“Delta force just hit the bus station. They took down the terrorists and have secured one ambulance,” shouted Rodgers.

“One down, one to go,” said Clarke.

“There’s another delta force team on its way to the garage in Karbala. We should be able to see it go down from here,” said Rodgers. Our helicopter began circling above the city. In the west we could just make out a number of helicopters coming in fast.

“They will hover over the roof and drop off the team. The attack choppers will fly cover and take out any ground threat while they clear the building and secure the area,” said Rodgers. We were losing altitude to get a closer look.

I could see two Kiowa choppers, small maneuverable scouts, each with four men sitting in seats on the exterior of the chopper. They slowed and approached the flat top of a building, not far from the shrine. The Apache helicopters circled around them like protective dogs.

Then I saw something on a rooftop nearby.