.U.S., Iraqi Forces Fight Ramadi Insurgents
RAMADI, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi forces fought an hour-long gunbattle with insurgents Saturday in this city west of the Iraqi capital, firing automatic weapons from rooftops at small guerrilla teams maneuvering around them in alleyways and an abandoned fairground.
U.S. commanders said four insurgents were killed and two Iraqi soldiers wounded in the gunfight in eastern Ramadi - one shot through the calf and evacuated by U.S. medics, another with a minor facial wound.
As Iraqi forces swept through houses, troops from the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment entered several residential buildings, climbing to rooftops to secure the rest of the patrol.
With families of men and women huddling in rooms downstairs, U.S. gunners firing light machine guns picked off several gunmen firing at their positions.
U.S. Lt. Brett Blalock, 30, of Fernandina Beach, Fla., said four insurgents were believed killed. The body of one gunman in a white robe lay in a street beside a red trash bin.
As U.S. and Iraqi troops withdrew from the area on foot, insurgents maneuvered around them. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers provided covering fire as their colleagues ran down roads as bullets whisked overhead and ricocheted off houses.
After the Americans reached a U.S. observation post, a mortar round exploded several hundred yards away, sending a plume of gray smoke up into the air.
Gunfights between U.S. forces and insurgents occur frequently in Ramadi, a city of about 400,000 people about 70 miles west of Baghdad. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, a center of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency that includes cities such as Fallujah and Qaim.
MyWay
U.S. commanders said four insurgents were killed and two Iraqi soldiers wounded in the gunfight in eastern Ramadi - one shot through the calf and evacuated by U.S. medics, another with a minor facial wound.
As Iraqi forces swept through houses, troops from the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment entered several residential buildings, climbing to rooftops to secure the rest of the patrol.
With families of men and women huddling in rooms downstairs, U.S. gunners firing light machine guns picked off several gunmen firing at their positions.
U.S. Lt. Brett Blalock, 30, of Fernandina Beach, Fla., said four insurgents were believed killed. The body of one gunman in a white robe lay in a street beside a red trash bin.
As U.S. and Iraqi troops withdrew from the area on foot, insurgents maneuvered around them. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers provided covering fire as their colleagues ran down roads as bullets whisked overhead and ricocheted off houses.
After the Americans reached a U.S. observation post, a mortar round exploded several hundred yards away, sending a plume of gray smoke up into the air.
Gunfights between U.S. forces and insurgents occur frequently in Ramadi, a city of about 400,000 people about 70 miles west of Baghdad. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, a center of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency that includes cities such as Fallujah and Qaim.
MyWay
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