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New urban warfare tactics employed by US troops
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| 08 April 2003 |
Kim Burger JDW Staff Reporter
Washington DC
In an effort to avoid the devastating bombing that accompanied urban conflicts in the Second World War and the bloody combat encountered in Mogadishu, Somalia, US-led coalition ground troops are battling their way into Baghdad using new methods for fighting in cities.
US Army and US Marine Corps (USMC) units are pushing to the centre of Baghdad following what US officials have described in recent days as an attempt to "isolate" the capital with a loose "cordon" of ground troops.
Although bombings - like the strikes last night aimed at the suspected location of Saddam Hussein - have caused damage to residential areas, officials say they have attempted to avoid ruining a city that is home to about five million people.
"We prefer not to fight in the city. We prefer not to have to destroy what is part of Iraq's future to get rid of its past," Gen Peter Pace, Vice Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC News on 6 April. US-led coalition commanders will slowly focus on parts of the city and "go in and clean it out" of Iraqi military.
This approach is reflected in the tactics employed by individual troops, officials said. The US Army and USMC, as well as the British Army, are applying alternatives to the "linear and attritionist" tactics of the past that have focused on trying to take over an entire city, military officials and experts said.
The incursions of US M1A1 tanks and M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles into Baghdad, the seizing of key objectives like airports and the ongoing collection of intelligence on the locations of Iraqi leaders and fighters are all examples of these concepts. US forces also are operating in tank-infantry teams, which one marine official called a "major revolution" in urban fighting, and have been advised to clear buildings through searches rather than tossing a grenade into a structure that might hold civilians.
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