U.S. troops clash with insurgents in Ramadi

updated 10:24 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops battled insurgents in fierce fighting that killed at least 12 people in the volatile Sunni city of Ramadi, the military said Thursday. Iraqi authorities said the dead included women and children.

The six-hour firefight began after the U.S. troops were attacked by insurgents with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades Wednesday evening in eastern Ramadi, said Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Shawn Mercer.

The fighting ended after “precision guided munitions” damaged a number of buildings being used by the insurgents, he said. Twelve insurgents were killed and three were wounded, he said, adding that there were no civilian casualties.

However, Dr. Hafidh Ibrahim of the Ramadi Hospital said 26 people, including four women and children, were killed when three houses were damaged in the fighting.

Photographs made available to The Associated Press showed the bodies of two small boys wrapped in one blanket, one with a bloody face, the other ashen and with mud on his mouth, his hands crossed on his chest. Other photos showed four or five bodies covered by blankets, and several men pulling at a pile of rubble and concrete bricks outside, apparently the wreckage of one of the destroyed houses.

Ramadi, the provincial capital of the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar, has seen some of the bloodiest street battles of the war.

U.S. and Iraqi authorities, meanwhile, vowed to fight back after so-called “dirty” chemical attacks signaled a change in insurgent tactics.

Chlorine bombs called tools of terror
Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, the chief U.S. military spokesman, said a raid on five buildings near Fallujah uncovered three vehicle bombs that were being assembled with about 65 propane tanks and “all kinds of ordinary chemicals.” He added that he believed the insurgents were going to try to mix the chemicals with explosives.

“What we are seeing is a change in the tactics, but their strategy has not changed. And that’s to create high-profile attacks to instill fear and division amongst the Iraqi people,” he told CNN. “It’s a real crude attempt to raise the terror level by taking and mixing ordinary chemicals with explosive devices, trying to instill that fear within the Iraqi people.”

But he suggested the strategy was backfiring by turning public opinion against the insurgents, saying the number of tips provided by Iraqis had doubled in the last six months.

Thursday’s raid came a day after insurgents blew up a truck carrying chlorine gas canisters, killing five people and sending more than 55 to hospitals gasping for breath and rubbing stinging eyes.

Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman, said the investigation into the attack was still under way.

“But what is obvious to us that the terrorists are adopting new tactics to cause panic and as many casualties as they can among civilians. But our plans also are always changeable and flexible to face the enemies’ new tactics.”

On Tuesday, a bomb planted on a chlorine tanker left more than 150 villagers stricken north of the capital. More than 60 were still under medical care on Wednesday.

Chlorine causes respiratory trouble and skin irritation in low levels and possible death with heavy exposure.

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