Reuters reports that Iraqi commandos backed by U.S. troops killed 84 insurgents in a battle to seize an insurgent training camp north of Baghdad:
"Special forces in the Interior Ministry attacked a training center ... and had a fierce battle with the terrorists, killing 84 of them," Sabah Kadhim, a spokesman at the Interior Ministry told Reuters.
Among the dead are Arab and foreign fighters, including Sudanese, Algerians and Moroccans, as well as other nationalities.
According to Reuters, the U.S. military confirmed a battle had taken place and that U.S. forces were involved:
"An early assessment of the site indicates a facility for training anti-Iraqi forces," said Major Richard Goldenberg of the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division, using the U.S. military's term for insurgents.
"Documentation at the facility indicates that some members of the AIF were foreign fighters."
Six police commandos were wounded, Goldenberg said.
This good news indeed. If we are to ultimately achieve our goal of a free and democratic Iraq the Iraqis must be able to carry the fight. The news is even better when you consider this New York Times report about Iraqi civilians fighting back against the insurgents:
But just before noon on Tuesday, a carpenter named Dhia saw a troop of masked gunmen with grenades coming toward his shop here and decided he had had enough.
As the gunmen emerged from their cars, Dhia and his young relatives shouldered their Kalashnikov rifles and opened fire, the police and witnesses said. In the fierce gun battle that followed, three of the insurgents were killed, and the rest fled just after the police arrived. Two of Dhia's nephews and a bystander were wounded, the police said.
"We attacked them before they attacked us," said Dhia, 35, his face still contorted with rage and excitement, as he stood barefoot outside his home a few hours after the battle, a 9-millimeter pistol in his hand. He would not give his last name.
"We killed three of those who call themselves the mujahedeen," he said. "I am waiting for the rest of them to come, and we will show them."
Comments