Battle of Haditha

Part of the Iraq War

Scene of the AAV destroyed in the operation at Haditha

Date	1 August – 4 August 2005
Location	Haditha, Iraq
Result	Indecisive

Belligerents

United States

Al-Qaeda in Iraq
Ansar al-Sunna
Other Iraqi insurgents

Commanders and leaders

Lt Col Stephen Davis

(unverified)

Strength

~1,000 Marines

Unknown

Casualties and losses

21 killed, 1 wounded

40 killed

Not to be confused with the 2007 film Battle for Haditha which portrays the Haditha killings.

The Battle of Haditha was a battle fought between U.S. forces and Ansar al-Sunna in early August 2005 on the outskirts of the town of Haditha, Iraq, which was one of the many towns that were under insurgent control in the Euphrates River valley during 2005.

On the first day of the battle, a six-man United States Marine Corps sniper unit in Haditha was attacked and overrun by a large insurgent force. All six men were found dead after the battle.

Two days after the killings, Marine forces launched Operation Quick Strike to disrupt insurgent presence in the Haditha area. On the second day of that operation, a Marine Amphibious Assault Vehicle hit a large road side bomb, killing 15 out of the 16 on board.

On the morning of 1 August 2005 a six-man Marine sniper unit on the outskirts of Haditha was attacked by a large insurgent force from the Ansar al-Sunna group and in less than 10 minutes was overrun. Five members of the unit were killed. One was missing and was reported to have been seen alive but wounded and being driven through the streets of Haditha.

A few days later a video of the attack was posted on the Internet on which insurgents were seen rushing the Marines. The group’s Web site posted still photographs showing a bloody, badly wounded body wearing Marine camouflage trousers and two hooded gunmen standing in front of several rifles. The insurgents said that they slit the throats of some of the Marines. Masked gunmen had shown up in the Haditha public market that afternoon displaying helmets, flak jackets and other equipment they said was taken from the bodies of the dead Marines. The bodies of five of the Marines were found in one place and the body of the sixth was discovered later a few miles away.

Two days after the killings, around 1,000 Marines from the Regimental Combat Team 2 (RCT-2) and Iraqi soldiers started "Operation Quick Strike", which included efforts to find the insurgents responsible, however the primary intent was to interdict and disrupt militants' presence in the Haditha, Haqliniyah, and Barwanah areas. The operation began when Marines and Iraqi soldiers moved into Haqliniyah, about seven kilometers southwest of Haditha. 40 insurgents were killed, including four in a Super Cobra helicopter attack.

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Wikipedia