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Russia Suffers First Casualties in Iraq War

Monday, April 7, 2003
(12:17 PM)
Gazeta.RU
Combined Report

"Initial field reports reveal that no coalition forces were operating in the area of the incident," US Central Command in Qatar said in a statement. "Based on the reported location, the incident is believed to have taken place in territory controlled by the Iraqi regime. The inquiry into this incident is continuing and more details will be made available as soon as possible."

Gazeta.RU
A convoy of Russian diplomats and journalists came under fire on Sunday while evacuating Baghdad in an incident that is likely to cast a shadow over US national security adviser Condoleeza Rice’s visit to Moscow, where she is meeting Russia’s top foreign and defence officials. At least five people were wounded in the attack.

Russia, one of the last countries to keep its embassy in Baghdad open, declared that it had decided to pull out most of its diplomats from Iraq on Saturday, as US troops were closing in on the Iraqi capital. A convoy carrying a total of 23 people, including 12 officials – the Russian ambassador to Iraq Vladimir Titorenko among them, as well as journalists from three national TV networks, set out from Baghdad at 1130 on Sunday, heading for Syria, where they were supposed to be picked up by an Emergencies Ministry plane that would bring them home to Moscow.

US and Iraqi officials had been warned of the convoy’s route, Russian officials said on Sunday. However, despite the Iraqi side’s assurances that a safe corridor would be provided for Russian diplomats to leave the besieged city safely, the convoy came under fire, resulting in at least 5 people being injured, Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Alexander Yakovenko reported, adding that the ambassador himself was only slightly hurt. ''The ambassador was not badly wounded, but he has grazes,'' Yakovenko said.

A correspondent of state-run Rossia TV Alexander Minakov who was in the convoy said they encountered "terrible, fierce shooting" and stopped for an hour, when some of the injured were treated. Minakov suggested that the convoy was caught in crossfire between US and Iraqi forces. However, the US army said it had no troops in the Baghdad suburb where the incident took place and denied any involvement.
(More: Gazeta.RU)
2003 © Gazeta.RU

Minakov also recounted, speaking on the phone to his colleagues on Rossia TV, that the convoy later approached US armoured vehicles, which ignored their requests for medical assistance. "They came within 50 (170 ft) to 70 (230 ft) metres of us... We came out of our cars and started waving white cloths to attract attention and ask for medical help. But no one stopped. The column passed by us for 40 minutes."

Must be some more of that "unbiased reporting" Shuisky went on about. Minakov seems to need to find some fault with the U.S. -- at any cost. Now, anyone who confuses a white flag as a sign requesting medical aid, rather than a sign showing surrender, in a time of war, and in a combat zone, is an idiot -- and to be pissed that a military convoy on an obvious combat approach maneuver to Baghdad did not stop to chat simply reenforces the idiotic-appearance.

Wish I had that wedge of cheese to go with Minakov's whine,
Dan (not a new story, but a different look)