Iraqi soldiers describe heavy losses as Islamic State overruns camp

(Reuters) – Iraqi soldiers described on Monday how Islamic State fighters inflicted heavy losses in a chaotic raid on a military base just an hour’s drive from Baghdad, highlighting the jihadists’ ability to attack high-profile targets despite U.S. air strikes.

Like at Camp Speicher, it remains unclear how many men were present at the base in Saqlawiya and how many are now dead and missing. However one officer who survived the raid said that of an estimated 1,000 soldiers in Saqlawiya, only about 200 had managed to flee.”This failure is not the fault of the soldiers … the mistake was that of the military leadership, they failed,” said the officer, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

“We were without ammunition and without food. Every time we contacted military commanders, they promised to send helicopters to air drop reinforcements but nothing happened,” said the officer, who fled to another base close to Falluja on Sunday. “We … were drinking salty well water and eating canned tomato paste.”

About 200 soldiers managed to escape the base on Sunday after battling with the militants in the area which soldiers call the “kilometer of death”.

On Wednesday, the insurgents sent a Humvee vehicle rigged with explosives into the camp. Guards mistakenly assumed that an army driver was at the wheel.

“When it exploded, it caused a lot of confusion. Islamic State exploited that and entered the camp. Now most of regiment headquarters within the base are under the control of Islamic State,” said the officer, adding that one, small army unit remained besieged in the camp.