these yankees are hard to kill

The yanks must be wearing flack jackets or something. They can mostly survive grenade attacks (even their own grenades).


Sixteen US soldiers were wounded yesterday, at least two of them seriously, when an Iraqi man threw a hand grenade at them as they removed mortars from a weapons cache south of the capital.
Soldiers of the 101st Air borne Division were taking the mortars into the front courtyard of a Ba'ath party office compound in Mahmudiya, 15 miles south of Baghdad, when a car stopped behind a crowd outside, a man jumped out and flung the grenade.

Six soldiers were flown by helicopter to a field hospital and at least 10 more were listed as walking wounded.

At the same time, some 40 soldiers in the compound came under fire from three separate positions around the compound.

"We heard three quick pops. We all turned around and then boom, that knocked me right off my feet," said Sergeant Travis May who suffered slight shrapnel wounds in the attack "I got up and saw the guys just lying there, with blood coming out."

The crowd of about 200 people lining walls around the compound scattered as US soldiers opened fire at the positions where they believed the gunmen were hiding.

Helicopter gunships as well as troop reinforcements were deployed within minutes, but the assailants are believed to have escaped, possibly into a mosque less than 100 metres away.

"It was a hit-and-run attack," said Major Brian Pearl, adding that the use of grenades and assault rifle fire was clearly coordinated. "That grenade was thrown from about 30 metres. That's not a bad throw at all."

In central Baghdad early today, US marines were engaged in a gun battle with snipers around the Palestine Hotel, where many international journalists are staying.

Flares fired by the marines lit up the sky around the hotel. A marine officer said that there could have been up to five snipers. Three or four people in civilian clothes were detained.