BAGHDAD, 11 April 2003 — US Marines fought a fierce four-hour battle yesterday at a Baghdad mosque where senior Iraqi leaders had been thought to be holed up.
Fighting was also reported near an oil refinery in southwestern Baghdad. Reuters cameraman Ahmed Bahaddou saw US troops collecting 21 bodies, apparently Iraqi soldiers and civilians, on a road leading toward the international airport.
US military officials said one Marine was killed and more than 30 wounded north of the city center in the battle around the Imam Al-Adham Mosque and a nearby palace.
“We had information that a group of regime leadership was attempting to organize ... a meeting. The fighting in and around the mosque complex could not be avoided as enemy forces were firing from the area of the mosque,” said Capt. Frank Thorp at US Central Command in Qatar.
At Baghdad international airport, Maj. Rod Legowski of the 1st Marine Division said he could not confirm whether Saddam Hussein had been in the area during the battle but that the Marines were aiming at targets of “significant military value”.
“The mission was successful,” he said, adding that fighting lasted more than four hours, with Marines coming under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and AK-47 assault rifles.
Legowski said the fighting was over but that the Marines were “still clearing the mess up”.
