US Claim Jessica Attack Was 'Lies'

3:38pm UK, Wednesday July 09, 2003

Claims that Private Jessica Lynch was shot and stabbed as she fought with Iraqi attackers before being taken prisoner of war have been debunked by a US Army report.

The teenager actually suffered "horrific injuries" in a crash while attempting to flee an ambush on March 23 in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, it said.

Private Jessica Lynch

Newspaper reports at the time suggested that she emptied two revolvers in a fierce gunbattle with Iraqi troops.

Accident

But the army investigation, obtained by the Washington Times, concluded she was hurt in a road accident after the Humvee vehicle she was travelling in was hit by enemy fire.

Her friend, Pte Lori Ann Piestewa, lost control of the vehicle and smashed into a tractor-trailer at more than 45 mph.

Both women were pulled from the wreckage by their attackers and taken to hospital where 23-year-old Pte Piestewa later died.

"Lynch survived principally because of the medical attention she received from the Iraqis," one US official told the Times.

The following week she was freed in what appeared to be a dramatic rescue by American special forces, which received worldwide publicity.

Ambush

The 15-page report, which is expected to be released by the Pentagon on Thursday, is based largely on a commander's investigation into the ambush.

The convoy came under attack after taking a wrong turning and ending up in a section of Nasiriyah teeming with Iraqi troops.

Of 30 soldiers from the 507th Maintenance Company travelling in the convoy, 11 were killed and six were taken prisoner.

Pte Lynch, 19, from Palestine, West Virginia, suffered extensive fractures in the attack. She is currently recovering at a hospital in Washington DC and has not spoken about her ordeal.