
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 20, 1991                   TAG: 9102200405
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NORTHERN SAUDI ARABIA                                LENGTH: Short

IRAQI PATROL FEIGNED SURRENDER, GIS REPORT

A 1st Infantry Division patrol skirmished early Tuesday with an Iraqi reconnaissance patrol that at times acted as if it planned to surrender, unit officers said.

The 1st Infantry patrol played cat and mouse with the Iraqis for about four hours before firing machine guns at them, reportedly hitting at least one.

Lt. Col. Skip Baker, 45, of Odessa, Texas, commander of the 1st Infantry's 5th Battalion, said his men spotted Iraqi patrols heading south just after Monday midnight.

He said one patrol leader appeared to be holding a flag as if trying to attract the attention of U.S. soldiers to surrender. But as the patrol advanced, it would periodically drop down into small ditches and disappear, then reappear elsewehere.

After repeated similar incidents, Baker said he decided the unit had given it ample opportunity to surrender.

"We know we hit one, we could see a pool of blood in the thermal sights," said Capt. Rick Orth, 30, of Port Jefferson, N.Y. He said the men saw what looked like a body lying in a narrow gully.

- Associated Press

by CNB