Fri, Mar 21, 2003
About 700 coalition aircraft flew missions against
more than 100 targets in Iraq on March 20, said Defense officials.
The strikes flew even as planners in the area attempted to
determine the results of the strikes against the Iraqi leadership
the day before. Targets included command and control facilities,
early warning radar sites and surface- to-surface missile systems.
Bomb damage assessment efforts continue as more strikes are hitting
Iraq, officials said.
At least 30 oil wells are on fire as British and American troops
secure the oil fields in southern Iraq, British Defense Minister
Geoffrey Hoon said, Friday. British officials said Iraqi saboteurs
lit the wells as it became clear that coalition forces would secure
the area. There are hundreds of oil wells in the area.
Hoon also gave a bit more detail on the crash of a
US Marine CH-46 helicopter crash. "That helicopter was engaged in
an operation led by 3 Commando Brigade on the Al Faw peninsula in
southeastern Iraq," he said in the House of Commons. US officials
said there was no indication that enemy fire caused the crash that
killed four US and eight British Marines. Another US Marine was
killed as his unit entered Iraq on March 20, US officials said.
As the operation continued, the Royal Marines encountered some
resistance, Hoon said. "The tip of the peninsula was secured as
planned," he said. "Some resistance, including the use of mortars
and artillery, has been encountered and there was a small-scale
engagement with individual Iraqi troops resulting in four known
Iraqi fatalities."
Throughout the operation, Royal Navy ships
including the frigates HMS Chatham and HMS Marlborough provided
naval gunfire support to 3 Commando Brigade, he said. The British
and US Marines secured the port of Umm Qasr, Hoon said.
Three US ships and two British submarines launched about 50
Tomahawk (right) land attack missiles against targets in Baghdad on
March 20. The ships were the Aegis destroyer USS John S. McCain and
attack submarines USS Columbia and USS Providence. The British
submarines were the HMS Turbulent and the HMS Splendid.
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