Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991 TAG: 9102270575
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
An armed forces spokesman said the troops belonged to the 82nd Airborne Division. They died Tuesday during operations in Iraq to clear mines, but the spokesman said he did not know if they were killed by a mine blast.
The deaths increased to at least 11 the American death toll in the offensive that began Sunday.
French armed forces chief Gen. Maurice Schmitt, who announced the U.S. deaths at a news conference, said the Americans died during operations to neutralize an Iraqi division.
He said the U.S. troops were working with the French Daguet Division. About 9,000 French soldiers, including Foreign Legionnaires, make up the light-armored Daguet Division that has driven deep into Iraq to secure the westernmost flank of the allied offensive.
The French are supported by 1,000 U.S. troops belonging to the Army's 18th Corps, mostly combat engineers.
In another development, friendly fire killed nine of 13 British soldiers during a battle with Iraqi troops, the British military said today.
Army Col. Barry Stevens said a U.S. Air Force A-10 attack plane mistakenly fired on two armored personnel carriers, killing nine Britons.
"The cruel fact of war is that no matter how many procedures are put in place, this kind of thing does happen," Stevens said.
The A-10 fired on the British vehicles during "the heat of battle," he said.
The allies have reported extremely light casualties for such a huge operation, but deaths were mounting. There were at least 36 allied deaths, not including the 28 American troops killed in Monday's Scud attack.
That missile attack claimed the life of the first American woman killed in war. Spec. 4 Christine Mayes, 22, of Rochester Mills, Pa., got engaged the day she left for the Gulf War. Her barracks was leveled by debris from an Iraqi Scud missile outside Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. She was assigned to the 14th Quartermaster Detachment, a water purification unit.
An Army sergeant came to the Mayes' home at 8 a.m. and notified her parents, Franklin and Darlene Mayes, that she was one of the 28 killed in the attack Monday. In addition, 100 troops were injured, military officials said.
At least 11 Americans had died including those attached to the French division. Thirteen Arabs and two Frenchmen also were among the dead.
The extent of Iraqi casualties was not known, but they certainly were far greater.
On the battlefield, the number of Iraqi prisoners was climbing so fast that U.S. military officials said they could no longer keep track of numbers beyond the 32,000 total the command reported late Tuesday.
Surrendering Iraqis shouted "Salaam! Salaam!" - "Peace! Peace!" - as they raised their hands. One U.S. official described an incident in which an Iraqi tank and armored personnel carrier came upon a U.S. Humvee stuck in mud.
"They helped the Humvee get out of the mud - and then they surrendered," he said.
Baghdad radio claimed today that the withdrawal from Kuwait was completed "by the first light this morning." Allied commanders said the Iraqis were fleeing en masse, but that it was not known how many of the 300,000 to 400,000 Iraqi troops once in Kuwait remained.
In Iraq's bomb-ravaged capital, Baghdad residents - long without electricity - huddled around battery-powered radios, listening for news of the war.
"You have fought against 30 countries led by the most vicious war machine in the world," Saddam told his people on Tuesday. "Greater victory is certain" in the future, he said.
But the gloom in Baghdad was palpable. Air-raid sirens wailed and a dense, dust-laced fog covered the city, AP correspondent Salah Nasrawi reported from the Iraqi capital. Allied aircraft raided the city again Tuesday night.
by CNB