Her father was forced into a detachment of irregular fighters who were sent against German tanks in groups of five, provided with only one rifle.

Mercenary or irregular fighters could also develop their own fashions, which set them apart from civilians, but were not really uniforms.

But the Iraqis had a low-tech solution: they deployed a large number of irregular fighters who were equipped with machine guns and small arms.

Tikrit was not declared fully secure, and some officers openly worried about attacks by terrorists or irregular Iraqi fighters in civilian clothes.

So what about these irregular fighters?

Saddam Hussein's security forces and other irregular fighters used artillery and mortar fire against crowds who attacked them, military intelligence officials reported.

The bulk of actual fighting was carried out by varying numbers of "internal" irregular fighters who comprised six regional commands.

Unquestionably, these rules make life legally easier for irregular fighters, and some would see this as making the rules of war more "fair."

After the last cruise missile has been launched and the last irregular fighter silenced, we will look back on the war that was wrought.

And for lack of any other protection, he said they had to rely on irregular Albanian fighters.