The commander of a US battalion in Iraq sent his tanks and armoured vehicles through the streets of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit today in a demonstration of firepower to suspected insurgents.
Tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles and armoured personnel carriers rumbled through the centre the town, startling residents and causing traffic jams. Soldiers were posted on street corners and manned machine guns mounted on humvees as part of the contingent of several hundred troops.
Lieut-Col Steve Russell, commander of the 4th Infantry Division's 1-22 Battalion, said he wanted to show guerrillas around this hotbed of anti-American sentiment what his battalion looked like. "They need to understand it is more than Humvees that will be used against the resistance. We will absolutely crush the resistance he told reporters after the 90-minute display.
Asked if he was concerned guerrillas might have used the opportunity to attack his men from rooftops using rocket propelled grenades or AK-47s, Russell said: "That would be a great thing if they took a shot because then we could easily identify them, return fire and kill them."
There was no cheering from the hundreds of Iraqi onlookers, and plenty of hostile stares. Some residents stood on the balconies of dilapidated three-story buildings to watch.
Gunners sat atop the tanks, bearing inscriptions on their turrets such as "cowboys from hell" and "creeping death". US President George W. Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq on May 1st, but since then insurgents have stepped up attacks on US-led occupation forces in the country, killing 160 soldiers.
The show of might in Tikrit comes a day after US troops launched a fresh campaign in north-central Iraq against insurgents, dubbed Operation Ivy Cyclone Two.
Around midnight on Sunday, US troops fired mortar and tank rounds on various guerrilla targets near Tikrit, a two-hour drive north of Baghdad.