The Hindu : Elite Iraqi troops to take on Marines

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 27, 2003

Front Page

Front Page

Elite Iraqi troops to take on Marines

Iraqis struggle to get boxes with food from a trailer brought to Safwan by the Kuwait Red Crescent on Wednesday.

SOUTH-CENTRAL IRAQ MARCH 26. A large contingent of Iraq's elite Republican Guard headed south today in a convoy of about 1,000 vehicles towards U.S. Marines in central Iraq — an area that has already seen the heaviest fighting of the war. In Baghdad, Iraqi officials said two cruise missiles hit a residential area, killing 14 persons. Hundreds of Iraqis were reported killed and the U.S.-led coalition advance on Baghdad held up in the biggest battle so far of the war to topple the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein's regime, as air strikes continued to pound the capital.

Intelligence officers with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force said the Republican Guard units were headed in a 1,000-vehicle convoy from Baghdad on a route that avoids advancing U.S. Army forces but leads directly to the Marines who have been fighting in recent days around the city of An Nasiriyah. The advance appeared to signal that the Republican Guard, Mr. Hussein's best trained and most loyal force, was still prepared to go on the offensive despite several days of allied air strikes and missile attacks on its positions.

British reports suggested there may have been an uprising against Mr. Hussein's regime in the southern city of Basra.

The Iraqis denied there was any such uprising.

In Baghdad, Iraqi defence officials said two cruise missiles struck a residential area. Hamad Abdullah, head of civil defence in the area, said 14 persons were killed and 30 injured in the attack in the northern Al-Shaab neighbourhood. Charred bodies and mangled cars littered the area, sparking fury among crowds of Iraqis, after what witnesses and local officials said was a double missile strike.

Crowds of enraged Iraqis carried away bodies chanting: "there is no God but Allah" and "we will sacrifice our blood and souls for you, Saddam". The U.S. Central Command said it was aware of claims that a market area had been hit and was checking the report.

American and British warplanes pummelled Baghdad and its suburbs through the night and into the morning in a bid to soften up frontlines for advancing coalition forces, targeting Republican Guard strongholds on the capital's outskirts and television stations.

The air raids came after U.S. armoured forces clashed with foot soldiers in sandstorms south of Baghdad, reportedly killing up to 650 Iraqis in the fiercest fighting so far.

A blizzard of dust meanwhile kept a fleet of helicopters out of action for the second day.

Aid trickled into Iraq today, with Kuwait sending food to the border port of Umm Qasr and trucks braving a dangerous trip across the west to get medicines to Baghdad.

In Basra, Red Cross workers managed to get the water supply partially working again as they strove to avert a crisis for two million people trapped in the city.

On Tuesday, the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, said the U.S. was legally responsible for providing relief aid.

AP, Reuters, AFP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page

Stories in this Section

Elite Iraqi troops to take on Marines

War update

Haren Pandya shot dead

Sachin, Amitabh in Billionaires Club

'Prithvi' test-fired

Jammu blast kills 1

HC rejects extension to excavation