Iraq Claims Counterattack on Iranians
A two-pronged counterattack was launched by Iraqi forces Thursday in a bid to halt a major advance by Iranian troops into southern Iraq, the Iraqi government reported.
The latest fighting, which erupted early this week, reportedly has left thousands dead and wounded on both sides.
A military spokesman in Baghdad said that the Iraqi 3rd Army Corps near the Iranian border city of Khorramshahr, on the Shatt al Arab waterway, pounded Iranian troops overnight with a “massive missile and heavy artillery barrage” before moving in to encircle them.
As a result of the two-pronged assault, the spokesman said, the Iranian troops are “besieged between the Shatt al Arab waters and the Iraqi forces” and are in retreat.
Baghdad made no mention of the southern Iraqi port of Al Faw, located where the waterway enters the Persian Gulf. There, Tehran radio said, Iranian forces have killed or wounded 4,000 Iraqis and seized another 18 square miles of territory along the highway leading from Al Faw to the major Iraqi port of Basra.
The official Iranian news agency said the total number of Iraqis “killed and injured” mounted to 10,000 after Thursday’s battles.
There was no independent confirmation of the battle reports.
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