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Iraqis Launch Counterattack in Baghdad

Tuesday, April 8, 2003
(10:42 AM ET)
By Chris Tomlinson & Hamza Hendawi
Associated Press Writers

Perkins said about 500 Iraqi forces took part in the counterattack. They were a combination of special Republican Guard, Fedayeen and Baath Party loyalists -- "a lot of civilian-dressed fighters," he said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- AP
Iraqi forces staged a major counterattack Tuesday morning, sending buses and trucks full of fighters across the Tigris River in an attempt to overrun U.S. forces holding a strategic intersection on the western side of Baghdad.

At least 50 Iraqi fighters were killed, said Capt. Philip Wolford of Marysville, Ohio, a company commander with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Two U.S. soldiers were reported wounded, one seriously, by snipers on rooftops.

U.S. troops strafed the Iraqis from A-10 Warthog attack planes and opened up with artillery and mortar fire. About an hour after the firefight began, Wolford moved his tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles forward again and retook the intersection.

Wolford's unit then began pursuing the remaining Iraqi defenders.

Col. David Perkins of the 3rd Infantry said the Iraqis were using bridges from the eastern side of the city that U.S. troops did not want to destroy. That led to a bigger fight than what would have been seen if the troops blew the bridges up, Perkins said.
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2003 © The Associated Press

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