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Troops Finding Scores of Bodies of Slain Iraqis

Nov-26-2004 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 26 - American troops have discovered 32 bodies here in the past two days, the latest sign that insurgents in the north are increasingly focusing their efforts on killing and terrorizing vulnerable Iraqis, especially those working with American forces.

Seventeen bodies were found Friday, after 15 were discovered Thursday, according to a military spokesman here. In the past eight days at least 65 bodies have been found, and one American commander says more than 20 have been confirmed as members of the new Iraqi security forces.

No identification has been made of the newest bodies or whether they were Iraqi soldiers or national guardsmen, said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Paul Hastings. But he called the new killings part of the insurgents' "campaign of fear, intimidation and murder, and doing whatever they can to disrupt operations here." [...]

In recent weeks, insurgents in Mosul have had little luck attacking American troops head on, as their rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and roadside bombs typically do little damage to the 19-ton Stryker light armored vehicles that the Americans have been using in the city.

Instead, the insurgents have settled on a gruesome alternative intended to destabilize and terrorize, focusing their efforts against the one thing Americans have counted on as the linchpin of an exit strategy from the country: the new Iraqi security forces.

The insurgents are picking their fights carefully while taking refuge, commanders believe, in places like Old Mosul, an ancient district in the city center. Its narrow, twisting streets and alleyways make it a perfect place for insurgents to stage hit-and-run strikes and then blend in among the district's 500,000 residents, all packed into a single square mile.

Insurgents are abducting Iraqi troops at taxi stands as they return from leave and seek transportation to bases in northern Iraq, the commanders say. And infiltration of the new security forces remains a major concern. Three Iraqi soldiers were recently detained for collaboration with insurgents; one was caught at an illegal checkpoint helping insurgents identify others in his unit. [...]

The insurgents "have learned that if they go head to head with us, they'll lose big time," said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the commander of a battalion that oversees much of western Mosul. "Instead they are going after the Iraqi security forces."

In one battle on Nov. 11, he said, about 40 insurgents from a force of 60 or 70 were killed by American troops.

By contrast, insurgent attacks on American Stryker convoys have been ineffective. Since last month, convoys from Colonel Kurilla's battalion have been hit with 20 rocket-propelled grenades and 9 powerful bombs - all "without loss of life, limb or eyesight," he said.


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