The Battle of Haditha was a battle fought between
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
forces and
Ansar al-Sunna
Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah ( ar, جماعة أنصار السنه, Jama'at 'Anṣār as-Sunnah, lit=Assembly of the Helpers of Sunnah), also known as Jaish Ansar al-Sunna (Army of the Helpers of Sunnah), Ali ibn Abi Talib Battalion or simply as ...
in early August 2005 on the outskirts of the town of
Haditha
, settlement_type = City
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,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, which was one of the many towns that were under insurgent control in the Euphrates River valley during 2005.
The battle was initiated when a pair of three-man
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
STA (Surveillance, Target, and Acquisition) teams in Haditha were surprised and overrun by a small 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
The Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV)—official designation AAVP-7A1 (formerly known as Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Personnel-7 abbr. LVTP-7)—is a fully tracked amphibious vehicle, amphibious landing vehicle manufactured by BAE Systems Land & Ar ...
hit a large road side bomb, killing 15 out of the 16 on board.
Marine snipers overrun
On the morning of 1 August 2005 a pair of three-man
USMC Reserve
The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...
STA teams on the outskirts of Haditha was attacked by a small insurgent force from the
Ansar al-Sunna
Jamaat Ansar al-Sunnah ( ar, جماعة أنصار السنه, Jama'at 'Anṣār as-Sunnah, lit=Assembly of the Helpers of Sunnah), also known as Jaish Ansar al-Sunna (Army of the Helpers of Sunnah), Ali ibn Abi Talib Battalion or simply as ...
group and in moments was overrun. Five members of the unit were killed. One was missing and initially was hoped to have escaped. Later he was reported to have been seen alive but wounded and being driven through the streets of Haditha, handcuffed, by insurgents.
Operation Quick Strike
![1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment (2005)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/1st_Squad%2C_3rd_Platoon%2C_Lima_Company%2C_3rd_Battalion%2C_25th_Marine_Regiment_%282005%29.jpg)
Two days after the killing of the USMC sniper teams, around 1,000 members of the USMC's
Regimental Combat Team 2
The 2nd Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. They are based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and fall under the command of the 2nd Marine Division and the II Marine Expeditionary Force.
C ...
(RCT-2), along with 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
''Super Cobra'' is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Konami, originally released as a coin-operated arcade video game in 1981. It was published by Konami in Japan in March 1981 and manufactured and distributed by Stern in North Amer ...
helicopter gunship attack.
On the second day of the operation, a USMC amphibious assault vehicle, which was transporting men to the initial assault, hit a large roadside bomb. The vehicle was completely destroyed and 15 out of the 16 men that were inside it were killed, with only one occupant surviving. The sole survivor was a young man from Mississippi; among the killed was also an Iraqi civilian interpreter.
All but three of the Marines killed were assigned to
3rd Battalion, 25th Marines
3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (3/25) is a reserve infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps. The battalion was first formed in 1943 for service in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, taking part in a number of signifi ...
(3/25). The Marines not assigned to 3/25 were assigned to 4th Amphibious Assault Battalion. The driver of the vehicle was ejected when the amphibious assault vehicle (also known as "amtracs", "'tracs", "tractors" etc.) was thrown through the air. Though he did live he received severe burns on a majority of his body. Eleven of them were members of the battalion's Lima Company. The company had already lost twelve servicemen since the beginning of the war, including eight members in
Operation Matador in May. In May, out of the 9 Marines killed and 40 wounded during Matador, five killed and nine wounded were from the same squad of Lima company. During 2005, Lima Company was the workhorse of both RCT-2 and 3/25, participating in 15 regimental and battalion operations throughout their tour. The company saw combat from
Hīt
Hīt, also spelled ''Heet'' ( ar, هيت), ancient name ''Is'', is an Iraqi city in Al-Anbar province. Hīt lies northwest of Ramadi, the provincial capital.
Straddling the Euphrates River, the city of Hīt was originally a small walled town su ...
, Iraq in the east to
Al-Qa'im in the west. During Operation Matador, all members of one squad were killed or wounded in 96 hours of fighting. By the end of their deployment the Ohio Marine battalion lost 48 Marines and sailors and another 150 wounded out of a complement of 1,350 Marines.
Small Craft Company USMC
Small Craft Company (SCCO) was a United States Marine Corps unit created in 1991 and deactivated in 2005.
History
SCCO was equipped with a variety of boats designed to provide transportation and fire support to Marine infantry units.
SCCO's miss ...
assisted in locating the bodies of the slain snipers and were engaged in a large fire fight on the east bank of the Euphrates River in the city of Haditha.
Aftermath
On 1 August 2005, Lima Company,
3/25
3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (3/25) is a reserve infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps. The battalion was first formed in 1943 for service in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, taking part in a number of signifi ...
had detained two "military-aged" males in the home next to the site where the snipers had been killed and had found large quantities of blood in the house. Both these Iraqi males were flown to Al Asad Airbase for interrogation. In late August 2005, Lima Company, 3/25 conducted a raid on the same house and detained seven Iraqi males. A large weapons cache of small arms and explosives was discovered buried behind the house. These Iraqi males were also transported to Al Asad Airbase where six of them subsequently confessed to the killing of the snipers.
In September 2005
3rd Battalion, 1st Marines
3rd Battalion 1st Marines (3/1) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Camp Horno on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. Nicknamed the "Thundering Third", the battalion consists of approximately 1,220 ...
surrounded the Haditha Triad (
Haditha
, settlement_type = City
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,
Barwanah
Barwanah ( ar, بَرْوَانَة, Barwānah) is a town in Al-Anbar province in Iraq. The town was captured by ISIL
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to des ...
,
Haqlaniyah
Al-Haqlaniyah (Arabic: الحقلانية, al-Ḥaqlānīyah) is an Iraqi town on the Euphrates River in Al-Anbar province
Al Anbar Governorate ( ar, محافظة الأنبار; ''muḥāfaẓat al-’Anbār''), or Anbar Province, is the large ...
) and assaulted Haditha. The city was proclaimed to be another
Fallujah-esque battle, i.e., heavy house to house fighting. 3/1 would hold the entire Triad area of Haditha, Barwanah, and Haqlaniyah until March 2006 when
3/3 relieved them. During 3/1's deployment, they found over 1,000 caches, detained over 400 known insurgents and lost four Marines during their entire deployment.
In early 2006, eight Iraqi men involved in the sniper incident were tried by an Iraqi court in Baghdad, found guilty, and executed. This raid is referenced in the A&E documentary ''Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company'' which premiered in May 2006.
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References
External links
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See also
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Haditha killings
The Haditha massacre (also called the Haditha killings or the Haditha incident) was a series of killings on November 19, 2005, in which a group of United States Marines killed 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians. The killings occurred in Haditha, a cit ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haditha
Battles of the Iraq War in 2005
Battles of the Iraq War involving the United States
Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)
United States Marine Corps in the Iraq War
Al Anbar Governorate
Filmed killings
August 2005 events in Iraq