U.S. Forces Fire Missiles at Mosque in Fallujah
Attack Approved After Five Marines Shot From the Mosque
washingtonpost.com
FALLUJAH, April 7--U.S. forces fired missiles at a mosque in this flashpoint city Wednesday after taking several hours of fire from insurgents who were using it as cover to attack Marines advancing through the city.
Five Marines had been shot from the mosque before commanders authorized the use of air power and laser-guided missiles against it, Marines said at the scene. They had rejected the air attack several times, according to Marine officers and radio communications monitored from a command post by a Washington Post reporter.
"We've got to be careful," said one officer receiving a request for air support from the Marines around the mosque.
"We have some bad folks dug in," came the response. "They're creating a problem for us. What should we do? We need backup."
"We need regimental approval," came the reply.
Not long afterwards, a spokesman at the command post said the air support was authorized. A spokesman said the missiles were fired from a helicopter and a jet.
Neither the number of people inside at the time nor the number injured in the air strike could be determined. Reports from news agencies that at least two dozen people had been killed could not be immediately confirmed.
At least three missiles were fired from a helicopter at the mosque compound, news agencies reported. Part of a wall surrounding the Abdul-Aziz Samarrai mosque was demolished, although the mosque building was not damaged, the Associated Press reported, and cars ferried bodies from the scene. The offices of an organization of Sunni clerics next door was also lightly damaged, AP said.
The mosque was one of two that insurgents had used during fighting Wednesday in this city, 35 miles west of Baghdad, where four American security contractors were killed and the bodies of two of them mutilated a week ago. The Marines managed to clear the second mosque without air power. |
