Fighting in Diwaniyah, M1 tank “severely damaged”
US-Iraqi troops kill 30 in battle with Shiite militia
US and Iraqi forces have killed 30 militia fighters during a fierce street battle in the southern city of Diwaniyah in which a US main battle tank was severely damaged. The fighting erupted amid attacks around the country, which is in the grip of a bloody sectarian conflict that kills around 100 people daily, and one day after police found the corpses of 51 murder victims in Baghdad.
Gunbattles broke out in Diwaniyah after a joint Iraqi and US force tried to arrest a local Shiite militia leader accused of slaughtering Iraqi soldiers during a previous clash in August, officials said Sunday. A US tank was disabled by a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) during the clashes, but the snatch squad returned and seized their suspect, identified by Iraqi sources as a local leader of the Mahdi Army militia.
The damage to the tank was mentioned in an official statement. Not good. It takes a lot to take out an Abrams tank. I don’t want to think about what such a “barrage of RPGs” would be like.
More bad news — the WaPo reports casualties (wounded) are as bad as they have been since 2004.
Battle of Diwaniyah
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