www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

  .contact us |.about us
News > International News ... ...
Search:
    Advertisement
Mystery shrouds whereabouts of bodies of 54 insurgents said killed by US
( 2003-12-02 14:34) (Agencies)

The US military said it believed 54 insurgents were killed in intense exchanges in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra the previous day but commanders admitted they had no bodies.

The only corpses at the city's hospital were those of ordinary civilians, including two elderly Iranian pilgrims and a child.

US Brigadier General Mark Kimmit told a Baghdad press conference that 54 militants had been gunned down, 22 wounded and one arrested.

But challenged about what had happened to the bodies, Kimmit said: "I would suspect that the enemy would have carried them away and brought them back to where their initial base was."

Asked about reports from senior police and hospital officials in the town of eight civilians killed and dozens more wounded, the US general insisted: "We have no such reports whether from medical authorities or police.

A few hours earlier, Colonel Fredrick Rudesheim, who heads the 3rd Combat Brigades that was involved in Sunday's bloody clashes, told reporters that his troops had killed 46 and captured another 11.

"Are you asking me to produce (them)?" he asked, when questioned by reporters about the absence of any militants' bodies at Samarra's single hospital or on the city's streets.

"This is a good question and I think perhaps if you can interview the Fedayeen (a disbanded militia of Saddam Hussein's ousted regime) or whoever attacked us, you might get a better answer."

Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Gonsalves, who commands the 166th Armored Battalion in Samarra, also said his troops were not in possession of the bodies.

The death toll, he said, "is based on the reports we got from the ground."

Lieutenant Joseph Marcee, who took part in Sunday's combat, said he saw several of the attackers lying dead on the ground.

"There was no time to pick up the bodies. We were receiving fire from other locations," he said.

Sergeant Nicholas Mullen, who fired rounds from an Abrams tank Sunday, offered yet another explanation for the army's inability to locate the corpses. "We don't stick around," he said.

The mystery, which borders on solving a mathematics equation, further deepened with Gonsalves' report.

According to him, a total of 60 militants, divided into two groups, attacked two convoys escorting new Iraqi currency to banks in the city.

Another four assailants in a BMW attacked a separate engineering convoy.

If the US troops killed 46 and captured 11 of them, only three of the survivors would have been left to pick up the corpses.

On Kimmit's figures the calculus becomes even hazier -- with 54 killed, 22 wounded and one captured, 13 militants remain unaccounted for, although both commanders did say the cash convoys also came under attack on their way in and out of the city.

As to how the troops came up with their casualty figures, Rudesheim said it was by counting their weapons.

"We don't indiscriminately engage people, only those who engage us with AK 47s and RPGs. That's how we determine the number of people we are engaging and, after talking with each soldier, we can tell just how many people are returning fire at us."

Residents in Samarra said they had not seen any of the militants' bodies, 46 or 54.

The head of the local hospital, Abed Tawfiq, reported eight dead civilians but no insurgents.

Ambulance driver Abdelmoneim Mohammed said he had not ferried any combattants wounded or killed and wearing the black Fedayeen outfit which US soldiers said their assailants wore.

"If I had seen bodies, I would have picked them up. It's not like the Americans would have done it.

"If the death toll had reached that announced by the Americans, the atmosphere in Samarra would be quite different."

Salaheddin Mawlud, a colonel in the former Iraqi army, who now heads Samarra city council's complaints office, said the American toll does not work.

"If there had been so many dead, we would have seen people rushing to the hospital, the police station or here, and it just didn't happen."

Abdelrizek Jadwa, who owns a grocery 50 meters (yards) from the scene of one of the attacks, said he did not have the shadow of a doubt.

"After the firing, I went out of my shop. There were no wounded, no killed on the streets. Where could they have disappeared?"

 
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  
     
 

+54 Iraqis killed in Samarra battle
2003-12-02

+Poll: Most Iraqis distrustful of US-led coalition
2003-12-02

   
        .contact us |.about us
  Copyright By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved  
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产成人18黄网站免费网站 | 在线国产一区二区 | 欧美一区二区三区久久久人妖 | 日本免费一二区视频 | 2022日韩理论片在线观看 | 日韩精品免费一级视频 | 日p免费视频 | 成人性色大片 | 久久综合本色宗合一本色 | 亚洲综合国产一区二区三区 | 欧美成人看片一区二区三区尤物 | 91免费高清视频 | 欧美极品第1页专区 | 国产欧美日韩在线不卡第一页 | 美女黄网站人色视频免费国产 | 国产欧美日韩视频免费61794 | 九九视频免费在线观看 | 国模在线播放 | 久久国内精品自在自线400部o | 美女一级毛片毛片在线播放 | 97人摸人人澡人人人超一碰 | 欧美日韩另类视频 | 久久视频精品线视频在线网站 | 中国大陆一级毛片 | 老司机精品福利视频 | 日韩一区二区三区在线观看 | 亚洲小视频在线播放 | 久久国产精彩视频 | 欧美一级片免费观看 | 草草影院www色欧美极品 | h亚洲| 色婷婷色综合激情国产日韩 | 成人男女网18免费91 | 欧美国产日韩在线播放 | 国产特黄特色一级特色大片 | 欧美视频网站在线观看 | 免费的特黄特色大片在线观看 | 大狠狠大臿蕉香蕉大视频 | 男女午夜视频 | 日本一级毛片免费 | 千涩成人网 |