The US military says it has killed more than a hundred Iraqi insurgents in fighting in the city of Samarra. American and Iraqi forces began a major operation on Friday to defeat the Sunni resistance in Samarra.
1.10.2004 5:39•Updated 28.10.2008 18:21
About 5,000 US and Iraqi government troops attacked Samara, supported by tanks and air force. The troops occupied public buildings and police stations. By evening, according to the US and Iraqi governments, there were only scattered pockets of resistance in the city.
The US military said during the day that 109 rebels had been killed. According to a representative of the Iraqi interim government, 37 insurgents have also been arrested.
For its own losses, the United States says one killed and four wounded.
Iraqi hospital sources, on the other hand, talk about 80 dead and more than 100 wounded, among them civilians.
The operation is said to be a response to repeated attacks by insurgents. According to the USA’s estimate, north of Baghdad, the so-called A couple of thousand rebel fighters operate in the area of the city located in the Sunni triangle.
A journalist from the news channel CNN, which accompanied the attack, described the operation as “brigade-level” and said that the forces had taken over the city piece by piece.
The US air force and tanks also attacked Baghdad’s Sadr City on Friday to defeat the insurgents. The hospital in the area says that 12 Iraqis died and 11 were wounded in the attack.
Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC