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KARBALA, April 5: US troops fought street-to-street with paramilitaries in Karbala on Saturday in a fierce assault aimed at protecting supply lines of soldiers moving into Baghdad.
US officials claimed the American troops had killed about 75 Fedayeen paramilitaries loyal to President Saddam Hussein and said six or seven US soldiers had been wounded in the battle. Others had slight burns but continued to fight.
The Iraqi fighters took up positions on rooftops in the narrow streets of this shrine city, firing rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles. US planes unleashed laser-guided bombs, artillery and heavy arms fire.
“It’s freaky in there. Lots of bullets flying around. It’s pretty scary,” said one young US soldier who was evacuated after being hit by fragments from a hand grenade.
The fighting raged all Saturday afternoon as the US forces progressed slowly towards the city’s centre. It flared again in the evening. Helicopters continued buzzing overhead looking for Iraqi fighters and the US soldiers dug in for the night.
“They gave us a pretty good fight. It wasn’t that well organized — they were spread out all over the place — but they really went at it,” another soldier said.
American forces attacked Karbala as advance US forces pushed into Baghdad, 110kms to the north.
It followed a similar US sweep two days earlier through Najaf, another holy city in central Iraq, to root out paramilitaries and other fighters who could threaten long US supply lines stretching up from the south.
Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Holden said US forces could not make a sustained push into Baghdad until the cities around capital were secured.
“It would have to be raids and destruction missions, but it couldn’t be long-term effective as long as Kerbala and other towns can serve as a Fedayeen base to attack our forces,” said Holden, a battalion commander of the 101st Airborne.
“TOUGH FIGHT”: Troops from the “Screaming Eagles” 101st Airborne Division landed in helicopters on the western edge of Karbala, moving in beside a tank battalion with Apache attack helicopters overhead.
Iraqis offered tough resistance from one building complex, keeping OH-58 Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopters at bay with sustained fire whenever they closed in.
Fedayeen also knocked out a Bradley armoured vehicle with a rocket propelled grenade, wounding six US soldiers.
“There’s been a tough fight. It is tough in there. And it’s hot,” said Sergeant Major Patrick Boykin of 101st Airborne Division. “They know the terrain, they’ve been waiting and they’re determined...but so are we.”
Air Force officials said fighter planes had hit a Republican Guards facility, the city headquarters of the ruling Baath Party, and a munitions depot with 900-kg bombs.
Three huge plumes of smoke rose above the city and one of the bombs appeared to spark a series of secondary explosions.
Fighters popped out of doorways, alleyways and from rooftops to fire at the invaders. People in the city ran scrambled from house to house.
A US officer told Gray the strike against Kerbala came from four different directions.
LONG SUPPLY LINES: “We are here to reduce the resistance in the town (and) to allow things to return to normal in Kerbala,” said Major Eric Wick, second in command of the 2nd Battalion of the 70th Armoured Regiment. He said the mission would help secure supply lines and allow humanitarian deliveries to Karbala.
US sources said they believed hundreds of Fedayeen paramilitaries could be based in Karbala, threatening US lines stretching hundreds of kilometres from Kuwait.
Najaf and Kerbala, home to the holiest shrines in Iraq, rose up against Baghdad after Iraqi troops were repulsed from Kuwait by US-led forces in 1991. Forces loyal to President Saddam put down the uprising within weeks.—Reuters
