Seventeen marines assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were killed or maimed somewhere in the area of Falluja or Ramadi today. CENTCOM reports eight KIA and nine maimed.
Brigadier General Denis Hejlik, deputy commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, is talking to the press about "whacking" the entrenched defenders of Falluja and Ramadi. I'm not sure that "whacking" and restricted Rules of Engagement parse in the same sentance. It seems a juvenile turn of phrase for the anticipated Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain that will be comperable to Huê.
Recent Releases (Camp Pendleton news)
10/27/04 Camp Pendleton Marine dies in Iraq (Cpl. Brian Oliveira, 22, of Raynham, Mass.)
10/25/04 Camp Pendleton Marine dies in Iraq (Lance Cpl. Jonathan E. Gadsden, 21, of Charleston, S.C.)
10/22/04 Camp Pendleton Marine dies in Iraq (Sgt. Douglas E. Bascom, 25, of Colorado Springs, Colo.)
10/18/04 Camp Pendleton Marine dies in Iraq (Cpl. William I. Salazar, 26, of Las Vegas, Nev.)
Updates as they come in.
Maj. Clark Watson (IMEF) told the Associated Press that it was a car bomb, and the KIA count is now 9 with 9 maimed. The 9th victim was killed by gunfire.
Major Clark Watson (IMEF) said the engagement occurred when a car bomb detonated next to a truck south-west of Baghdad. The IMEF event casulty report is now 8/10 (KIA/Maimed). In a seperate event today (10.31) three more marines have been maimed in an attack on their convoy in nearby Ramadi.
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