Allies Get ‘Hard Kill’ on Iraqis
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NORTHERN SAUDI ARABIA — Allied warplanes caught an Iraqi military convoy moving across the open desert in southern Iraq tonight and destroyed 24 tanks, armored personnel carriers and supply vehicles.
The action, reported by a U.S. media pool today, was visible to U.S. Marines across the border in Saudi Arabia.
“It was the first hard kill we’ve gotten on a big target,” said Col. Ron Richard, spokesman for the Marine 2nd Division.
It was the largest confirmed destruction of enemy armored units in the war.
“They were sloppy and they were caught,” Richard said.
He said the Iraqi column appeared to be on routine move and not on an attack route. The air attack was called in by a Marine reconnaissance unit on the Saudi side of the border, he said.
Flames from the attack were visible across the desert flats during the night attack. The armored vehicles were still burning at daybreak.
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