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Juba (sniper)

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"Juba" is the nom de guerre of a sniper involved with the Iraqi insurgency who, in his most recent video, claims to have killed 37 United States soldiers. However, according to official U.S reports a total of 38 American soldiers have been killed by sniper fire in Iraq and Afghanistan, so one of the numbers must be false. However Juba's video do show footage of several US soldiers falling to sniper shots. [1] Whether Juba is a real individual, a composite of several insurgency snipers, or a character invented for use as propaganda is unknown.

First video

In November 2005, a video which was was circulating in Iraq appeared on the Internet [2]. The video, attributed to the Islamic Army in Iraq, showed a United States soldiers falling to the ground, allegedly due to attacks by Juba.

Also released was a video clip containing nine shootings of men appearing to be US soldiers. The video starts with a character saying, "I have nine bullets in this gun and I have a present for George Bush. I am going to kill nine people. I am doing this for the viewers to watch. God is great. God is great (Allahu Akhbar)." With that, he makes his way from the vehicle, and a series of separate scenes begin, showing several individuals shot in action.

Rumors of capture

It has been rumored that "Juba" may have been captured on June 2, 2005. An Iraqi sniper, in a van at a distance of 75-100 metres away from American soldier Stephen Tschiderer, shot at him using a rifle with a telescopic sight. Tschiderer was hit, but his injuries were minimal due to his body armor [2] Soldiers from the B Company, 4th Battalion, 1st Iraqi Army Brigade unit began searching the insurgents (allegedly the sniper and the driver who videotapes the attacks). [3] [4]

The army located the van and discovered a cushioned sniping nest. This nest was lined with numerous bed mattresses to muffle the sound of a Dragunov sniper rifle [5], which was used to fire through a hole just big enough for the shooter to engage his target of choice. The driver of the van was detained and the wounded shooter was captured after a short pursuit by Tschiderer and B Company.

Second video

A second Juba video was distributed in 2006 as an end-of-Ramadan gift in western Baghdad and released on the Internet in late October 2006. The video contained an interview with the self-styled commander of the Baghdad sniper division, footage shows numerous fighters being trained in the use of sniper rifles. The video emphasizes the fear generated in coalition forces by insurgency snipers, and shows "Juba" returning from a sniping mission, marking a tally on the wall of how many soldiers he has sniped, for a total of 37. The sniper then sits down to make a diary entry. The tape claims there are dozens of snipers operating within the Islamic Army of Iraq and other factions, and shows more being trained. The rest of the video shows numerous clips of US soldiers being sniped, and the Baghdad sniper commander explaining that his men are inspired and trained to an extent based on the information in the book The Ultimate Sniper by retired Major and US marine sniper John Plaster.

Blogs

Many websites and blogs from different countries talk about "Juba the Sniper", providing stories, pictures and movie clips which feature soldiers "Juba" has supposedly sniped. There is no evidence that any of these websites have any link to "Juba", though some of them claim to have been written by "Juba," himself.

References

  1. ^ "U.S. military probes sniper threat in Baghdad" by Paul Holmes. Reuters news service, Sun Oct 29, 2006 last accessed October 31, 2006.
  2. ^ [1].

Please note that these videos may contain graphic footage

Second Production Release Date October 2006

Password for Packed File = juba2

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