"...and 5 Marines were injured, two very seriously".
Something is very wrong here. The quoted sentence is from a recommended dairy posted Friday May 19, 2006 on Dailykos. http://www.dailykos.com/...
It describes an ambush on a group of about 35 Marines in Afghanistan on Aug. 14, 2005. The account continues that one Marine was wounded while eating, indicating that the ambushers achieved some surprise. Yet there were only five Marine casualties and 211 deaths by the attackers. I don't believe it. The Afghanis, Taliban or not, have had a lot of experience at ambushes. They are better at it than this report would indicate.
Another account, on the official Marine Corps website, describes an ambush of the second platoon, Echo company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine regiment, on Aug. 18, 2005, written by a sergeant who quotes a corporal and a staff sergeant. There were an estimated 20 to 30 ambushers involved, at least three of whom were killed. No mention is made of any Marine casualties.
The attackers used "advanced ambush tactics" which the writer describes briefly; this was no suicide "banzai" attack. http://www.marines.mil/...
I hope that the reports of 211 dead "bitches" is simply a wild exagerration. It does, however, remind me of the first account I read of the My Lai massacre which simply described an engagement where several hundred "Viet Cong" were killed with very few American casualties.