Militants admit Fallujah deaths
2004-12-24 19:57
Cairo, Egypt - A posting on an Islamic website on Friday made a rare admission of significant casualties among insurgents fighting the US-led occupation of Iraq: 24 dead, most said to be non-Iraqi Arabs.
The posting on a site known as a clearinghouse for militant Muslim comment said three hours of fighting in Fallujah on Thursday resulted in the "martyrdom" of 24 fighters from different Islamic fighting factions, 19 of them from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt, Syria and Jordan.
The rest were said to be Iraqis.
Such postings often refer to large US casualties. References to dead among the insurgents aren't unusual, but usually the numbers given are small.
Fallujah saw some of the heaviest fighting in weeks on Thursday, with US warplanes and tanks bombarding guerrilla positions in a town already devastated by a U.S. offensive last month.
At least three US marines were killed in combat in Fallujah on Thursday, according to military reports.
- AP