Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- Ali Hassan's body is broken, courtesy of a sniper who blew holes in the soldier's left leg and left hand. The wounds are so fresh that blood seeps through the bandages. He winces as he struggles to try to sit up before giving up and lying back down on the gurney. Staring up at the stained hospital ceiling, Hassan recounts the fierce firefight Wednesday on the streets of Ramadi that landed him here. Across the room, a border guard wounded in the battle for the al Qaim border crossing writhes in pain as doctors examine his legs, which are being held by metal rods rather than bone. In the corner, an Iraqi special forces soldier is wrapped in bandages from gunshot wounds he received in a firefight outside of Samarra.
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Iraqi army soldiers, border guards, tell stories from the front line
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ISIS fighters are taking over large swaths of northern, western Iraq
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Civilians are also caught in the crossfire
Rather than surrender to @placeholder, he and 10 of his fellow border patrol officers ran six kilometers to a police station.