11:51am (UK) Locals Dispute U.S. Claims of 54 Dead in Iraqi Battle
http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2244801
The US army claimed today that 54 Iraqis were killed in Samarra as they used tanks and cannons to fight their way out of simultaneous ambushes while delivering new Iraqi currency to banks.
But residents of the northern town said today that the casualty figure was much lower and that the dead were mostly civilians.
By the American account, yesterday’s fighting was the bloodiest combat reported since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in a US led invasion.
The military said attackers, many wearing uniforms of Saddam’s Fedayeen paramilitary force, struck at two convoys at opposite sides of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
The scars of the battle were evident today. About a dozen cars lay destroyed in the streets, many apparently crushed by tanks, and bullet holes pocked many buildings. A rowdy crowd gathered at one spot, chanting pro-Saddam slogans. One man fired warning shots in the air when journalists arrived at the scene.
There was no US military presence in the city centre today. Shops opened, and residents moved around town.
At a news conference at a military base in Samarra, Colonel Frederick Rudesheim said the American convoys were on a mission to deliver currency to banks when the co-ordinated ambushes took place.
“That was a given location that they knew we would go to,” Rudesheim said. “This was done in a concerted fashion.”
At the US base, half a dozen suspects were seen with bags over their heads and their hands bound by plastic cuffs.
Many residents said Saddam loyalists attacked the Americans, but that when US forces began firing at random, many civilians got their guns and joined the fight. Many said residents were bitter about recent US raids in the night.
“Why do they arrest people when they’re in their homes?” asked Athir Abdul Salam, a 19-year-old student. “They come at night to arrest people. So what do they expect those people to do?”
“Civilians shot back at the Americans,” said 30-year-old Ali Hassan, who was wounded by shrapnel in the battle. ”They claim we are terrorists. So OK, we are terrorists. What do they expect when they drive among us?”
Many residents said the Americans opened fire at random when they came under attack, and targeted civilian installations. Six destroyed vehicles sat in front of the hospital, where witnesses said US tanks shelled people dropping off the injured. A kindergarten was damaged, apparently by tank shells. No children were hurt.
“Luckily we evacuated the children five minutes before we came under attack,” said Ibrahim Jassim, a 40-year-old guard at the kindergarten. “Why did they attack randomly? Why did they shoot a kindergarten with tank shells?”
A mosque was also damaged by a tank shell.
The military initially said 46 Iraqi fighters died and five American soldiers were injured. But a statement today raised the Iraqi dead to 54.
Residents of Samarra disputed those figures, saying at most eight or nine people died. Three bodies lay in the hospital morgue. There was no way to reconcile the accounts.
The scale of the attack and the apparent co-ordination of the two operations showed that rebel units retain the ability to conduct synchronised operations despite a massive US offensive this month aimed at crushing the insurgency.
At least 104 coalition troops have died in Iraq in November, including 79 American troops. In terms of coalition losses, it has been the bloodiest month of the war that began March 20.
Also Sunday, two South Korean contractors were killed near Samarra in a roadside ambush in what US officials called a new campaign aimed at undermining international support for the occupation of Iraq. Attacks on Saturday killed seven Spaniards, two Japanese diplomats and a Colombian oil worker.