On The Scene: A Ghost Town

U.S. Troops Wonder Why Iraqis Are Fighting

(CBS)  It's been a deadly three days for Iraqis in Kifl, a small town on the east bank of the Euphrates River.

After two nights of fighting, the Americans used the cover of the sandstorm to sneak in more troops, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod.

"When the Shamal [dry winds often accompanied by dust storms] lifted this morning, the enemy realized that we were right in the middle of them," said Lt. Col. J.R. Sanderson.

Since this morning, Iraqi soldiers, Republican guard and militia have felt the full range of American power -- from troops on the ground to a bomb dropped from 40,000 feet.

The Iraqis are outmanned and outmatched, but fighting fiercely.

"Well you saw that town obviously, that was a little piece of Somalia there. Just like the movies,'' said Capt. Carter Price.

Kifl is now a ghost town, silent except for the burst of gunfire and an occasional rooster crowing. On the streets are a few dozen bodies. And in one store, a bizarre, incongruous image.

Inside Adam's Barber Shop a painting dominates the room: a picture of the twin towers. It's not a trophy painting of the destroyed towers -- it's more like some glorification of them, right here in the middle of Iraq.

"It's certainly bizarre. That's the only word that can come up," said Col. Will Grimsley.

That's not the only challenge to logic in Kifl. Iraqis are facing American troops, sometimes armed with nothing more than a flintlock rifle. They take on tanks with their sedans.

"Ask any one of my soldiers out here right now, what the key question is in my task force," Lt. Col. Sanderson said. "The question is, 'Why are they doing this?' I don't know ... I don't have the answer."

The U.S. now has hundreds of prisoners here.

Some prisoners followed the instructions broadcast on loudspeakers. Others have been shot and captured.

But the critical importance of the battle for Kifl is that the U.S. Army has now crossed the Euphrates -- and held a town, something that must be done to get to Baghdad.