Samarra

Yesterday's News, from Long Island Newsday, September 29, 2004:

Insurgents Put On Show Of Strength

Insurgents kept up their blood-soaked campaign against the U.S. presence in Iraq yesterday, staging a show of defiance in Samarra and striking twice with deadly force in Basra.

Dozens of masked gunmen loyal to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi drove down the main street of the central city of Samarra carrying automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades in a show of strength.

The militants stopped some cars, asking the occupants to hand over music tapes in exchange for ones with recitations from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

Samarra has been under insurgent control and a virtual "no-go" area for U.S. troops since May 30.

Today's News:

More than 4,000 American and Iraqi soldiers mounted a military assault on this insurgent-held city here Thursday night, in what appeared to be the first major operation to retake areas from guerrillas before the January elections. An American soldier from the First Infantry Division was killed, the military said in a statement today.

A spokesman for the First Division, Master Sgt. Robert Powell, told The Associated Press that 96 insurgents were believed killed during today's clashes, but a coalition spokesman in Baghdad said those figures could not be confirmed.

In a later statement, the military said that members of 36th Iraqi Commando Battalion secured the historic Golden Mosque, a sacred Shiite shrine, to safeguard it from insurgents. They also captured 25 rebels the mosque with weapons, the military said.

Four battalions of American troops from the First Infantry Division, backed by two battalions of Iraqi soldiers, began moving toward the city this evening under cover of heavy fire. As midnight passed, the bang of exploding shells could be heard nearly two miles outside the city limits.

A statement released by the American military early today said that American and Iraqi forces had succeeded in entering the city and securing government and police buildings. The statement said the forces were acting "in response to repeated and unprovoked attacks by anti-Iraqi forces."

"Unimpeded access throughout the city for Iraqi security forces and multinational forces is non-negotiable," the statement said.

So much for "no go".

Oh, and tomorrow's news will be here too.