LEARN AND EVOLVE:

New Tactic: U.S. Soldiers Lured Into Ambush by Iraqi Civilians, Says U.S. Official (ABC News, Oct. 10, 2003)

U.S. soldiers were lured into a deadly ambush during a routine patrol in a restive Baghdad neighborhood in what could be a new attack tactic, said a U.S. military official today.

Two U.S. soldiers were killed and four others were wounded during the ambush in the impoverished Sadr City district of Baghdad, U.S. military and hospital officials said today. At least seven Iraqis were also injured in the attack.

U.S. troops in three Humvees were on a routine patrol in Sadr City on Thursday night when they were lured into the ambush, U.S. Army spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo told reporters in Baghdad.

"A group of people, civilians, met with U.S. forces and said, `Please come in, we need to show you something important,"' said Krivo.

But when the troops left their vehicles and followed the Iraqis into the densely populated slum, they came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, small arms and makeshift explosives, said Krivo.

Although an Army quick reaction force responded and helped extricate the patrol, Krivo said the attack lasted for about two hours.

Krivo said the luring tactic was not something U.S. forces in Iraq had experienced so far, but he said U.S. troops hoped to "learn and evolve from it."

If only we were the kind of people these folks accuse us of being, you could just call in the air strikes. We aren't.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 10, 2003 7:29 PM