, but I know Samarra was in the news a lot lately and I just wanted y'all to know I am fine. The ambush was with my company here, I was not there, but two of my tanks and 8 of my soldiers were. My soldiers are all fine. All of...

Officials Stand by Number of Attackers Killed in Samarra; Operations Continue By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USAAmerican Force Press Service WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2003 - U.S. Central Command officials are standing by the claim that 54 attackers were killed in the Nov. 30 ambush at a bank in Samarra, despite Iraqi civilians who say the number is much lower. During a briefing from Baghdad today Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations, Combined Joint Task Force 7, told reporters today that he has "no reason to claim inaccurate figures." Kimmitt had reported the 54 killed in...

At least one US soldier killed in attacks on convoys near Samarra Photo: AFP Click to enlarge RIGGA, Iraq (AFP) - At least one US soldier was killed when two almost simultaneous bomb attacks hit convoys near the Iraqi town of Samarra, scene of deadly clashes between troops and insurgents two days ago, a US officer at the scene told AFP. "There was one soldier killed," said the clearly distressed officer, who declined to give his name or elaborate. Reporters said the convoy was escorting a truck carrying a damaged Apache helicopter from Samarra south to Baghdad. The aircraft had...

Iraqis challenge US account of battle Michael Howard in Baghdad and Julian Borger in WashingtonTuesday December 2, 2003The Guardian Iraqi officials in Samarra yesterday challenged US military accounts of a bloody battle on Sunday, accusing American soldiers of spraying fire at random on the city streets, killing several civilians. US army spokesmen claimed that up to 54 Iraqi guerrillas had been killed when they tried to ambush two armoured convoys bringing new banknotes to two Samarra banks, triggering the biggest pitched battle in Iraq since May 1, when President George Bush declared "major combat operations" over. There were no reported...

<p>Samarra, Iraq -- U.S. commanders said Monday they had killed up to 54 insurgents in the fiercest battle since Saddam Hussein's government fell nearly eight months ago, but townspeople disputed that claim, saying only eight were killed in the battle Sunday, most of them noncombatants.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The failed attack on U.S. forces escorting a currency convoy in the Iraqi city of Samarra Sunday represents a failed but highly significant attempt at escalation by guerrilla forces and confirms their centralized, sophisticated command structure and confidence.</p>

<p>SAMARRA, Iraq -- One of the bloodiest engagements since the fall of Saddam Hussein showed a new, deadlier side of the Iraqi insurgency: stepped up, coordinated assaults by groups of guerrillas bent on battle rather than a hit-and-run attack, the U.S. military said yesterday.</p>

SAMARRA, Iraq, Dec. 1 -- Sgt. 1st Class Robert Hollis knew there was trouble even before the shooting started. As he stood guard in his M1-A1 Abrams tank outside a bank in this Sunni Muslim town, the usually busy streets suddenly emptied Sunday. Men hurried down back alleys, some running. Women dragged their children away from the positions of U.S. troops. Then, through his scope, Hollis said he saw a man lift a rocket-propelled grenade launcher to his shoulder, aiming at him and his crew of three. What followed was perhaps the bloodiest engagement since the U.S. occupation of Iraq...

SAMARRA, Iraq, Dec. 1 — American commanders vowed Monday that the killing of as many as 54 insurgents in this central Iraqi town would serve as a lesson to those fighting the United States, but Iraqis disputed the death toll and said anger against America would only rise. Accounts of a three-hour battle fought in the alleys and streets of Samarra on Sunday diverged radically, with Iraqis saying only eight people had been killed, several of them civilians. At the morgue, Adnan Sahib Dafar, 52, an ambulance driver, pointed to a dead woman on a steel tray. The woman, Mr....

The centre of the Iraqi town of Samarra has been devastated after ambushes of US troops sparked a massive response in which the military claimed 54 insurgents killed, but the only bodies were of eight civilians, according to the local hospital. Elsewhere in Iraq, a US soldier died of wounds he sustained when Iraqi gunmen attacked an army convoy on Monday near Habbaniyah, west of Baghdad, the US military said, taking the toll in combat in the past seven months to 187. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the US-led coalition's deputy director of operations in Iraq, said in Baghdad after Sunday's...

(CNN) -- U.S. forces responded Sunday to simultaneous ambushes on convoys in northern Iraq with heavy firepower, killing at least 46 attackers, according to military officials. No Americans were killed in the gunfights, which took place in Samarra, about 75 miles north of Baghdad. Staff Sgt. Bruce Jones described the intense battle Monday from Samarra to CNN anchor Soledad O'Brien. JONES: My mission and my platoon's mission was to actually escort the Iraqi currency exchange into two different banks in Samarra. ... We escorted them in. As soon as we got to that location, we started receiving direct fire via...

Ferocious gun battle that left no bodies (Filed: 02/12/2003) Americans say 54 attackers died in the fiercest engagement since the war ended while Iraqis insist that eight civilians were killed by reckless US fire, writes Jack Fairweather Wrecked cars and bullet-riddled shopfronts testified to the battle. But in the streets of Samarra yesterday there was little evidence of what the Americans described as the biggest engagement since the end of the Iraqi war. Burned out cars following the fighting in Samarra, north of Baghdad US forces insisted they had killed 54 Iraqi attackers after two of their armoured convoys came...

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq — American forces in Iraq killed 46 Iraqis who were trying to ambush them in the central part of the country, Reuters news service reported, citing a U.S. military spokesman.</p> <p>The 4th Infantry Division repelled multiple ambush attacks," Reuters quoted Lt. Col. William MacDonald as saying to reporters.</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- In the deadliest reported firefight since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. soldiers fought back coordinated attacks Sunday using tanks, cannons and small arms in running battles throughout the northern city of Samarra. The troops killed 46 Iraqi fighters, and five Americans were wounded. Minutes later, two South Korean contractors were killed nearby in a roadside ambush in what U.S. officials called a new campaign aimed at undermining international support for the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Attacks on Saturday killed seven Spaniards, two Japanese diplomats and a Colombian oil worker. Lt. Col. William MacDonald of the...