[The following translation of the iraqwar.ru report has
been kindly provided by "Necroman". You can find the original
report in Russian as well as this translation on the iraqwar.ru site. Venik]
April 7, 2003, 1914hrs MSK (GMT +4 DST), Moscow
- The situation on the US-Iraqi front during
the morning-night on April 7th was characterized by extreme
fierceness of combat. During the night-morning the coalition
units continued to encircle the city from west and east.
The 2nd brigade of the 3rd Mechanized Division, as was
revealed before, after a five-hour march reached the
northern approaches of Baghdad and occupied the region
bordering to the strategic bridge Salah-Khasan, but was
unable to seize the bridge itself because of a heavy
missile and artillery barrage. Up to 10 men were killed,
at least 20 wounded. In the morning the brigade lost
its communication center destroyed by a tactical Iraqi
missile.
From south-east the American marine units that had repeatedly
tried to seize a strategic bridge across the Diyala, as
we assumed before, during the night advanced to the eastern
suburbs of the New Baghdad and by the morning tried to
take over bridges near the “Rashid” airport.
In this violent conflict the bridges were destroyed by
the Iraqi artillery and the marines sustained losses. According
to intercepted radio communications up to 5 marines were
killed, at least 12 wounded. 3 APC and 1 tank were destroyed.
Last night on the right bank of the Tigris in the Al-Mansur
region American commandos numbering up to 200 men landed
in a block of government buildings. Apart from that, fighting
squadrons landed on two government residences in this region.
The goal of the operation was to capture top officials
of Saddam Hussein’s administration. Almost immediately
the airdrop was detected and engaged. In order to unblock
the commandos at 7am an enforced tank battalion from the
1st brigade of the 3rd Mechanized Division entered the
city and after a two-hour fight was able to break to the
Haifa street along the Kadissiya roadway and partly reached
the bank of the Tigris. This movement turned out unexpected
by the Iraqis and met no resistance at first. But in the
region of the government quay the American forces confronted
with organized Iraqi defenses. After 3 hours of battle
the commandos got to the American positions and the whole
column fell back from the city.
The American losses total
up to 10 men killed, 20 wounded and 10 missing. Up to
3 tanks and 3 APC were destroyed.
The commandos only examined a few government buildings
in a hurry. All of them were found empty and no captives
were taken. The tolls of the Iraqi side during the
day were up to 150 men killed and about 200 wounded. They
lost up to 5 tanks
and 8 guns.
By the afternoon Iraqi actions became more confident.
There is information that one of yesterday’s air
strikes severely damaged one of their communication and
control centers and currently the Iraqi command has to
control their units using VHF-stations and envoys which
delays battle-orders and commands.
Today the American command
had to admit that the fighting potential of Baghdad defenders
is “fairly high” and
the rivals show no sign of demoralization.
Full update will be published tonight.
(source: iraqwar.ru, 04-07-03, translated by Necroman)
