Jonathan Foreman

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BLOODY ROAD TO NASIRIYAH - 10 MARINES SLAIN AS AMERICANS SEIZE KEY CITY
By JONATHAN FOREMAN with the V Corps on the Baghdad Highway, Niles
Lathem in D.C. and John Lehmann in New York
March 24, 2003

U.S. forces faced the fiercest fight of their desert march to Baghdad yesterday when Saddam Hussein's loyalists inflicted more than 60 causalities during ambush attacks before Marines wrested control of the southern city of Nasiriyah.

The intense fighting, led by hard-core soldiers of Saddam's Republican Guard - backed by guerrillas wearing civilian clothing - was described by a U.S. commander as the "sharpest engagement of the war thus far."

"It was a tough day of fighting for the coalition," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said at the command center in Qatar, after allied forces seized control of the strategically important city, a major crossing point of the Euphrates River.

As many as 10 Marines were killed during one ambush in Nasiriyah - staged when Iraqi fighters deceptively waved a white surrender flag.

As the forces prepared to accept the surrendering forces, they were hit with artillery fire from the treacherous foes.

Army Lt. Gen. John Abizaid said the dirty tactics by "chaotic elements left behind" the front lines posed a new threat to soldiers, but would not compromise the success of the allies' mission to liberate Iraq.

"The Marines were successful," Abizaid said. "They defeated the enemy." At least eight Iraqi tanks, along with several anti-aircraft batteries, were blown apart as the Marines dug in.

In another bloody confrontation, 12 soldiers were declared missing after the driver of a U.S. Army supply convoy took a wrong turn while trailing allied forces fighting to secure bridges over the Euphrates. At least five of them were believed to be held captive.

Commanders believe the soldiers who were captured after the convoy took a wrong turn through the village of Souq al-Shuyukh were in "the custody of the irregular forces" that ambushed them.

The Iraqis destroyed six coalition vehicles before Marines swooped in. Footage of some of the missing soldiers, who were from the 507th Maintenance Company, based in Fort Bliss, Texas, was played on the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera - a breach of the Geneva Convention.

In the five-hour battle at Nasiriyah, at least 50 soldiers were reported wounded as they battled block by block to seize control of the city, which has a population of 300,000.

As the battle raged around Nasiriyah, two American divisions drove further north at lightning pace, one of them coming to within 100 miles of Baghdad in preparation for a two-pronged "pincer" assault.

In what U.S. commanders hailed as "an incredible logistical accomplishment," soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division moved 230 miles in 40 hours to take positions less than a day's journey from Saddam's lair in Baghdad.

The brigade, racing day and night across rugged desert in more than 70 tanks and 60 Bradley fighting vehicles, killed scores of Iraqi militiamen who engaged them with machine guns.

The U.S. Marines' First Division is charging up the Tigris River to the northwest of the 3rd Infantry Division after spearheading the assault on targets at the port city of Basra Saturday.

In addition to the two divisions, Defense Department officials said units of U.S. Special Operations forces were so close to Baghdad, "they can see the lights of the city."

But U.S. commanders warned they expect fierce fighting as they move closer to the metropolitan Baghdad area. Six Republican Guard divisions are waiting outside the capital, and a seventh - the Special Republican Guards - has dug in near the central city.

"We must remain prepared for potentially tough fights as we move forward," Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal told a Pentagon briefing. "There's a long way to go."

In the desert near the Shiite holy city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, U.S. forces fought a seven-hour battle against militiamen desperately trying to halt their advance.

"It wasn't even a fair fight. I don't know why they don't just surrender," said Col. Mark Hildenbrand, commander of the 937th Engineer Group. "When you're playing soccer at home, 3-2 is a fair score, but here, it's more like 119-0."

As wave after wave of attack helicopters swarmed over Samawa, south of Najaf, Iraqi women and children cheered as convoys from the 54th Engineers Battalion passed behind.

In the southeastern port city of Umm Qasr, U.S. and British forces used planes and tanks to dislodge at least 120 Republican Guards. As night fell, U.S. soldiers were still using machine guns, artillery and
mortars in an attempt to flush out another group of Iraqi fighters from ahideout.

Near Basra in the south, where allied forces have captured the city's airport and a key bridge, Marines saw hundreds of Iraqi men - apparently soldiers who had taken off their uniforms - walking along a highway past burned-out Iraqi tanks. Each carried a bundle on his back.

Earlier yesterday, U.S. military forces moved into northern Iraq, landing at airfields near Irbil and Sulamaniyah, facilities recently improved by the United States, American and Turkish officials said.