August 03, 2005

Marine Snipers Attacked; Ansar al-Sunnah Claims to Hold One Marine Hostage

Other than the 14 U.S. Marines and one civilian translator who were killed by a powerful roadside bomb in Western Iraq, covered by Mac here, six U.S. Marine snipers were ambushed and killed yesterday by terrorists.

Five of the snipers died Monday during an insurgent attack on a patrol outside Haditha, according to a Marine Corps news release. The body of a sixth was discovered later a few miles away. All were killed by small-arms fire, the Marines said.

Pentagon officials in Washington said the men were members of Marine sniper teams operating in the Haditha area.

Truly a sad occurence, but how do snipers get caght off guard and killed? According to a Marine on the ground at the time, all was quiet until a small round of small arms fire alerted Marines on the ground. When they made it up to the snipers nest, five Marines were found. In other words, the enemy snuck up and killed the snipers. Were they tipped off by a member of the Iraqi National Guard of the whereabouts of the snipers?

It is extremely plausible such a tip may have happened. One of the primary concerns of the United States military and the ING is that terrorist and/or insurgent moles have been recruited and joined the ranks of the Iraq military. Snipers do not just get found because they are trained to hide their position.

The Army of Ansar al-Sunnah has claimed responsibility for killing five of the Marine snipers and states they are holding the sixth hostage.

The group's Web site Wednesday posted still photographs showing a bloody, badly wounded body wearing Marine camouflage trousers and two hooded gunmen standing in front of several rifles. Masked gunmen had shown up in the Haditha public market Monday afternoon displaying helmets, flak jackets and other equipment they said was taken from the bodies of the dead Marines.

I have not found the new URL to Ansar al-Sunnah's web site as of yet, but I will continue to search for it. Of course the body of the sixth sniper was found one mile from the original ambush site. Ansar al-Sunnah also states they beheaded five of the snipers, though as with is always the case with Ansar al-Sunnah in particular, the truth is usually far from what they claim.

SITE reports Ansar al-Sunnah released a communique saying they killed eight Marines and are holding one hostage. There is no other news concerning two other Marine deaths in Haditha.

On the positive side of things, Iraqi authorities announced the capture of an Ansar al-Sunnah leader, Majid Mohammed Ahmeen, who was the group's commander in Diyala province.

Update:
I have not found Ansar al-Sunnah's site yet, but Vlad has found a video made (August 4 entry). The video clearly shows jihadis firing mortar rounds, what else is new, and then what appears to be a dead Marine. Sniper rifles are then shown and a pair of dogtags. The assault though is not shown nor is the Marine they are supposedly holding hostage. You would think if they had a Marine held hostage they would show video of him.

Warning: The images are gruesome.

Cross-posted at In the Bullpen