- NEAR KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters)
- U.S. forces have encircled the Shi'ite Muslim holy city of Kerbala, securing
all major exit routes in the face of only light Iraqi opposition, and are
now advancing further north.
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- Commanders of the U.S. 3rd Infantry had expected a day-long
battle to seize the perimeter of the city, just 70 miles southwest of Baghdad.
But in the end the operation was completed within three hours.
-
- Rather than tackle Iraqi fighters who might be positioned
further inside Kerbala U.S. forces were instead continuing their drive
on the Iraqi capital, military sources said.
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- Military officials had previously said that Kerbala,
which was believed to have been defended by vaunted Republican Guard units,
was the last major hurdle on the road to Baghdad.
-
- U.S. infantry launched their assault on the city at around
6 p.m. EST Tuesday, supported by warplanes, Apache attack helicopters and
a furious artillery barrage which lit up the night sky with a succession
of dazzling flashes.
-
- "This is the big battle," a U.S. military official
at Central Command forward headquarters in Qatar told Reuters.
-
- Troops encountered very little fire as they moved on
the city and took about 30 Iraqi prisoners of war. Information on any casualties
in the assault was not immediately available.
-
- Prior to the attack, U.S. officers had said a full Iraqi
brigade of around 6,000 men, including tanks and artillery, were believed
to have taken up position around Kerbala.
-
- Many of those men might have retreated inside the city
but the U.S. military said they did not want to engage in street-to-street
fighting at this stage.
-
- Instead, the plan was to secure a bridgehead to the east
over the nearby Euphrates river which will be need to move infantry and
armor up toward Baghdad. Different U.S. units are also pushing northwards
on the eastern side of the river.
-
- A sizeable chunk of the 3rd Infantry Division reached
the central Iraqi city of Najaf last week but had to halt their move on
Kerbala to await badly needed supplies.
-
- A Shi'ite shrine city, Kerbala is the site of a pivotal
battle some 1,400 years ago where Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad,
was overwhelmed and killed in a clash with a far larger and superior rival
Muslim force.
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- Shi'ites are a majority of Iraq's population but power
has traditionally rested with Sunnis like President Saddam Hussein.
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