U.S. Fends Off Iraqi Counterattack Near Baghdad
Fri April 4, 2003 12:07 AM ET
NEAR BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops fighting for Baghdad airport fought off a counterattack by Iraqi tanks on Friday, destroying five tanks and a number of armed pickup trucks in a fierce firefight, a Reuters correspondent said.
Luke Baker, with units of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river some 12 miles southwest of the airport, saw a number of Iraqi vehicles mount what was effectively a suicidal charge on the Americans in an area that the U.S. forces had previously considered secure.
"The Bradley fighting vehicles opened up with heavy machineguns and TOW missiles and knocked out four T-72 tanks, a T-62 and a number of other vehicles," Baker said. "The tanks are smoldering and I can see several bodies lying around."
There was no report of U.S. casualties. U.S. officers said they estimated they had killed about 40 Iraqi fighters in the half-hour battle, which began just after 8 a.m. (11 p.m. EST Thursday).
U.S. troops and vehicles were streaming across a bridge toward the capital but other Iraqis were firing rocket-propelled grenades and mortars from the cover of buildings and date palm groves. U.S. soldiers were moving carefully, trying to kill them.
