Iraqi Resistance Report for events.....

Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Saturday, 19 March 2005.
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member editorial
board The Free Arab Voice. http://www.freearabvoice.org

NEWS ARCHIVE IS OPEN TO PUBLIC VIEW
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/

Saturday, 19 March 2005.
iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=43509

Ninwa Province.
Tall `Afar.

Fierce battle near of Tall `Afar midday Saturday.

In a dispatch posted at 1:25pm Saturday afternoon, the Mafkarat al-
Islam correspondent in Tall `Afar reported that fierce fighting was
then under way between the Resistance and US marines south of the
city.

The correspondent wrote that witnesses said that a detachment of an
estimated 100 Resistance fighters a short while before had encircled
a group of US Marines and swooped down on them from all sides.
Resistance fighters were using all the usual weapons in the attack,
such as light and medium-weight machine guns, pipe rockets, and
shoulder-fired missiles.

At the time of writing, the correspondent reported, the Resistance
had the Americans completely surrounded and were trying to wipe them
out, but the Marines put up such extremely heavy fire on the
Resistance attackers that the Resistance was forced to halt for
about 10 minutes to regroup and resume the assault.

The correspondent, who was in the vicinity of the fighting, reported
that at the moment he could see four US Marine vehicles that had
been totally destroyed. The Resistance, however, had been surprised
by the unprecedented strength of the American Marines' defense, but
that the balance still lay in favor of the Resistance at that time.

Resistance shoots down Black Hawk as Tall `Afar battle continues.

In a dispatch posted at 2:52pm Mecca time the Mafkarat al-Islam
correspondent in Tall `Afar reported that a short while earlier the
Resistance had shot down a US Black Hawk helicopter with ground
machine gunfire in the city. The correspondent said that he had no
information at that time as to the fate of the crew, but noted that
fighting was still under way. Since the earlier report, the
Resistance had in fact received reinforcements as Resistance
fighters flocked to the city to join the attack on a group of
surrounded Marines.

Resistance battles Marines until 3pm, killing a reported 40
Americans. US responds with murderous air strikes on civilian
neighborhoods of the city, killing more than 57 civilians.

In a dispatch posted at 7:30pm Mecca time Saturday night, Mafkarat
al-Islam reported from Tall `Afar that the fierce fighting that
raged earlier in the day between the Resistance and US Marines
lasted until 3pm local time. The Resistance inflicted heavy losses
on the American invaders. Meanwhile US aircraft carried out bombing
raids in on civilian houses where women and children were living in
an attempt to draw Resistance fighters away from the battle with the
Marines.

The American bombing took place around 2pm Saturday afternoon and
was an effort to try to draw the Resistance fighters away from the
battlefield towards the center of the city where they would fall
into what the Resistance fighters called an "death pocket ambush."

The correspondent reported that the Resistance exhausted the US
occupation troops, shot down one helicopter, destroyed more than
seven American tanks and five Humvees and killed more than 40 US
troops and wounded more than 20 others in a mountainous area known
for its rocky rough terrain west of Tall `Afar.

After determining that the Resistance would be finishing off the
remaining Marines whom they had surrounded and fought for hours, the
US command decided to bomb civilian houses in the center of the city
and three other houses in the south as a diversion.

US aircraft dropped leaflets on Iraqi Resistance forces fortified
behind high hills warning them of the consequences if they did not
withdraw. The punishment, it said, would be painful for them. The
Americans carried out their threat when they bombed 11 civilian
houses. The American air raids killed and wounded dozens of women,
children, and elderly persons Mafkarat al-Islam reported.

One of the Resistance commanders told the Mafkarat al-Islam
correspondent, "the occupation forces bombed out homes and families
to draw us back and get us to give up the battle." But the
Resistance did not withdraw, but continued to fight, bombarding the
US positions a full hour after the American air raids.

A Resistance source said that the Resistance fighters did not
withdraw from the battle even though they knew that their homes were
being bombed. They only withdrew after receiving the order to pull
back. The source noted that the Resistance lost only three men
martyred and four wounded in the battle, and the wounded are all in
good condition. The city was at that time holding funeral services
for the martyrs killed in the battle.

A medical source in Mosul Hospital said that more than 32 children
were killed in the American bombing and that the number was still on
the rise because many of the wounded were so badly injured that they
were not likely to survive. In addition to the children, 14 women
were killed by the US air raids, five of them pregnant at the time
of death. Eleven men, most of them in advanced years, were also
killed.

The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent reported that at the time of
reporting, US forces had surrounded and cut off all communications
from the area. The US troops had also shut off water, electricity,
and internet services from the area, and called out members of the
puppet police and puppet so-called "Iraqi national guard" from the
city to deploy in all the streets and between the neighborhoods.

For their part the puppet governor and mayor of the city of
Tall `Afar both tendered their resignations in protest against the
American bombing of civilian houses in the city.

In his dispatch the correspondent described the situation in the
city by saying that the Resistance was preparing for a very large
battle to avenge the innocent blood of the civilians. The
correspondent reported that he was at the time of reporting watching
as cranes and construction machinery worked into the night,
continuing to extract bodies from under the rubble of houses ruined
by the American air attacks.

Mosul.

Resistance bomb kills three US troops in Mosul Saturday morning.

An Iraqi Resistance roadside bomb exploded by a passing column of
four US Humvees in Mosul at 9am local time Saturday. Witnesses told
Mafkarat al-Islam that the blast destroyed a Humvee and killed three
US troops instantly, wounding a fourth mortally.

A source in the local puppet police said that the bomb exploded
Saturday morning killing three US troops and wounding a fourth. The
US military, meanwhile, claimed in a statement it broadcast to the
people of Mosul that the blast only wounded four of its troops,
failing to mention any deaths as is usual after every Resistance
attack in the city.

Al-Anbar Province.
Ar-Ramadi.

Twelve US troops reported killed in Saturday morning car bombing.

An Iraqi Resistance car bomb exploded by a passing column of US
armored vehicles in ar-Ramadi on Saturday morning. Mafkarat al-Islam
reported that the blast destroyed a Humvee and a Bradley armored
vehicle and left 12 US troops dead.

A source in the local puppet police said that a Resistance martyrdom
fighter in a white explosives-laden car drove into a US patrol in ar-
Ramadi at 9am Saturday morning. The source said that the blast
destroyed two US vehicles and killed 12 US troops and then he said
that the explosion also took the lives of more than 10 local people.
The Mafkarat al-Islam correspondent said, however, that local
residents of the area where the bombing took place denied that there
were any civilian casualties.

In addition, the director of ar-Ramadi General Hospital also denied
that there had been any civilian casualties, saying that the dead
were all Americans and that the Resistance martyrdom fighter had
taken advantage of the fact that the street was clear of passersby
and cars to drive into the US column and detonate his bomb.

Al-Hadithah.

Resistance shoots down US helicopter Saturday morning.

In a dispatch posted at 11:25am Mecca time the correspondent of
Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier Iraqi
Resistance fighters in al-Hadithah had shot down a US Apache
helicopter over the eastern parts of the city. Ahmad ash-Shahir, a
colonel in the puppet "Iraqi army," told the correspondent that the
Resistance fired a SAM-7 rocket and shot down a US helicopter that
was about to attack their position in the eastern parts of al-
Hadithah. Ash-Shahir said the crew was killed instantly.

Hit.

Resistance car bomber blasts through barricades, blows up 16 US
troops at front gate of US base in Hit.

An Iraqi Resistance car bomb exploded at the gates of the US `Ayn al-
Asad base in Hit at about 8am Saturday morning, killing 16 American
troops and wounding three more. The correspondent for Mafkarat al-
Islam in the city reported Captain Layth Kazim of the joint US-Iraqi
puppet force that was newly formed to try to put down the Resistance
in al-Anbar Province as saying that a Resistance martyrdom fighter
wearing a puppet police uniform drove an explosives-laden puppet
police car with police license plates on it into the base. The
martyrdom fighter was able to burst through the three security
barriers and get as far as the main gate where US troops are posted
before blowing himself up, totally destroying the gate and killing
16 US troops and wounding three more.

The source said that US forces immediately arrested the puppet
police chief in Hit and two of his aides to interrogate them
regarding the car bombing and the extent of their involvement in the
attack, if any.

Al-Qa'im.

US troops free captured children after beatings, interrogation.

US forces released the children they had kidnapped to use as human
shields on Friday, the correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam in al-
Qa'im reported Saturday. The mother of one child said her son had
been bruised on his face and back as a result of beatings inflicted
by the American troops. The child, `Umar al-Faruq `Abd al-Haqq, who
is not more than nine years old, said "the Americans started asking
us about our fathers and what they do and whether they like the
Resistance or not."

`Umar went on, "We told them, `they hate the Mujahideen and the
Resistance,' because we were afraid of them the Americans. So they
hit us hard because they knew we were lying. One of the soldiers
asked me, `if you hate them, why do you pray in the mosques for them
to defeat us, and give them food and let them stay in your houses?'"

`Umar said they were forced to go to spend the night without having
had lunch or supper.

Al-Fallujah.

Resistance bombardment targets US camp east of al-Fallujah.

In a dispatch posted at 5:35pm Mecca time Saturday afternoon,
Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while before Iraqi
Resistance forces fired four Grad rockets into the US base east of
al-Fallujah in the agricultural area. The bombardment sent plumes of
smoke rising up from inside the compound and the four explosions
shook the city.

Resistance bomb Friday night kills four Iraqi puppet troops in al-
Fallujah.

An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded in al-Fallujah at 8pm on Friday
evening local time by a patrol of the puppet Iraqi forces,
destroying a pickup and killing five puppet troops. Sources in the
puppet "army" confirmed the report to Mafkarat al-Islam in a
statement issued Saturday morning. The puppet statement said that
the bomb had not been discovered by the Americans when they swept
through the area.

Resistance land mine kills three US soldiers in al-Fallujah Friday
afternoon.

An Iraqi Resistance land mine blew up under a US patrol in al-
Fallujah at 4pm Saturday afternoon local time. The local
correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the blast, which
took place in the an-Nazal neighborhood near the al-Firdaws Mosque,
killed three US troops. The correspondent wrote that after the
attack, US forces closed off the area and arrested a number of
owners of stores and construction firms nearby in the course of
raids in the neighborhood. This was the third attack on US
occupation and Iraqi puppet troops in the city within the last 24
hours, the correspondent noted.

Resistance car bomb explodes at US checkpoint in al-Fallujah late
Saturday, killing or wounding 15 US soldiers.

In a dispatch posted at 10:10pm Mecca time Saturday night, Mafkarat
al-Islam reported that a short while earlier an Iraqi Resistance car
bomb had exploded at a US check point in the al-Mu`allimin
neighborhood in downtown al-Fallujah. The correspondent reported a
source in the police at the scene of the attack said that a white
Nissan car blew up at the checkpoint killing or injuring 15 US
troops.

In his dispatch the correspondent wrote that American troops were
closing off the area in which the attack took place at that time.

The correspondent noted that on Friday the Resistance had
distributed leaflets in the city saying that the Battle of al-
Fallujah had not ended and was not going to end. The statement
called on the occupation forces not to celebrate just because they
got into the city that they called the Kaabah of the Mujahideen.

Resistance bombards US, puppet positions in al-Fallujah Saturday.

Iraqi Resistance forces bombarded a number of US and Iraqi puppet
force positions on Saturday afternoon. Mafkarat al-Islam reported
that the Resistance fired 15 Grad rockets at a US command post
outside the city between 3:30pm and 4pm local time, and on the as-
Sumud Club and the offices of the puppet governor inside the city.

Resistance bombards US position south of al-Fallujah Saturday night.

Two Iraqi Resistance mortar rounds blasted into a US strong point
near `Amiriyat al-Fallujah at 8pm Saturday night, Mafkarat al-Islam
reported.

Resistance double bombing leaves 10 Iraqi puppet troops dead,
Friday.

Ten members of the puppet so-called "Iraqi national guard" were
killed in Friday when the Iraqi Resistance ambushed them southwest
of al-Fallujah. The correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam in the city
reported that two bombs that were planted next to each other
exploded near the al-Firdaws mosque west of the city on Friday,
killing 10 puppet troops.

Baghdad.

Four US troops killed in bombing in ad-Durah late Saturday morning.

An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US armored column in the
First al-Mahdiyah district of the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-
Durah at 11am local time Saturday morning. Mafkarat al-Islam
reported a source in the puppet so-called "civil defense force" as
saying that the bombing destroyed a Humvee and left four US troops
dead.

Witnesses told the correspondent that Resistance fighters planted
the bomb by the side of the road at dawn and warned local people
that it was there and to avoid it. The fighters stayed in the area
but out of sight of the passing US column that came into the area at
11am. They confirmed the casualty figures given by the puppet
defense force source.

The correspondent reported seeing US troops close off the area after
the attack, and evacuate the bodies of their dead when a helicopter
landed for that purpose.

Board of Muslim `Ulama' mark second anniversary of US illegal
invasion.

On the occasion of the second anniversary of the US invasion of
Iraq, the Board of Muslim `Ulama' Scholars issued a statement
denouncing the illegal occupation of their country and noting that
in the last year all the excuses used by the Americans for their
invasion had been disproved. The statement reaffirmed the national
unity of Iraq and praised the sacrifice and jihad of all Iraqi
fighters for liberation, independence, and complete sovereignty in
the country.

The Board also convened the first meeting