.contact us |.about us
    News > International News ... ...
    Search:
        Advertisement
    U.S. jets pound Iraqi insurgent targets
    ( 2003-11-19 09:00) (AP)

    U.S. jets blasted suspected hideouts with 500-pound bombs in the military's biggest operation in central Iraq since the end of active combat. Later, troops rained mortar fire on Tikrit in a warning to insurgents accused of attacking U.S.-led troops.
    U.S. jets pound Iraqi insurgent targets
    In this image from the US Air Force made available Tuesday Nov. 18, 2003, a strategic target in Kirkuk, Iraq is obliterated during an air strike as part of Operation Ivy Cyclone, a combined-arms operation designed to root out and crush insurgents in Iraq Nov. 17, 2003.  [AP]
    Meanwhile, in Mosul, two more U.S. soldiers were wounded Tuesday by a roadside bomb, the U.S. military said. Officials also said an American civilian contractor had been killed a day earlier by a land mine near Baghdad.

    But a U.S. general claimed progress on another front — preventing foreign fighters from entering Iraq from neighboring nations to carry out attacks on American forces.

    "We are going to take the fight to the enemy using everything in our arsenal necessary to win this fight," Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr. said Tuesday.

    Military officials also confirmed Tuesday that a short-range missile launched two days earlier hit a house south of Tikrit owned by former Iraqi official Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, accused by the U.S. military of being behind many attacks against coalition forces.

    There was no indication anyone was inside at the time, a U.S. Defense Department official said on condition of anonymity.

    The U.S. air assault early Tuesday was centered around Baqouba, 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. U.S. jets and Apache helicopter gunships blasted abandoned buildings, walls and trees along a road where attacks have been so common that troops nicknamed it "RPG Alley" after the rocket-propelled grenades used by insurgents.

    U.S. jets pound Iraqi insurgent targets
    George W. Bush and Tony Blair will mount a defiant show of solidarity after the U.S. president flies to London on November 18, 2003 for his first visit to a major European capital since war in Iraq polarized the world. Tens of thousands of protesters have vowed to give the president his first taste of European anger at the war. [Reuters Graphic]
    Fighter-bombers dropped 500-pound bombs and battle tanks fired their 120mm guns at suspected ambush sites, the U.S. military said.

    Elsewhere, F-16 fighter aircraft Tuesday bombed insurgent targets near the town of Samara, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, the military said.

    Later Tuesday, U.S. troops fired mortars on areas in Tikrit used by suspected insurgents to launch mortar and rocket attacks against coalition forces, officials said.

    One group of Bradley fighting vehicles and armored personnel carrier fired 17 mortar rounds toward a bunker that was part of Saddam's former military defenses south of the town and an outlying farm to the north.

    The targets were uninhabited and the attacks were meant to scare insurgents from using them as platforms for assaults, said U.S. Lt. Colin Crow, who oversaw the mortar firing.

    "Basically, we're kind of claiming the ground that the enemy is using at us," he said. "They have to move further and further out."

    The stepped-up U.S. military operations followed an escalation in attacks over the past three weeks.

    The strategy appeared aimed at showing U.S. resolve as Washington prepares to hand over political power to a new Iraqi provisional government by the end of June, but risks further alienating an Iraqi population already chaffing under foreign military occupation.

    In Baghdad, Swannack told a news conference that the robust tactic "demonstrates our resolve."

    "We will use force, overwhelming combat power when it's necessary," he added.

    Swannack, whose troops patrol such hotspots as Fallujah, Ramadi and the borders with Syria and Saudi Arabia, said he believes most of the insurgents are Iraqis.

    "Ninety percent of the cases are from regime loyalists and (Iraqi) Wahhabis," he said. Wahhabis are members of a puritanical Islamic sect that dominates Saudi Arabia and has followers in Iraq.

    "We are not fighting foreign fighters coming across the border in significant numbers," Swannack said. "We are fighting mostly former regime locals."

    He said 13 foreign fighters were recently captured in Anbar Province, and seven were killed. He did not have their nationalities.

    Swannack said the decrease in foreign fighters crossing from Syria was due to a heavier U.S. troop deployment along the borders. He said the number of American troops in Anbar Province had increased threefold to 20,000 in the past two months.

    In a statement Tuesday, U.S. Army officials said paratroopers searched neighborhoods in Ramadi late Monday, detaining about a dozen people and seizing explosives and other materials for making roadside bombs.

    The statement said one man was arrested after troops found "jihad signup sheets" in his house. The man was suspected of financing and supervising the placement of roadside bombs around the city, officials said.

     
    Close  
       
      Today's Top News   Top International News
       
    +WHO: Bird flu death rises to 15; vaccination recommended
    (2004-02-05)
    +Solana: EU ready to lift China arms embargo
    (2004-02-05)
    +Nation tops TV, cell phone, monitor production
    (2004-02-05)
    +Absence ... still makes China hot
    (2004-02-05)
    +Hu: Developing world in key role
    (2004-02-04)
    +WHO: Bird flu death rises to 15; vaccination recommended
    (2004-02-05)
    +Solana: EU ready to lift China arms embargo
    (2004-02-05)
    +US court clears way for gay marriages
    (2004-02-05)
    +Pakistan nuke scientist asks forgiveness
    (2004-02-05)
    +Sharon ready for referendum on scrapping settlements
    (2004-02-05)
       
      Go to Another Section  
         
     
     
         
      Article Tools  
         
     
     
         
      Related Articles  
         
     

    +U.S. steps up offensive in Iraq
    2003-11-15

    +Italians wounded in Iraq make tearful homecoming
    2003-11-15

    +Bush unfazed by UK protests
    2003-11-15

    +Two U.S. helicopters down in Iraq, at least 17 dead
    2003-11-16

    +Bush and Blair agree Iraq exit plan to end occupation
    2003-11-16

    +Purported Saddam tape urges Iraqis to fight US
    2003-11-17

    +AP exclusive: Top Iraqi scientist flees
    2003-11-17

    +US strategy of 'Iraqification' controversial
    2003-11-17

    +Wide areas of Iraqi capital lose power
    2003-11-17

    +US strikes alleged Iraq training base
    2003-11-17

    +US says Saddam's deputy behind deadly attacks
    2003-11-18

    +Italian member of coalition in Iraq quits
    2003-11-18

    +American troops seek ex-Saddam deputy
    2003-11-18

    +Annan cautious about returning UN staff to Baghdad
    2003-11-18

       
            .contact us |.about us
      Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved  
    亚洲精品无码不卡在线播放HE| 久99久无码精品视频免费播放| 久久久久无码专区亚洲av| 日本一区二区三区不卡视频中文字幕| 国模GOGO无码人体啪啪| 无码国产精品一区二区免费式影视 | 亚洲精品中文字幕乱码三区| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区免费看 | 日韩精品无码一区二区中文字幕 | 日韩少妇无码喷潮系列一二三| 中文字幕AV中文字无码亚| 超清纯白嫩大学生无码网站| 亚洲AV永久无码区成人网站| 制服在线无码专区| 天堂网在线最新版www中文网| 亚洲精品无码成人片在线观看| 久久AV高清无码| 无码精品黑人一区二区三区| 中文字幕AV中文字无码亚| 人妻AV中出无码内射| 无码毛片AAA在线| 一级片无码中文字幕乱伦| 中文字幕一区二区三区5566| 亚洲精品乱码久久久久久中文字幕| 欧日韩国产无码专区| 蜜臀精品无码AV在线播放| 777久久精品一区二区三区无码 | 中文字幕无码精品亚洲资源网久久| 最近中文字幕高清中文字幕无| 无码人妻黑人中文字幕| 最近中文字幕大全免费版在线| 亚洲爆乳无码精品AAA片蜜桃| 无码乱码观看精品久久| 亚洲精品97久久中文字幕无码| 久久久精品人妻无码专区不卡| 久久久久久亚洲精品无码| 无码精品人妻一区二区三区AV| 乱人伦中文无码视频在线观看| 中文有无人妻vs无码人妻激烈| 日本中文字幕一区二区有码在线| 天堂资源8中文最新版|