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Between 2,000 to 3,000 Iraqis were killed when US infantry moved through southern Baghdad, US Central Command spokesman Jim Wilkinson said on Sunday.
Wilkingson said the chief of the US Central Command, Gen. Tommy Franks, was briefed on the death toll of Saturday's raid "I know the number that Gen. Franks was briefed on and it was between 2,000 to 3,000," the spokesman said.
The raid was the first incursion of the coalition forces into the Iraqi capital city, and was designed to send a message to both the Iraqi leadership and civilians that coalition forces could move into the city at will, Air force Maj. Gen. Gene Renuart said.
The raid took two task forces of the 3rd Infantry Division up from the southern outskirts of the capital city, past Baghdad University and near the banks of the Tigris River, then back out to the western outskirts of the city to the airport.
(Xinhua News Agency April 6, 2003)
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