Jessica begged to go home

2003-04-02 15:15

Nasiriyah - The woman soldier taken prisoner in Iraq had tearfully begged to go home before she was rescued by US special forces.

American Private Jessica Lynch, 19, kept asking about her boyfriend and family, an Iraqi doctor who treated her in hospital said.

She "kept saying she wanted to go home", the pharmacist added.

The teenager and 11 other US soldiers were taken prisoner by Iraqi troops when their convoy was ambushed on March 23.

US media reports said she was found with two broken legs, a broken arm and gunshot wounds when she was rescued in a raid by US special forces on the Saddam Hussein Hospital near Nasiriyah.

Reports from Iraq said 11 bodies were found during the rescue mission. Two were believed to be Americans.

US officials have not confirmed if they were from Private Lynch's unit.

Patient, not POW

An Iraqi pharmacist who treated Private Lynch at the hospital told Sky News she had often been crying, asking about her family and when the war would finish.

The pharmacist told Sky's Ross Appleyard in the hospital that no soldiers had visited her and she had been treated well.

She was regarded as a patient and not as a prisoner of war, the pharmacist said.

Private Lynch, of Palestine, West Virginia, was rescued in a night-time raid on the hospital by America's elite units - Delta Force, US Rangers and Navy Seals.

Appleyard saw the decoy mission which signalled the start of the rescue, which he described as "remarkable".

Diversionary tactics

The Ba'ath Party headquarters and the building housing Saddam Hussein's loyal Fedayeen fighters were attacked in a diversionary strike, he said.

While the gunfight raged, special forces troops went in and rescued Private Lynch from a building believed to be called the Saddam Hussein Hospital.

Appleyard said: "Flares lit up the sky and we heard a great deal of gunfire and explosions.

"There was a huge gunfight - but it was all a diversionary tactic so special forces could go in and rescue Private Lynch."

Lynch's unit ambushed

Private Lynch's unit was ambushed near Nasiriyah after making a wrong turn during early fighting in the invasion of Iraq.

Five other members of her unit were later shown on Iraqi television answering questions from their Iraqi captors.

The rescue was announced by Brigadier General Vincent Brooks at a news conference in Central Command headquarters in Qatar.

In a brief statement, he said: "Coalition forces have conducted a successful rescue mission of a US Army prisoner of war held captive in Iraq. The soldier has been returned to a coalition-controlled area."

Fifteen other Americans are formally listed as missing. The other POWs include two Army Apache helicopter pilots captured March 24 after their helicopter went down.

Central Command spokesperson Jim Wilkinson said: "We also have others, other POWs we are just as worried about. This is good news today but we need a lot more good news.

"America doesn't leave its heroes behind," Wilkinson added. "Never has. Never will."

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