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The attack was carried out with deadly thoroughness, and took planning that illustrated the depth of the militants' information. The soldiers from the Black Watch had ventured on to the east bank of the Euphrates, outside their original area of operation. But somehow the insurgents knew they were coming, and were waiting.
In the early hours of the morning two Warrior armoured cars were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. But this appeared to have been purely intended to draw in other potential victims; the militants did not press home their attack.
The troops in the Warrior called for help and more soldiers arrived, setting up a vehicle checkpoint, on the northern road to Baghdad, and seemingly under the belief that the worst of it was over. The soldiers were now on foot, unprotected by armoured vehicles.
Then the final move was executed. A car packed with explosives drove up to the checkpoint. As one of the soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter leant inside the window, the car exploded. Three soldiers and the interpreter were killed. It had hardly been a secret in Baghdad and Fallujah that the insurgents had been carrying out detailed surveillance of the area where the British battle group was to deploy. This is after all a place where militants do traffic duty on roads guiding locals away from the places where they had planted bombs.
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