Iraqi fighters launched a rocket attack Thursday on an Iraqi civil defense outpost visited by Gen. John Abizaid, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East. Abizaid and his aides escaped unhurt in the gun battle.
Just moments after a convoy carrying Abizaid and his party pulled inside the cinderblock walls at the headquarters of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, an explosion was heard. Seconds later, two more explosions were heard near the rear of the compound, and U.S. forces responded with a barrage of rifle and machine gun fire, The AP reported.
Several Iraqi attackers fired three rocket-propelled grenades, and another pelted the party with small arms fire from a nearby mosque. The gun battle lasted at least five minutes.
Abizaid was accompanied by Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. After the gun battle, Abizaid and Swannack canceled plans to walk into the city and instead returned to a nearby U.S. military base.
A defense official in Washington told The AP it was likely that the attackers had been tipped off to the presence of the senior general.
However, U.S. officials, briefing reporters at military headquarters in Baghdad, said they were not ready to make such a link.
In Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt issued a statement saying: "Today at 1330 (1:30 p.m. local time) in Fallujah, Gen. Abizaid and Gen. Swannack were visiting an Iraqi Civil Defense Corps battalion headquarters compound when three rocket propelled grenades were fired at their convoy from rooftops in the vicinity. No soldiers or civilians were injured and both coalition and Iraqi civil defense soldiers returned fire and pursued the attackers. A local mosque was thought to be haboring the attackers and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers conducted a search of the mosque without result."
Abizaid, speaking after the gunfight said: "This is an area where there are plenty of former regime elements out there, willing to fight." Abizaid then flew on to Qatar, as scheduled.
Elsewhere, Iraqi fighters fired eight mortars Thursday at a U.S. base in Baghdad, injuring three US troops and damaging three vehicles. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
