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Scores of U.S. Troops Killed In Baghdad: Sahhaf
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Iraqi Information Minister speaks to the press in front of the Palestinian hotel in Baghdad April
7
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BAGHDAD,
April 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The U.S. troops
began committing suicide at the gates of Baghdad, Iraqi Information
Minister Mohammed Sa’eed al-Sahhaf said early on Monday, April 7, as
U.S. military sources said that the U.S. troops has seized three
presidential palaces in Baghdad, including the main one of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein.
“Take
my word, they (the U.S. troops) began committing suicide at the gates
of Baghdad…Allah Almighty is grilling them (U.S. troops) in the
Hellfire at the hands of the Iraqis,” Al-Jazeera satellite channel
quoted Sahhaf as telling reporters in an extemporary press conference
at the site of the Iraqi Information Minister.
Sahhaf
said the Iraqi fighters succeeded at Dawn Monday in “annihilating
all the U.S. troops which thrust into Baghdad,” adding that the
battle, however, was still raging between the two warring sides.
He
declined to put the figure of the U.S. troops killed in the battle,
asserting that he would make the death toll public as soon as
possible.
“Their
armoured vehicles pushed into the city…We take some of their
soldiers prisoner and killed a lot of the others. They do not even
control themselves and I underline that no one of those villains is in
Baghdad,” he said.
Sahhaf
also blamed media, particularly Al-Jazeera satellite channel, for
rushing to believe the “U.S. lies,” urging them to think twice
before airing any piece of news.
“I
urge you not to believe U.S. claims of having taken key sites in
Baghdad… Iraqi forces would teach them a lesson that history will
never forget", he said. “I blame Al-Jazeera for promoting for
the Americans before making sure of their claims…please search for
the truth.”
Sahhaf
said the U.S. troops go bogged down in Baghdad, noting that they were
fighting off a “political regime of staunch will that could not be
broken.”
Asked
about the U.S. troops seen on TV screens touring Saddam International
Airport, Sahhaf said the U.S. troops only wanted to rivet the world
attention from the battlefield to paper over “the tragedy of their
soldiers in the airport.”
“We
have slaughtered them and we will go on (slaughtering them)
non-stop,” he asserted.
Asked
about the role the United Nations can play in such a critical
juncture, Sahhaf said that (U.N. Secretary General) Kofi Annan should
denounce the U.S.-led aggression on Iraq.
“If
he does not do so, the U.N. would then be nothing but a brothel if it
remained toeing the U.S. line,” he said.
Earlier
in the day, the U.S. troops claimed that a U.S. armoured brigade
seized a string of government buildings in central Baghdad while
marines moved to close the noose on the city to the north, Agence
Fracne-Presse (AFP) reported.
Three
Presidential Palaces Seized: U.S.
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Iraqi
soldiers guard the main presidential palace in Baghdad the U.S.
troops claimed that they had seized
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U.S.
military sources also said that U.S. forces had taken control of three
of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces, including
the main one in the heart of the capital.
"2nd
Brigade is conducting their attack into the heart of the city,"
the operations officer for the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, Lieutenant
Colonel Peter Bayer, told AFP.
The
force had "secured the main presidential palace" and another
palace in the city centre as well as a third near the airport, he
said.
The
Second Brigade forces in Baghdad were reported to be in the vicinity
of Iraq's tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the presidential reviewing
stand.
Major
Mike Birmingham, public affairs officer for the 3rd Infantry Division,
said of the incursions: “The express purpose is to demonstrate to
the Iraqi people we are here and the regime is not in control.”
“We
have the capacity to go where we want and when we want with whatever
assets,” he said.
Five
huge blasts rocked Saddam's main palace on the banks of the Tigris,
sparking a flurry of activity by Iraqi troops.
An
arms depot had caught fire but as a cloud of thick white smoke covered
the sprawling complex it was not clear if that ignited the five
blasts.
Fuel
trenches inside the compound were set ablaze belching out thick black
smoke.
The
sound of heavy firing rang out across Baghdad and sustained shooting
from small and big guns continued incessantly.
Heavy
explosions had begun booming into the grey skies from around 6:15 am
(0215 GMT), apparently from artillery fire to the west of the capital.
U.S.
warplanes had flown over Baghdad all night, sometimes at low altitude,
without bombing any targets.
The
U.S. military authorities also said that a C-130 transport plane had
touched down at the airport.
U.S.
troops were meanwhile moving to encircle Baghdad to prevent any escape
from the city by its defenders.
After
completing a 70-kilometre (40-mile) drive, the army controlled a
semi-circle around Baghdad extending from the Tigris in the north to
where the river leaves the capital in the south.
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