Dutch troops in Iraqi gun battle

AMSTERDAM — Dutch peacekeeping soldiers in Iraq were involved in a gun battle around a local government building in the city As Samawah on Thursday night, a Defence Ministry spokesman said on Friday.

As US troops battled to regain control in cities elsewhere, small-calibre arms fire and a rocket grenade were fired at the government building and Dutch troops returned fire. No injuries or arrests have been reported.

But Dutch troops were deployed to intensify security overnight as three nearby bridges were sealed off. One of the bridges was occupied by members of the Dutch Quick Reaction Force. Patrols were also ordered to track down the gunmen.

Calm was restored to the area later that night and the Dutch troops returned to base. It is not yet known if an investigation has yielded definite answers about the incident, news agency ANP reported.

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deployed they had the totally wrong equipment?

I think it's part of their standard 'kit'.

every nationality to send a big signal while the whole nation is dragged to the forefront of resistance. if that happens we could be simply tossed out by a united populace which once was partly glad to be liberated from Saddam.

Good for nation building and an ironic substitute for civil war. Maybe an ugly thing we might do to unite Iraq would be to fight hard and lose, but war has only losers.

This has the classic look of a powerful army so misled and rudderless that defeat becomes inevitable. Somewhat worse than Vietnam on the sole application of intransigent stupidity before lesser military odds.