Tulsa World: 14 U.S. Marines die in blast

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14 U.S. Marines die in blast

By ROBERT H. REID Associated Press
Published: 8/4/2005 3:34 AM
Last Modified: 5/21/2008 10:56 AM

A fireball marked the deadliest roadside bombing yet to hit American forces.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Fourteen U.S. Marines were killed Wednesday when a huge bomb destroyed their lightly armored vehicle, hurling it into the air in a giant fireball in the deadliest roadside bombing suffered by American forces in the Iraq war.

A civilian translator also was killed and one Marine was wounded. The victims were from the same Ohio-based Reserve unit as five of six members of a Marine sniper team killed on Monday in an ambush claimed by the Islamic extremist Ansar al-Sunnah Army.

The deaths brought to 23 the number of Marines killed in the past week in fighting along the volatile Euphrates Valley of western Iraq and marked one of the bloodiest periods for U.S. forces in months. In all, 44 American service members have died in Iraq since July 24 -- all but two in combat.

A Marine officer, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said the attack occurred as troops were traveling in an armored amphibious vehicle to assault insurgent positions around a village near the Haditha dam, a longtime way station for foreign fighters infiltrating Iraq from Syria.

Suddenly, a thunderous explosion rang out and the vehicle flipped over in a fireball, he said. The surviving Marine scrambled from beneath the overturned vehicle, the officer said.

The Marines killed Wednesday were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in Brook

Park, a Cleveland, Ohio, suburb, and attached to the Regimental Combat Team-2. Nine of them were from a single smaller unit in Columbus.

President Bush lamented the deaths of the 14 Marines, calling the attack a "grim reminder" America is still at war.

"These terrorists and insurgents will use brutal tactics because they're trying to shake the will of the United States of America. They want us to retreat," Bush told some 2,000 lawmakers and business leaders in Grapevine, Texas.

The heavy loss of life cast new attention on a longtime Marine complaint -- the lack of protection provided by their armored amphibious vehicles, or AAVs. The vehicles are designed to be dropped from ships for coastal assaults. Although fast and maneuverable, the vehicles have armor plating that is lighter than those used by the Army -- a critical issue in a war where the roadside bomb is the most common threat.

Moreover, American commanders have warned that while insurgent bombings have been declining in number, they have been increasing in power and sophistication. Villagers reached by telephone said the blast blew the vehicle into pieces, and a large crater could be seen nearby.

"This is a very lethal and unfortunately very adaptable enemy we are faced with," said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, a Pentagon staff officer and former commander of U.S. forces in Mosul.

Marines have been fighting for months in a string of towns along the Euphrates to try to seal a major infiltration route for foreign fighters slipping into Iraq from Syria. Late Wednesday, insurgents fired two mortars at Marine positions near Haditha. Moments later, U.S. warplanes could be heard mounting counterattacks, residents said.

The Marines stepped up operations in May in hopes of pacifying the area so Iraqi military and civilian forces could assume effective control. However, government authority in the heavily Sunni Arab region is tenuous.

Elsewhere, a New York City police officer serving in the Army Reserve was shot and killed Tuesday by a sniper while guarding prisoners at the Camp Victory military base, outside Baghdad, city officials said Wednesday.

Staff Sgt. James McNaughton, 27, was the first member of the police force to be killed in action in Iraq.

Also, one of the Marines killed Monday in a firefight with insurgents west of Baghdad has been identified as Lance Cpl. Roger Dale Castleberry Jr., 26, of Cedar Park, Texas.

His mother and father, Deborah and Roger Dale Castleberry Sr., live in Durant, Okla.

By ROBERT H. REID Associated Press

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