You have commented 375 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Iraq-Jordan
US raids Qaim
2005-04-13
U.S. troops battled arms smugglers and terrorists fighters near the Iraqi town of Qaim along the Syrian border Tuesday, killing an unknown number of oxymoronic alert! foreign insurgents, the U.S. military said. Local hospital officials reported at least nine terrorists people killed in clashes in the same area, and said they believed the dead were terrorists civilians.

The raids came as separate car bombs in two northern cities killed a total of 10 people, and as the Iraqi government claimed to have captured a former member of Saddam Hussein's regime at a farm northeast of Baghdad.

The Qaim raid occurred a day after terrorists insurgents tried unsuccessfully to ram two cars and a fire truck loaded with explosives into a Marine outpost there, but military officials said the attack was not related to the raid. Terrorists Insurgents opened fire when the U.S. troops began their raid on the smuggling ring Tuesday, and several militants, including at least one suicide bomber, were killed, the U.S. military said in a statement. No Americans were injured, it said.

Residents reported violent clashes before dawn Tuesday in and around Qaim, although it was unclear if the violence was related to the raid.

Hamid al-Alousi, director of Qaim hospital, said his facility had received nine corpses and nearly two dozen wounded in the violence. Residents of a small village just north of Qaim said more than a dozen more people were buried in the area and not taken to the hospital. Residents and hospital officials said the victims appeared to be terrorists civilians. It was impossible to verify the claims because this reporter didn't want to leave the hotel bar.

Without providing details, the group Al Qaeda in Iraq, led by Jordanian terrorist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the Qaim clashes. The claim, posted on the Internet, could not be verified because this reporter didn't want to leave the hotel bar.

Many residents stayed in on Tuesday and some families fled their homes in two southwestern neighborhoods and moved to other parts of the town fearing renewed clashes.
Masked terrorists gunmen were seen taking up positions in Qaim on Tuesday, residents said.

U.S. military officials said that two other raids in the area over the last week had resulted in the capture of smugglers who "confessed to bringing weapons, foreign fighters and money for terrorists across the Syrian border into Iraq."
Posted by:Dan Darling

#7  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom   2005-04-13 3:08:25 PM  

#6  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Beavis & Butthead   2005-04-13 3:01:23 PM  

#5  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: JackAssFestival   2005-04-13 12:11:59 PM  

#4  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: trailing wife   2005-04-13 12:10:52 PM  

#3  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: badanov   2005-04-13 9:36:46 AM  

#2  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2005-04-13 9:32:00 AM  

#1  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Frank G   2005-04-13 8:20:14 AM  

00:00