The
True Story Of The Battle
Of Samarra
By Phil Reeves
The
Independent
06 December 2003
Nearly a week has elapsed since the American
military issued the startling claim - puzzling even some within its
own ranks - that its troops killed 54 guerrillas during running gunfights
in the Sunni town of Samarra.
Official versions
described how dozens of Fedayeen guerrillas wearing red or black chequered
headscarves and dark shirts and trousers attacked troops in the bloodiest
engagement since the US-led occupation of Iraq last April - and lost.
Repeated visits
to the scene, interviews with Iraqi civilians and US soldiers, and close
inspection of the battle damage by scores of correspondents have failed
to eliminate several troubling and crucial questions. Where are the
bodies? Did they exist? Or was this death toll - as some suspect - a
fabrication which was intended to generate positive headlines for the
US, after a disastrous weekend in which guerrilla attacks killed 14
foreigners, including seven Spanish intelligence officers?
All occupying armies
lie, and so do their opponents. But Iraq is particularly perilous territory,
given that so many millions of people believe the invasion was launched
on the false pretext that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of weapons of
mass destruction.
Samarra is a small,
angry pocket of resistance on the banks of the Tigris. And it smouldered
anew yesterday as two Apache helicopters circled only a few score feet
above the rooftops, not far from the gold dome of the Ali al-Hadi Shia
shrine, just minutes before Friday prayers. People were infuriated by
an incident a few hours earlier in which an elderly shopkeeper, Abdel
Rasul Saleh al-Abassi, was shot on his rooftop. His relatives say he
was shot by a US sniper while trying to repair a water tank.
Accounts of last
week's battle differ, sometimes alarmingly. But on one issue, they have
remained adamant: only eight people were killed in Samarra, although
55 were injured as the US army sprayed the place with gunfire.
"If 54 people
were killed here we would know. This is a very tribal society, in which
everyone in the area knows everyone else," Yahir Mahmoud al-Abassi,
a businessman, said. "It just did not happen. It's impossible."
The people of Samarra
are not alone in their scepticism. A senior official from the occupation
authorities in Baghdad said, with evident exasperation: "We said
this would happen ... it isn't right."
There is no doubt
that two US convoys came under attack on Sunday morning as they were
arriving to deliver new Iraqi dinars to two banks, the al-Rashid in
Babel Kabla Street and its other branch opposite the al-Risala mosque
in Bank Street. Surrounding buildings in both areas - which are about
half a mile apart - bear the scars of fierce gunfights.
The US says troops
of the 4th Infantry Division entered Samarra at about 11am, with a force
of some 100 soldiers, six tanks, four Bradley fighting vehicles and
four Humvees.
With them were two
squads of military police and four squads of infantry. The convoys entered
town at opposite ends, and both were attacked with roadside bombs. The
attacks seem to have been well-planned.
Both the US military
and Iraqi residents agree that the ensuing battles lasted for several
hours. The guerrillas used small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and
mortars; the US army fired their 120mm cannon on the Abrams tanks, 25mm
machine-guns mounted on their Bradley fighting vehicles and armoured
Humvees, and their own personal arms - M-16 rifles and pistols. As running
battles spread through the town, some of the shooting was random.
At about 1.30pm
Falah Hamid Salman, 48, a clerk, was in the front office of the Samarra
Drugs Factory when a mortar shell landed near the front gates. Workers
were queuing near by for a shift change. Amira Mahdi Saleh, an employee
in her mid-thirties, was killed.
Mr Salman said bullets
from passing US armoured vehicles smashed into the reception area. It
bears the marks of at least five machine-gun bullets. Other mortar shells
landed further inside the premises, injuring Hossam Shakir al-Douri,
25, who later died.
As the fighting
flowed back and forth through the town, with guerrillas darting through
the alleys, Abdullah Amin al-Kurdi was mown down outside a small mosque
in front of the local hospital. His 10-year-old son, who was with him,
survived with leg and stomach injuries. Another man, Raid Ali Fadhel,
also died there.
Not far away Salem
Mohammed al-Rahmani, a businessman, was inspecting his premises just
a few yards from the Shia mosque when the US forces swept in and - he
says - posted snipers on the roof. This was the scene of one of the
ambushed bank deliveries. A firefight erupted, which injured Gazal Jado'a
al-Bazi and killed Fatah Allah Hijazi, a 71-year-old Iranian pilgrim.
What happened in
Samarra was a battle - and a big one at that. But the evidence suggests
that the victims were mostly civilians, not guerrillas, and that their
numbers were far fewer than US officials have said.
The US army is increasingly
sensitive on the subject. Lt-Col George Krivo angrily accosted The Independent
on Wednesday. "I can tell you one thing - we trust our soldiers!"
he said, half-shouting.