April 11 —
Coalition forces struggled to control widespread looting in
Baghdad and the rest of Iraq on Friday after claiming a final
northern enclave loyal to Saddam Hussein. Only one other city
remained to be taken: Saddam's hometown Tikrit.
Here's a summary of reports about units in those positions,
followed by other battlefield developments. The reports are culled
from official assessments and from journalists of The Associated
Press and member news organizations traveling with American units in
Iraq.
IN AND AROUND BAGHDAD
Three adults were killed and a 5-year-old girl wounded when an
American Marine opened fire on a car that failed to stop at a
checkpoint. Among the dead were the child's parents, according to an
Associated Press Broadcast News reporter who witnessed the
confrontation.
Lawlessness continued. Increasingly, U.S. troops in the capital
worked to restore order, although pockets of resistance and suicide
bombers remained constant threats.
In the city's Karadah neighborhood, about a mile southeast of
central Baghdad, residents armed with Kalashnivkovs set up
roadblocks to stop looters and confiscate stolen goods.
Both Iraqis and the Red Cross asked U.S. troops to help stop
looting. The latest targets included a nursing college and an
engineering college. The ministries of Education, Industry, Trade
and Planning also were looted and set afire.
Top commanders of the 1st Marine Division held the first of what
is expected to be a series of daily meetings with representatives of
humanitarian organizations and local officials. The session was part
of an effort to restore the city's utilities, services and
infrastructure.
NORTH
Mosul, Iraq's third largest city and the last northern enclave
outside Kurdish and American control, fell when an entire Iraqi Army
Corps disappeared.
Thousands of young men left their military positions, dropped
their weapons and headed south toward Baghdad and home.
Chaos ruled Mosul's streets afterward, with banks ransacked and
ambulances hijacked at gunpoint. When U.S. forces arrived, some
people shouted: "Why are you late!?"
Lt. Col. Robert Waltemeyer, commander of special forces in the
area, announced an overnight curfew and said U.S. forces would
tolerate no looting or reprisals, but he also told local tribal and
clan leaders he needed their help.
Mosul's fall left Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, as the only major
population center not under control of American-led forces.
Warplanes have bombed Tikrit for days and U.S. commanders had
prepared for stiff resistance in the coming battle for that city.
But Central Command said Republican Guard and other Iraqi troops
regrouping there have been battered by U.S. airstrikes and don't
present an effective fighting force
Elsewhere in the north, two battalions of the 173rd Airborne
Brigade entered Kirkuk a day after Kurds and U.S. special operations
took the oil-rich area. Paratroopers were sent to lock down the oil
infrastructure and to secure the airfield.
TO THE WEST AND SOUTH
U.S. warplanes fired six satellite-guided bombs at an
intelligence building in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, in a
pre-dawn attack targeting Saddam's half brother and close
adviser.
Further west, U.S. special operations forces maintained
roadblocks along border crossings to Syria, under orders to prevent
regime members from fleeing Iraq.
To the south in Basra, British pool reports said five Iraqi bank
robbers were shot and killed Thursday by British forces after the
looters fired on members of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
One British soldier was shot in the stomach. He was taken to a
field hospital.
photo credit
and caption:
Soldiers from the Third Infantry
Division rest inside their Bradleys at Saddam International
Airport in Baghdad on Friday, April 11, 2003. (AP
Photo/Jean-Marc Bouju)
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