USAToday

12/07/2001 - Updated 05:30 AM ET U.S. Marines fire mortar rounds, go on alert

SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN (AP) — U.S. Marines went on alert late Thursday and fired mortars from their base in southern Afghanistan to repel what a spokesman said was "almost certainly" an attempt by Taliban forces to probe their defenses. A UHN-1 Huey helicopter crashed near the airstrip here at Camp Rhino, and Marine spokesman Capt. Stewart Upton said two servicemen received minor injuries, one of them on the ground. He said the cause of the crash was under investigation, but ''we are 99% sure that the helicopter did not crash because of enemy fire.''

12/07/2001 - Updated 05:30 AM ET U.S. Marines fire mortar rounds, go on alert

SOUTHERN AFGHANISTAN (AP) — U.S. Marines went on alert late Thursday and fired mortars from their base in southern Afghanistan to repel what a spokesman said was "almost certainly" an attempt by Taliban forces to probe their defenses. A UHN-1 Huey helicopter crashed near the airstrip here at Camp Rhino, and Marine spokesman Capt. Stewart Upton said two servicemen received minor injuries, one of them on the ground. He said the cause of the crash was under investigation, but ''we are 99% sure that the helicopter did not crash because of enemy fire.'' Before the crash, small arms fire reverberated through the desert base along with the crisp blast of outgoing mortar rounds. Flares lit up the flat, dusty desert around Camp Rhino while journalists crouched in trenches.

The base went on high alert Thursday night because of what a spokesman, Capt. David T. Romley, called a "credible threat." He said armed reconnaissance vehicles were sent into the desert to try to identify the intruders and call in mortar fire.

"We're almost positive it is enemy probing," said Upton. He said it was clear that whoever was moving outside the perimeter had "hostile intent."

Journalists in the camp, who were issued military flak jackets and helmets, could see no incoming fire. However, they heard shouting outside the camp and the sound of gunfire. Helicopters made sweeps overhead in the clear night sky.

Defense Department rules governing the journalists' presence in the camp forbid reporting on exact operational measures.

Since the Marines seized this desert airstrip on Nov. 25, their only combat operation came on their second day, when Cobra helicopter gunships from the base helped warplanes from elsewhere attack a suspected hostile convoy that passed nearby.

But the Marines said Wednesday that they were moving into position around the Taliban's last stronghold, Kandahar, to make sure the Taliban don't escape or bring in reinforcements. The Taliban agreed Thursday to surrender the city, but had yet to begin handing over their weapons.

Marines from Base Rhino were called into action on Wednesday after an errant U.S. bomb killed three U.S. servicemen and five anti-Taliban Afghan fighters. Nineteen Americans and about 20 Afghans were injured.

Some of them were flown to the base, which has a Navy field medical unit with 10 doctors. The Americans and some of the Afghans were immediately flown out on C130 transports to hospitals elsewhere.

Reporters at the base were kept away from the medical unit as the casualties were brought in.

Maj. James Parrington, executive officer of the Marine Expeditionary Unit 15th's Battalion Landing Team 1, said other troops at the base were aware of the incident and that it has steeled them for the fight.

"This is real. We're not playing around. There are people out there who mean us ill will. It is serious," Parrington said.

The Marines, which U.S. officials have said number about 1,300, include the 15th and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Units, equipped with heavily armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 2001