September 14, 2005

Freedom Fighters Murder Child, Booby Trap Body in Tel Afar

Here are the Left's freedom fighters at work in Iraq. Who are we fighting in Iraq? Extremists who are working to create a Taliban-like state.

"When the terrorists took over the city," the commander of the Third Armored Cavalry Colonel H.R. McMasters said in a State Department briefing yesterday, "they replaced all the imams from the mosques with Islamic extremist laymen; replaced all teachers from the schools with people who "preached hatred and intolerance"; and kidnapped and murdered large numbers of people, "including a Sunni Turkmen imam and a city councilman who was shot about 30 times to the head in front of his family.

"The enemy here did just the most horrible things you can imagine," McMasters said, "in one case murdering a child, placing a booby trap within the child's body and waiting for the parent to come recover the body of their child and exploding it to kill the parents."

Because the local population had been so badly treated by the terrorists, and because Iraqi Army forces were integrated into operations, McMasters said, the civilians have given very good intelligence about the terrorists’ whereabouts and activities.

The main engagements in this fight happened from September 2 through September 6, McMasters said. With between 3,500 and 3,800 U.S. forces and 5,000 Iraqi troops taking part, 118 terrorists were killed and 137 captured, he said. U.S. losses were one killed and 11 wounded, most of whom have returned to action. Iraqi losses were eight killed and 19 wounded, he said.

At length the terrorists abandoned the fight and tried to escape by blending in with the local population, he said, but the Iraqi forces were very good at spotting them and the civilians pointed them out to the coalition. A further 104 of the enemy were captured in outlying areas surrounding Tall Afar on September 12, he said.

Source: State Department press release.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 12:46 PM | |