Karbala provincial headquarters raid
Karbala provincial headquarters raid | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Iraq War | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Brian Freeman Jacob Fritz | Azhar al-Dulaimi | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Nearly 60 U.S. soldiers[1] Unknown number of Iraqi police and military personnel | 9–12 commandos[1][2] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
5 killed 3 wounded [1] 4 captured (later executed) | None |
The Karbala provincial headquarters raid was a special operation[3] carried out on January 20, 2007, by the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq against the U.S. contingent of the Joint Security Station, located within the Iraqi Police headquarters. The assault, which left five U.S. soldiers dead and three wounded, has been called the "boldest and most sophisticated attack in four years of warfare" and is furthermore notable for being one of the few instances when any sort of militants or insurgents have actually managed to capture U.S. soldiers[4][5][6] since the Vietnam War.
Background
Since the
The raid
The attack was perpetrated by "nine to 12 militants posing as an American security team ... [who] traveled in black
After being waved through the last of three checkpoints manned by Iraqi security forces at around 17:45, the militants parked their (at least) five SUVs[8]
near the city's Provisional Joint Coordination Center (PJCC) main building.
At approximately 18:00, the insurgents broke off the attack and left the compound with their prisoners, heading east toward neighbouring
Aftermath and analysis
Four individuals suspected of participating in the raid were detained on January 22 by U.S. troops and
The mastermind behind the attack, Azhar al-Dulaimi, was killed on May 19, 2007, by U.S. forces during a raid north of Baghdad.[12]
Evidence of Iranian involvement
According to two unnamed U.S. officials,
In response to such speculations, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq, "ridiculed evidence the U.S. military claimed to have proving Iranian involvement in planning attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces."[16]
Journalist Bill Roggio has suggested that the attackers may have intended to transfer the captured Americans over the border to Iran.[17]
This raid required specific intelligence, in depth training for the agents to pass as American troops, resources to provide for weapons, vehicles, uniforms, identification, radios and other items needed to successfully carry out the mission. Hezbollah's Imad Mugniyah executed a similar attack against Israeli forces on the Lebanese border, which initiated the Hezbollah-Israeli war during the summer of 2006…
Mahawil (where abandoned vehicles & the victim's bodies were found) is in Babil province, about 27 miles directly east of Karbala. While it is impossible to prove, the attackers may have been making a bee-line towards the Iranian border.
The Karbala raid makes sense in light of the U.S. raids on the Iranian diplomatic missions in Baghdad and Irbil, where Iranian Qods Force agents were captured, along with documentation that divulged Iran's involvement with and support of
Shiadeath squads and al-Qaeda in Iraq. Five Iranians from the Irbil raid are still in U.S. custody, and captured U.S. soldiers would provide for excellent bargaining chips.IF [sic] it is confirmed that Iran's Qods Force was responsible, the news that the United States has authorized the death or captured [sic] of Iranian agents inside Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan and Lebanon makes all the more sense.
On July 2, 2007, the U.S. military said that information from captured Hezbollah fighter Ali Musa Daqduq established a link between Quds Force and the Karbala raid. Daqduq worked as a liaison between Quds force and the Shia group that carried out the raid. According to the United States, Daqduq said that the Shia group "could not have conducted this complex operation without the support and direction of the Quds force."[18]
On June 9, 2007, Bill Roggio of the Long War Journal wrote that U.S. Government had discovered satellite imagery showing an exact mockup of the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center compound inside of Iran.[19] It is believed that the Iranian Qods Force used this mockup to train the perpetrators of the attack and is further evidence of direct Iranian involvement.
Other incidents
20 January 2007 was the third-deadliest day of the Iraq War for U.S. troops, with 20 other U.S. soldiers killed throughout Iraq, including 12 in a helicopter crash caused by hostile ground fire[20] north of Baghdad in Diyala Governorate.[21][22]
See also
- Operation Greif
- Ahmed Kousay Altaie– A U.S. Army soldier who was captured by Iraqi insurgents and executed
- Wassef Ali Hassoun – A U.S. Marine who claimed to be captured by Iraqi insurgents; later discovered to be a hoax
- American POWs in the 2003 invasion of Iraq
- 2004 Iraq KBR convoy ambush– Capture and execution of Keith Matthew Maupin, a U.S. Army soldier
- June 2006 abduction of U.S. soldiers in Iraq– Capture and execution of Kristian Menchaca and Thomas L. Tucker, two U.S. Army soldiers
- May 2007 abduction of U.S. soldiers in Iraq– Capture and execution of Alex Ramon Jimenez, Joseph John Anzack and Byron Wayne Fouty, three U.S. Army soldiers
- Joint Special Operations Command Task Force in the Iraq War
References
- ^ a b c Crist, David, The Twilight War: Conflict with Iran, Penguin Press, New York, 2012, p. 529
- ^ a b c "Karbala attackers posed as U.S. military officials". CNN. 2007-01-23. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ "BBC Two - Shadow Commander: Iran's Military Mastermind".
- ^ Hurst, Steven R.; Qassim Abdul-Zahra (2007-01-26). "4 Troops Abducted, Killed in Iraq Attack". ABC News. AP. Archived from the original on January 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- Long War Journal. Archived from the originalon 2012-01-02. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
On January 20th, a team of twelve men disguised as U.S. soldiers entered the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, where U.S. soldiers preparing to leave the following morning at 0500hrs closing the JCC for good, attacked and killed five soldiers, and wounded another three. The initial reports indicated the five were killed in the Karbala JCC, however the U.S. military has reported that four of those killed were actually removed from the center, handcuffed, and murdered.
- ^
Long War Journal. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
The attack on the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center was a complex, sophisticated operation. The assault team, led by tactical commander Azhar al Dulaimi, was trained in a mock-up of the center that was built in Iran. The unit had excellent intelligence and received equipment that made them appear to be US soldiers. Some of the members of the assault team are said to have spoken English. This was denied by the Soldiers stationed there.
- ^ "Coalition Deaths by Province". iCasualties.org. 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-01-16. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ^ a b c Capella, Peter (2007-01-27). "Mahdi: Iraq could be caught in US-Iran crossfire". Middle East Online. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ a b c "U.S.: Soldiers abducted in Karbala, killed elsewhere". CNN. AP. 2007-01-26. Archived from the original on 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ "Military confirms 4 soldiers were abducted during attack in Karbala". USA Today. AP. 2007-01-26. Retrieved 2007-01-26.
- ^ 4th BCT (Airborne), 25th Inf. Div. Public Affairs (2007-01-25). "Four suspects seized, linked to Karbala attack". Blackanthem.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "US troops kill Iraq raid 'leader'". BBC News. 2007-05-21. Retrieved 2007-05-22.
- CNN.com. 2007-01-31. Archived from the originalon 2007-02-02. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- CNN.com. 2007-01-31. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- ^ Baer, Robert (2007-01-30). "Are the Iranians Out for Revenge?". Time.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- Guardian Unlimited. London. 2007-02-01. Retrieved 2007-02-10.
- ^ Roggio, Bill (2007-01-26). "The Karbala attack and the IRGC". The Fourth Rail. Archived from the original on 2012-01-02. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
- ^ "[US links Iran to attack in Iraq http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6260690.stm]", BBC News, July 2, 2007. Retrieved July 2, 2007.
- ^ "U.S. finds Karbala PJCC mockup inside Iran | FDD's Long War Journal". www.longwarjournal.org. 2007-06-09. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
- ^ "U.S.: 4 copter losses due to ground fire". Boston Herald. AP. 2007-02-04. Archived from the original on 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2007-02-04.
- ^ "Third-deadliest day of war for U.S. troops". NBC News. AP. 2007-01-21. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ^ "U.S. casualties in Iraq - January 2007". CNN.