OPERATION VIKING HAMMER: MAJOR OFFENSIVE AGAINST TERRORISTS

Operation Viking Hammer was an operation by US Special Forces and Peshmerga fighters to smash the terrorist organization Ansar al-Islam in Iraq.

The deployment into theater began in March 2003, right at the start of the Iraq War. Disagreements with Turkey forced it along a complicated route through several third countries, and at 13 hours it became the longest infiltration since World War II. Iraqi air defenses were still intact, so the American MC-130s had to keep evading enemy fire and popping decoy flares. One aircraft was forced into an emergency landing. Only afterward did Turkey grant overflight rights.

The terrorists held several elevated positions in the mountains of northern Iraq. The high ground gave them good observation but left them exposed to air attack. On March 21 the ridgeline came under cruise missile fire. Slow logistics meant there were not enough troops on the ground for an assault, so it did not go in until March 28.

The Green Berets and Peshmerga fighters attacked at first light, split into teams. The Kurdish fighters of Ansar al-Islam had taken heavy losses in the air strikes and had already surrendered, but several hundred well-trained and well-equipped enemy fighters still held their positions.

After the first firefights, air strikes drove the terrorists back into the town of Sargat. On the advance toward it, the coalition was pinned down for three hours by mortar and machine gun fire. The broken terrain ruled out close air support, so the enemy was fought with sniper and artillery fire. Some of the SF soldiers ran back to their vehicles and brought up automatic grenade launchers and .50 cal machine guns to get more firepower forward. When the fight started going well, a few Peshmerga called their relatives in the middle of the engagement to get them to join in.

By evening the enemy had been pushed back to the Iranian border, where they tried to escape through a cave system. The fighting carried on in and around the caves, and most of the fighters were captured or killed.

More than 300 enemy fighters were killed. The Peshmerga lost three men. The Americans had no casualties.

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