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20 insurgents killed in fighting at Mosul

May-18-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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The Associated Press

BAGHDAD -- U.S. troops backed by attack helicopters clashed with militants in a Mosul neighborhood Tuesday, killing 20, the military and Iraqi officials said. In Baghdad, gunmen killed a Shiite Muslim cleric, and two missing Sunni clerics were found shot dead, police said. [...]

On Tuesday, U.S. troops and militants clashed in the northern city of Mosul, and heavy exchanges of machine-gun fire were heard, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

U.S. forces were seen advancing into the eastern neighborhood of Dhubbat, a known insurgent stronghold in Iraq's third-largest city, which is 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. The city has suffered well-organized attacks by insurgents and dozens of deadly car bombs in past months.

U.S. military spokesman Sgt. John Franzen said American troops were investigating reports that a homemade bomb was planted in the area when they came under fire from militants.

"Forces were attacked and called in helicopters to support them in the battle with insurgents," Franzen said. He added that U.S. soldiers reported minimal damage to the two buildings and found no injured or dead insurgents.

But Lt. Gen. Ahmad Mohammed Khalaf, commander of Mosul's police forces, told a news conference later that U.S. aircraft destroyed two homes where the militants were holed up, killing 20.

He said U.S. soldiers fought 80 militants who had fled to Mosul from Qaim, a town near the Syrian border that was the scene of a recent weeklong U.S. military operation aimed at destroying supporters of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.


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