Fighting and counterinsurgency operations continue in the restive city
As negotiations to form the Iraqi government proceed, Coalition and insurgent forces continue to battle over the contested city of Ramadi. The
No Marines were reported killed in the fighting, and the number of insurgents killed is unknown. A reader from Holland (Niels) emaiedl and said a Dutch news source indicated fifty insurgents were killed during the counterattack [translation from Niels]:
“The US Marine Corpse announced that their troops in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, repelled an attack on the office of the governor of Anbar province. Insurgents attacked the building which was protected by sandbags and marines, from various directions. The marines haven’t counted body’s yet. But a spokesman said perhaps 50 insurgents have been killed in the counterattack, from which marines got air support.”
The provincial government headquarters sits directly on Route Michigan, perhaps the most dangerous stretch of road in Iraq, and is the symbol of power in Anbar.
Insurgents have conducted false propaganda operations in the past, such as the incident in early December where the Associated Press reported a fake uprising based on stringers, so the possibility exists this report is false as well.
While we wait for further word from the heart of Ramadi, Coalition and Iraq troops conducted another operation, Bastogne, in the Julayba area which lies east of Ramadi. Bastogne is the second counterinsurgency operation conducted in the Julayba region in the past several weeks, as Normandy was conducted at the end of March. Bastogne is a joint U.S. and Iraqi operation, conducted by Iraqi Army Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division “
