U.S. forces (wearing civilian clothes) clash with gunmen

[*jr]

I recall a similar british operation in Basra. The SAS unit was going around dressed as locals stirring shit up. They got arrested by the local police and the Brits had to attack the local jail to get them out.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/ ... -basra.jpg

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Source: Reuters

HILLA, Iraq, April 3 (Reuters) - U.S. forces called in helicopter strikes during a clash with gunmen on Thursday in the southern Iraqi city of Hilla, scene of fighting last week between security forces and Shi'ite militiamen.

Police sources in the Shi'ite city said five people had been killed in the predawn operation, including four policemen. They said fighting broke out after U.S. troops wearing civilian clothes entered the al-Jamiya district in central Hilla.

Sattar al-Jeshaami, spokesman for the main hospital in Hilla, said six bodies had been brought in after the clash, including four policemen. Around 15 people had been wounded, half of them civilians, he said.

The U.S. military said gunmen opened fire on U.S. troops who were on an operation to detain a so-called "special groups" member, the military's term for rogue elements in the Mehdi Army militia of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.


Read more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/middleea ... SL03615032