IRAQ-CONFLICT: US troops attack northern Islamic group

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is from the Qatar News Agency (QNA)

DOHA, Mar 22 2003 (IPS) - US forces attacked the militant Ansar el Islam group in northern Iraq, near the Iranian border, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera television reported Saturday.

An Ansar spokesman told the broadcaster there were dozens dead and injured.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad a military spokesman charged that US and British forces were trying to lure Iraq’s defense forces into the desert for secondary battles, but added military leaders would not reach for the bait.

US military strategy anticipates that British and US forces advancing with speed northwards from the Kuwaiti border are likely to encounter the first serious resistance from the elite Republican Guard defending Baghdad.

Baghdad’s military leaders also disputed details about the type of missiles Iraq had fired on Kuwait, saying they were short-range al-Samoud and al-Fatah rockets.