Mafkarat al-Islam – 2004-08-10 10:04:09
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MAF408A.html
AR-RAMADI (August 3, 2004) — In a dispatch posted at 4:40pm Tuesday, Mecca time, the correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam in ar-Ramadi reported that fierce fighting had been raging in the area of the city since 9:30am and that in some places it had grown into direct and bloody battles at such close quarters that US Apache helicopters are unable to take part for fear of hitting their own troops.
The correspondent wrote that the fighting was under way in the area of the sports playing field, al-Fajjariyah, and near the Agricultural College, and it was also raging around the Maternity Hospital.
US troops closed off all roads leading to the city of ar-Ramadi and the correspondent has no information on the extent of casualties as a result of the violent fighting under way because of the danger of approaching the front lines.
The correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam wrote, however, that Resistance forces launched a painful attack at the US aggressor troops in which they captured an American General on Tuesday morning. The General was accompanying a US column heading from a US outpost to the command headquarters, set up by the Americans in the Republican Palace in ar-Ramadi.
US General Taken Hostage
The capture of the American general sparked the fighting, as US forces moved to close all roads to and from ar-Ramadi to prevent his being taken outside the city area. US forces are insisting that they will not open the roads until the Resistance hands the General back to them.
One large column of US forces attempted to get to ar-Ramadi along the expressway north of al-Fallujah, but Resistance fighters from that city confronted the advancing Americans, unleashing a hail of rockets and mortars upon them, splitting the column in two. The rear half of the column fled back to Baghdad, the front part attempted to make for ar-Ramadi, but, failing that, made their way to the US occupation base at al-Habbaniyah instead.
The residents of northern districts of al-Fallujah could see the flames and smoke rising into the sky from fires burning in wrecked US military vehicles.
Resistance Destroys US tank, Humvee
Iraqi Resistance forces destroyed an American tank and a Humvee in the village of ash-Shamiyah, south west of al-Fallujah a few minutes before 9:00pm Mecca time, according to the local correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam.
The correspondent, who was 250 meters away when the attack occurred, reported that the ambush was laid near the village mosque. The reporter was unable to ascertain the extent of US losses, however, because the American aggressor troops immediately closed off the scene of the attack and would not allow anyone to approach.
US forces frequently seal off areas in which Resistance attacks take place enabling themselves to evacuate dead and wounded, to haul off the wreckage of vehicles and to clean up the area before the press is allowed back in. Such actions enable the Americans to hide the extent of their losses in men and materiel.
US Base Hit in at-Taji; Airlif of Wounded Lasts Five Hours
Iraqi Resistance fighters at 7:45am on Tuesday morning fired six massive Grad rockets at the US aggressor base in at-Taji, northwest of Baghdad. The rockets slammed into the camp, and one of them scored a direct hit on the main ammunition storehouse, setting off a series of massive and continuous explosions.
With the road cut by Resistance activity, the Americans used huge Chinook helicopters to evacuate the dead and wounded after the explosions died down at 8:30am. The movement of the huge helicopters evacuating casualties continued until 2:00pm in the afternoon, according to the local correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam.
Resistance Bomb Destroys US Humvee
An Iraqi Resistance roadside bomb exploded on the highway east of al-Fallujah at 3:30pm Tuesday afternoon. According to the local correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam, the blast set one American Humvee on fire. Afterward, US troops closed the highway to traffic and it remained closed when the correspondent posted his report at 6:20pm Mecca Time, Tuesday.
Resistance Frees Iraqi Woman from US Clutches
At 7:50pm Mecca Time, the correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam filed a report on an incident that took place in al-Karmah earlier in the day. Early on Tuesday 24 US aggressor troops stormed into the home of an Iraqi woman in search of her husband, who, the Americans think, is an active member of the local Resistance.
When the troops failed to find the husband, they took the wife captive instead, putting her in a vehicle in their column of five Humvees. The captive woman cried out to the people in the area, however, calling for help, and imploring them not to allow what had been done to the prisoners of Abu Ghurayb to be done to her.
In a few moments, a crowd of more than 50 men of the Resistance rushed to crowd around the Humvee carrying the woman. They confronted the Americans and demanded the woman’s release. When the US troops refused, arguments and fist fights broke out between the two sides, as the Resistance was determined to avoid using weapons where the captive woman might be hurt.
A short consultation then between the two sides by way of the Iraqi translator accompanying he American invaders resulted in an agreement whereby the Americans would release the woman on condition that the crowd of Resistance fighters step away from the American column and allow it to get away.
The Americans then were compelled to release the woman. When she had been taken to a safe place, the leader of the Resistance fighters called on his men to attack the Americans in defense of the woman’s honor. The collaborator translator intervened saying that they couldn’t attack the Americans because they had an agreement with them. To that the Resistance leader responded, “What kind of agreement, what kind of commitment do we have with them, when they violate the honor of our women and abuse them? There is no agreement with such people, no truce!”
The fighters began to lay into the collaborator translator to kill him for his treason and then the Resistance opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades and C5Ks on the Humvees, destroying them and killing all aboard, before reinforcements could come. The large number of fighters gathered in the area enabled them to have done with the US aggressor troops quickly.
The mother was then moved out of al-Karmah along with her children, lest the Americans return to exact some kind of revenge on the family. Afterwards, the Americans in fact encircled and imposed a blockade on al-Karmah, and the town remained sealed off when the Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent posted his report at 7:50pm Tuesday, Mecca time.
Attack on US Camp Leaves 16 Americans Dead
Early Tuesday morning Iraqi Resistance forces from Samarra’ attacked a US command point in the rural village of ar-Rawashid in the al-Ishaqi district near Samarra’. The Samarra’ correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam arrived on the scene eight hours after the fighting and local residents told him that the Resistance stunned the sleeping American camp at 4:00am Tuesday when they attacked with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), C5Ks, and machine guns. The soldiers at the command post who manned an armored personnel carrier and two Humvees — 16 men in all — were killed.
Local residents used their own weapons to shoot into the air in celebration of the Resistance victory. Later US aggressor troops moved in to storm houses in search of the Resistance fighters, who, as usual, remained out of sight. The American troops surrounded the village for two hours during their search operation, but then departed.
Car Bomb Wounds Iraqi Puppet Troops near Ba’qubah
An Iraqi Resistance martyrdom car bomb blast at a checkpoint north of the town of Ba’qubah wounded six Iraqi members of the puppet so-called “national guard,” according to “national guard” Lieutenant Muhammad ad-Dulaymi at the scene. Major Deborah Stewart of the US 1st Infantry Division said the wounded had been evacuated to a nearby hospital.
Resistance Bomb Kills Puppet Police Chief
An Iraqi Resistance roadside bomb Tuesday killed a local puppet police chief in Baghdad, according to the American Associated Press (AP). The Resistance car bomb in Baghdad’s upscale al-Mansur district killed the head of a local puppet police station and wounded two of his bodyguards, the puppet police said. The bomb exploded as Colonel Mu’ayyad Mahmud Bashshar ash-Shamari, chief of the al-Ma’mun puppet police station, was driving past.
Iraqi Dr. Zayid Muhammad was quoted by the Mafkarat al-Islam as saying that the explosion took place in al-Washshash district, west of Baghdad and killed the puppet police chief of al-Ma’mun as well as another officer in the puppet police. He said that a third puppet policeman was wounded and taken to al-Yarmuk Hospital.
An AP TV film showed the wreckage of a small white truck belonging to the puppet police around which could be seen pools of blood.
In a dispatch posted at 6:45pm Mecca time, the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the blast which killed Puppet police Colonel Bashshar took place in the al-Mansur district of central western Baghdad near the large mosque there.
The correspondent added that the blast also killed two “multinational” occupation troops and wounded two more in addition to killing another officer in the Iraqi puppet police. The US military had acknowledged earlier on Tuesday that two “foreign” occupation troops were killed and two more wounded in a separate statement, but omitted any indication of the fact that they were stricken in the same Resistance attack that killed the puppet police chief. (See story below.)
US Admits Four Occupation Soldiers Killed
The US military admitted on Tuesday that two “foreign” soldiers were killed and two others wounded in an Iraqi Resistance roadside bomb blast overnight on Baghdad’s western outskirts. Initial American reports failed to mention the nationality of the invader troops, but an American Associated Press (AP) report referred to them as American.
The American aggressors also acknowledged that two American Marine invaders were killed in action in the rebellious province of al-Anbar where al-Fallujah and ar-Ramadi are located. One of the US invaders died on Monday from wounds and the other Tuesday, the US military said.
Resistance Attack Cuts Oil Exports to Turkey
Iraqi Resistance fighters struck an oil pipeline linking the Kirkuk fields with the Turkish port of Ceyhan on Tuesday morning, shutting down all Iraqi oil exports to Turkey, according to a report broadcast by al-‘Arabiyah satellite TV.
Engineer Nasir Qasim ‘Abd al-Jabbar, a puppet official charged with the unenviable task of keeping the flow in the Oil of the North Company pipelines going, said “a large explosion occurred at 6:00am, local time, in the complex of pipes that carry oil east of the city of al-Fath, which lies west of Kirkuk.
‘Abd al-Jabbar added that the blast caused heavy damage to the strategic pipeline, and halted all Iraqi exports of oil to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
A source at the Bayji oil refinery, the main one in the country, confirmed that the Resistance had blown up the pipeline carrying crude oil to the refinery and to the main northern export pipeline that takes Iraqi oil to Ceyhan. That route has been virtually closed down for nearly two months due to persistent Resistance assaults.
Bayji is located 180km north of Baghdad. Local puppet police reported that the Resistance blew up the pipeline there in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The Iraqi Resistance frequently targets the oil pipelines carrying petroleum out of Iraq, because the returns from sale of the Iraqi natural resource all go directly into the coffers of the US aggressors and their stooges.
Al-Fallujah Residents Free Jordanian Hostages
In a report posted at 1:30am Wednesday morning, Mecca time, the al-Fallujah correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the people of the city had released four Jordanian truck drivers who had been held hostage by an Iraqi Resistance group. The people of al-Fallujah released the four after discovering that they were being held in a house in their city.
The correspondent wrote that the people of al-Fallujah stormed into the house where the four were being held after learning the location where the four truck drivers were being held since earlier in the week. The people were able to take the four out of the house where they were being held and then transported them to a safe place from which they will be turned over to the Jordanian embassy at an appropriate time Wednesday morning.
The correspondent wrote that the people’s raid on the house took place at midnight, and that a group of 10 men took part. Among those participating in the raid were members of the guards of the Center for the Study of Democracy and Human Rights (CSDHR) in al-Fallujah. They were heavily armed but the operation involved no gunfire between them and the kidnappers, as neither side sought to draw the blood of their brothers.
The guards of the CSDHR took charge of moving the former hostages to safety. The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent writes that the guards of the CSDHR perform the function of protecting and providing security in several neighborhoods of al-Fallujah.
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© Copyright belongs to the author, 2004. For fair use only/ pour usage équitable seulement.
