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Iraq

Weapon-Mart raided in Sadr City - Made in China on labels, also Iran 2008

2008-08-06

BAGHDAD – An Iraqi citizen led Iraqi Army Soldiers to a weapons cache in the Sadr City district of Baghdad Aug. 4. “We saved a lot of lives tonight,” said Maj. Gen. Muzer, commander of the 11th Iraqi Army Division. “We will never know how many, but this is something of which we can be proud.” Iraqi Army Soldiers with the 3rd Battalion, 42nd Brigade, 11th Iraq Army Division, found the cache at approximately 7:30 p.m. The cache consisted of 28 107 mm Iranian rockets; one 107 mm Chinese rocket; seven 122 mm Russian rockets; 63 60 mm Iranian mortars; one 240 mm warhead; 25 Chinese fuses; 25 Iranian fuses; a propellant charge for a rocket propelled grenade; one 120 mm mortar tube; two Iranian 60 mm mortar tubes; one 81 mm mortar tube; eight 107 mm rocket launchers; eight mortar sights; improvised explosive device-making materials, and video tapes of attacks on Iraqi Security and Coalition forces. The weapons cache consisted of new Iranian munitions with a manufacture date of early 2008. Both the 107 mm and 122 mm rocket types were used against the International Zone and civilian populace throughout Baghdad during late March and early May. There were approximately 1,100 rockets fired, resulting in 149 civilian casualties in that timeframe. “This is a significant find not only because the IA has successfully eliminated a large cache of Iranian weapons, but also because this was entirely an Iraqi operation, supported by Iraqi citizens, deep in Sadr City where the IA operate independently of their U.S. advisors,” said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, public affairs officer for 4th Infantry Division and Multi National Division-Baghdad.

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Iraq

Insurgents Using New Homemade Rocket Weapon in Iraq

2008-07-11

U.S. commanders in Iraq are concerned that Shiite insurgents are using a new type of high-powered homemade weapon that uses rockets made in Iran and elsewhere. In the most recent attack, on Tuesday in northeastern Baghdad, an Iraqi soldier and a U.S. soldier were wounded. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon. The U.S. military calls the weapons Improvised Rocket-Assisted Munitions (IRAM). They are propane gas tanks loaded with explosives and lashed to rockets. Several IRAMs can be packed in the back of an open truck, and launched by remote control. One report refers to them as flying roadside bombs, a reference to another relatively crude but highly effective insurgent weapon that has been the leading cause of death among U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq. "It does concern us," said Major General Michael Oates. "It is a home-made, multiple-launch rocket system. And it is very dangerous." Major General Michael Oates is commander of U.S. and coalition forces in central Iraq, south of Baghdad. He is concerned even though he has not seen any IRAMs in his area. The new weapons have so far only been found in Baghdad, where the U.S. military says they have been used by Shiite militias affiliated with Iran, and often powered by Iranian-made rockets. But Major General Oates says he does not know for sure whether Iran is providing the material, technology or training for the IRAMs. "I'm not prepared to state that it's Iranian-made or Iranian-influenced," he added. "I don't have any information that would lead me to believe that. It is an improvised explosive, therefore it's not manufactured the way it is employed. So, somebody is having to train someone to modify this weapon system. Where that training is coming from, I just don't know the specifics on right now." U.S. officials have accused Iranian agents of providing equipment and training for high-powered roadside bombs that have killed several U.S. troops. The Iranian government has denied the charge, even though Iranian operatives have been captured inside Iraq allegedly working on the project. The Improvised Rocket-Assisted Munitions have been launched into several small American bases, killing three U.S. troops and wounding 15. But the most deadly IRAM incident involved an aborted attack in early June, in which several of the bombs exploded prematurely, killing 16 Iraqi civilians and two attackers. In a VOA interview, the spokesman for coalition forces in Baghdad, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Stover, says the IRAMs first appeared late last year, and there have been fewer than 10 such attacks. He says that's far fewer than attacks by roadside bombs, car bombs, snipers, mortars or conventional rockets. "The IRAM itself, much like those other weapons systems, is something that we're trying to stay one step ahead of," he explained. "So, what we're trying to do is find the networks that are making these things. There is an award for it, that leads to the cell leaders or the people who are making the devices." Lieutenant Colonel Stover says the military is also taking steps to defend against the new weapons, but he would not provide details. He says the rocket-propelled bombs are difficult to hide, because they are launched on rails that often stick out the back of the trucks where they are mounted. He says they are shot high into the air, but only travel a short distance. "It's a home-made system," he noted. "It's something that somebody was taught to make. I mean, I'm not saying it's a very extremely crude device, but if you take a rail, you put that in the back of a truck, you put a rocket on it and you light a fuse. It depends on how high you put the rail, that's how high it's going to go." Lieutenant Colonel Stover says while many of the rockets used in IRAMs were made in Iran, the military has found some that were made in Russia and China.

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Iraq

Shia militia groups blamed for bombing in Baghdad

2008-06-14

The US military blamed Shia militia fighters yesterday for a bombing the day before that killed six Iraqi civilians and wounded nine other people, including two American soldiers in Baghdad. US airstrikes also destroyed a booby-trapped house believed to be an Al Qaeda in Iraq hideout yesterday, killing four suspected insurgents northeast of the capital, the military said. The blast occurred at about 9:45am on Wednesday when an armour-piercing roadside bomb targeted an American convoy in a northern section of the capital, the military said. The statement, which gave the casualty toll, said the bomb was an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, a signature weapon of Shia militias that the US alleges comes from Iran. At least seven kilogrammes of explosives were used, it said. "These special groups criminals continue to indiscriminately attack, kill and injure innocent Iraqi civilians who are just trying to live their daily lives," said Lt-Colonel Steve Stover, a spokesman for US forces in Baghdad. The US military uses the term "special groups criminals" to refer to what it says are Iranian-backed militia factions refusing to follow a cease-fire order by anti-US cleric Muqtada Al Sadr. The explosion occurred near a bridge and those killed included a woman and a seven-year-old boy. The attack came as the US and Iraqi militaries press forward with operations targeting the Shia militia fighters. Many of them are believed to have fled a crackdown in Baghdad's main Shia stronghold of Sadr City.

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Iraq

Accidental weapons truck explosion kills 18 in Baghdad, wounds 75

2008-06-04

AoS at 1510 CDT: title corrected. A tractor-trailer loaded with Shiite militia rockets accidentally exploded Wednesday in a densely populated area of northeast Baghdad, killing 18 people and wounding 75, the U.S. military said. It was the deadliest explosion in Baghdad in more than two months. Iraqi police said the blast was a suicide truck bomb that struck near the home of an Iraqi police general, killing his nephew and wounding his elderly parents. But the U.S. military said Shiite extremists were positioning a large truck of loaded with rockets and mortars, aiming the weapons at a U.S. combat outpost 700 yards away, when it mistakenly exploded. The explosion crumbled several two-story buildings, buried cars under rubble and sheared off a corrugated steel roof. From next to the police general's house. How clever. "They were trying to attack us at that FOB (forwarding operating base), and it went off (accidentally). They wouldn't waste rockets like that," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman. Stover said the militants responsible for the truck had likely fled recent fighting in Sadr City. Also Wednesday, three U.S. soldiers were shot dead in northern Iraq, and the decaying bodies of at least 23 Iraqis were discovered in a shallow grave and a sewer shaft at separate sites near Baghdad. The Americans were killed when gunmen opened fire on them in the northern Iraqi village of Hawija, according to a brief military statement. The area, once a hub for Sunni militants and disaffected allies of Saddam Hussein, is thought to have been pacified in recent months. Last year it hosted one of the largest sign-on ceremonies for tribal sheiks partnering with U.S. forces to fight al-Qaida in Iraq. The latest U.S. deaths brought to at least 4,090 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. South of Baghdad, Iraqi villagers and soldiers unearthed at least 13 bodies from a shallow, dusty grave in farmland on the outskirts of Latifiyah, a mostly Sunni town that also has some Shiite residents. The bodies were first discovered Tuesday, but digging continued a day later. Associated Press Television News footage showed Iraqi troops and civilians clawing through dusty soil with shovels. At least three severely decomposed bodies could be seen in side-by-side graves. The U.S. military could not confirm the discovery, but said its soldiers, acting on a tip from a local citizen, found at least 10 decomposed bodies Tuesday in a separate location, in the sewer shaft of a building in east Baghdad. Those victims appeared to have died more than two years ago, Stover said, adding that Iraqi police have taken over the investigation. Latifiyah, which lies about 20 miles south of Baghdad, was taken over by al-Qaida-linked militants a few years ago, and became a hotbed of Sunni militant activity before U.S. and Iraqi forces regained control late last year, said Iraqi Maj. Faisal Ali Hussein, who supervised that digging Tuesday. Only now are villagers — feeling safer without the militants there — beginning to point out possible sites of mass graves in the area, he said. Most of the bodies were too decomposed to identify and they were reburied next to where they were discovered, said another Iraqi army officer at the scene, who refused to give his name because of safety concerns. Or did he just refuse to give his name for employment concerns? Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it detained nine suspects and destroyed two "terrorist safe houses" Wednesday in raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq across central and northern parts of the country. One of the men had been wanted for alleged involvement in weapons distribution and car bombings in Baghdad, the military said in a statement. Another suspect was responsible for organizing suicide bombings and helping foreign militants enter Iraq, the statement said. Information from other detainees already in U.S. custody led American troops on Wednesday to two facilities that housed foreign militants west of Mosul, it said. The buildings were safely destroyed. In a separate operation Wednesday, Iraqi police said they uncovered a large weapons cache near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. Among the load were hundreds of explosive belts, three assembled car bombs and several different types of rockets, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. One suspect also was arrested in the raid. Hundreds of explosive belts? Do they really need that many?

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Iraq

I was a Teenage Suicide Bomber

2008-05-26

Six Iraqi Teens: Man Forced Us to Become Suicide Bombers BAGHDAD — Six teenage boys who said they were being trained as suicide bombers were detained Monday in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi officials said. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf told The Associated Press that the boys were between the ages of 14 and 16, and that initial investigations show they were being trained by a Saudi militant who was killed in military operations. The soldiers were acting on tips when they found the boys in the basement of an abandoned house that was being used by insurgent groups in the Sumar area in southeastern Mosul, deputy Interior Minister Kamal Ali Hussein said later at a press conference. He said the boys had been recruited over the last month to carry out suicide bombings against Iraqi security forces in Mosul, although the specific targets had not been revealed to them. The insurgents had threatened to kill the boys or their families if they refused to obey, Kamal said, adding that the group included the son of a female physician, the son of a college professor and four who belonged to families of poor vendors. "They were trained how to carry out suicide attacks with explosive belts and a date was fixed for each one of them," he said. The U.S. military in northern Iraq said American forces were not involved and had no information about the arrests. U.S. and Iraqi military commanders claim that Al Qaeda in Iraq is increasingly trying to use women and children in attacks to avoid stepped-up security measures. There has been a series of recent bombings by women. Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, is believed to be the insurgent network's last urban stronghold. U.S. and Iraqi forces launch a crackdown there this month. The Iraqi government is trying to assert control over the country and the Mosul offensive is one of a trio of major operations. The other two are focused on Shiite extremists in Baghdad's Sadr City district and the southern city of Basra. A roadside bomb struck a U.S. mine-resistant armored vehicle known as an MRAP on a road that runs parallel to the canal on the southern edge of Sadr City, but it caused no casualties, according to the American military. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said American forces have faced other roadside bombings in the district since anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army militia to stop fighting after fierce clashes that killed hundreds of people. But he said the truce had brought the numbers sharply down. In other violence Monday, a bomber on a motorcycle struck a checkpoint manned by Iraqi police and U.S.-allied Sunni fighters Monday north of Baghdad, killing four people, officials said. The blast occurred about 200 yards away from the house of the head of the local awakening group, which has joined forces with the Americans against Al Qaeda in Iraq in Tarmiyah, according to a police official and a member of the group. Those killed included a policeman, two Awakening Council guards and a civilian, according to the police. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. A U.S. soldier also was killed and two others wounded Monday in a roadside bombing in the northern Salahuddin province, raising to at least 4,082 the number of American service members who have died in Iraq since the war started in March 2003. Another roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint on the road that leads to the Baghdad International Airport, wounding five people, including one Iraqi soldier and four civilians, police said. The attacks came a day after the U.S. military said violence in Iraq had reached its lowest levels in four years. Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll, a U.S. military spokesman, said Sunday that the number of attacks in the past week decreased to a level "not seen since March 2004," although he did not give specific figures. Suspected Al Qaeda fighters also kidnapped an Awakening Council leader, Sheik Saleh al-Karkhi, and his brother after blowing up his house Monday in the village of Busaleh in the volatile Diyala province north of the capital, a police official said, declining to be identified because he wasn't supposed to release the information.

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Iraq

135 detained in raids on Shiite strongholds - Bodies found stashed in Mosque

2008-05-24

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi and U.S. troops raided several Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad on Friday, detaining hundreds and uncovering a large cache of weapons and explosives, an Iraq Defense Ministry official said. Several hundred Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. forces moved into neighborhoods in southwest and northwest Baghdad on Friday morning, the official said. Security forces detained 123 suspects in the southwest Baghdad operations, and another 12 were taken into custody in the northwest region. Four of those detained in northwest Baghdad were captured in al-Rahma Shiite mosque. Three unidentified bodies were also found in the mosque, according to the Iraqi official. Mosque or Morgue, same difference. The munitions cache, which included components for roadside bombs, was found near the office of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the Mehdi Army militia, according to a U.S. military spokesman. Some people were tested on the scene for explosive and gunpowder residue, according to Lt. Col. Steve Stover. He said 223 light and medium weapons and 30 kilos (66 pounds) of C4 explosives were found in one raid. Elsewhere in Iraq, a roadside bomb killed a civilian interpreter and wounded seven U.S. Marines and two Iraqi police officers in Falluja on Friday morning, according to the U.S. military. The Iraqi Interior Ministry had called the attack a suicide car bombing and said that an Iraqi police officer was killed. An Interior Ministry official said the bombing occurred at a checkpoint normally manned by Iraqi police and U.S. troops. Also in Falluja on Friday, a suicide bombing outside police headquarters wounded officers, the official said. Falluja had been a stronghold for insurgents in the early days of the Iraqi war but is now a center for the "awakening," which opposes al Qaeda in Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi military operations have chased many al Qaeda in Iraq cells out of Anbar province. Those militants now predominate in other areas, such as Nineveh province, and security forces have launched an offensive against them there.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran: No talks until U.S. stops Iraq attacks

2008-05-05

An Iranian official says the government wants the United States to stop its "savage attacks" in Iraq before its envoys hold more talks with U.S. and Iraqi officials, Iran's Fars News Agency reported. IOW: It's all America's fault until they capitulate. "Under the current circumstances and given the U.S. widespread attacks against Iraqi people in different cities, Iran does not feel these negotiations are necessary," an unnamed official told Fars. The official -- described as a senior member of Iran's negotiating team -- delivered the remarks as U.S. and Iraqi troops have been fighting Shiite militants in Baghdad and in Basra. The Bush administration says many of these fighters have backing from Iranian agents. Iran and the United States held three meetings in Baghdad last year to discuss improving security in Iraq. Two meetings were at the ambassadorial level and one was at the expert level. Iraqi officials hosted the meetings. The report noted that an Iranian delegation went to Baghdad in March for a fourth round of talks. But U.S. officials said at the time that no meeting had been planned and the delegation returned to Iran. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said last month that the United States was ready for another session. But the Iranian official told Fars that "if U.S. savage attacks against the Iraqi people are stopped, we will examine the U.S. request for a fourth round of talks." Hopefully this is just another dotted i or crossed t. This came after a five-member Iraqi delegation confronted Iranian officials in Tehran last week with evidence that Iran is smuggling weapons into Iraq and training Iraqi militants. The Iranians vehemently denied the charges, according to one member of the delegation, Haidar al-Abadi. Al-Abadi, a lawmaker and member of al-Maliki's Dawa Party, did not explain what the "evidence" was, but said "the Iranian side was hurt" by the allegations. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will form a committee to document what it calls Iranian "interference" in Iraqi affairs. Iran has long-standing ties to Iraq's Shiite parties, including the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which is the dominant party in the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of several parties. The Islamic Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq dominates the country's security forces. The United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish Alliance are the ruling entities in the Iraqi government. But U.S. commanders say Iranian support for "criminal" Shiite militias now battling Iraqi and American troops in Baghdad has begun to alarm the country's U.S.-backed government. U.S. and Iraqi forces say they are battling "outlaws" and Iranian-backed Special Groups in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, which is a stronghold of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. A spokesman for al-Sadr criticized the move to send an Iraqi delegation to Tehran, saying the issue should be settled in Iraq between Sadrists and the Iraqi government. The delegation did not meet with al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran. Meanwhile, fighting raged between U.S. troops and Shiite militants in Baghdad from Sunday night to Monday morning. The U.S. military reported the deaths of 10 militants and Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said 11 people, including civilians, were killed. Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman, said three "Special Group criminals" were killed and another wounded Sunday night in northeastern Sadr City, while three "militants" were killed in the eastern neighborhood of New Baghdad. An Interior Ministry spokesman said Monday that at least six were killed and 41 wounded in overnight fighting in Sadr City. Stover said three militants were killed and two civilians were wounded in western Baghdad's Amil district. He said U.S. troops fired at gunmen who ambushed them with small arms fire and requested air support. Warplanes shot three Hellfire missiles at militant targets, he said. An Interior Ministry official said U.S. airstrikes in Amil destroyed an apartment, killing five people and wounding eight. Among the dead were a father, a mother and their daughter, an official said. The U.S. military said its soldiers called for air support in the Kadhimiya district of northern Baghdad, a Shiite enclave, after fighters shot at them with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. An AC-130 engaged the target with 40 mm rounds and killed one "criminal."

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Iraq

US military reports relative lull in Baghdad's Sadr City

2008-04-27

BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military reported a relative lull in fighting Saturday, a day after radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said his threat of an "open war" applied only to American-led foreign troops. Still, at least 12 Iraqis were wounded Saturday in sporadic clashes in the sprawling slum district of Sadr City, a stronghold of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, officials said. No U.S. or Iraqi troop casualties were reported. The injured in Sadr City included a school boy wounded by a stray bullet that pierced his school bag, health officials said. Elsewhere in Baghdad, eight people — including five policemen — were injured in separate attacks, officials said. The lull in fighting came after Al-Sadr called Friday for an end to Iraqi bloodshed and said his threat of an "open war" applied only to U.S.-led foreign troops, stepping back from a full-blown confrontation with the government over a crackdown against his followers. Al-Sadr's appeal won support of some residents of Sadr City who also have been facing shortages of food and supplies. "He wants this city to be stable taking into consideration that the people are suffering from the deteriorating situation and from escalating prices," said 42-year-old Naji Mohammed, a father of three. "In general, people in Sadr City are very happy about this decision. I think Mahdi Army elements are also happy about it, but till now the situation has not changed yet in Sadr City," he added. Other residents were worried about factions within the Mahdi Army who may not be willing to observe the cease-fire. U.S. authorities claim that "special forces" trained by Iran are operating within the ranks of the Mahdi Army. "I am afraid that some ill-intentioned groups of Mahdi Army who are disloyal to (al-Sadr) will not respect this decision," said Ayad Muhsen, 21, a college student. Al-Sadr's militia have clashed daily with U.S.-backed Iraqi security forces since al-Maliki launched a crackdown against the militias a month ago. Last week, al-Sadr issued what he called a "final warning" to the Shiite-led government to halt its offensive or face an "open war until liberation." Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Friday set conditions for calling off the crackdown against the Mahdi army and other militias, including the unconditional handover of weapons. During the past month, the Mahdi army has regularly lobbed rockets and mortar shells at the fortified Green Zone that houses foreign embassies and the Iraqi government. But the U.S.-led forces said they have largely pushed them out of effective range of the area. "I'm seeing that basically since we took over south Sadr City the rocket and mortar attacks have become a lot less effective," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, military spokesman for U.S. forces in Baghdad. There were no major engagements that required the intervention of U.S. helicopter gunships, Stover said. "We had no airstrikes last night. There were no major engagements last night. it was fairly quiet," he said.

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Iraq

Rice sees Iraqi unity emerging in battle against Sadr

2008-04-21

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Baghdad Sunday as Iraq continued its assault on Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in Baghdad and in the southern city of Basra. Mr. Sadr warned Saturday that continued attacks on his Shiite militiamen could spark an "all-out war." But Ms. Rice sees progress, saying a new political unity was emerging around Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's efforts to diminish the power and influence of the Mahdi Army. "You have seen a coalescing of a center in Iraqi politics in which the Sunni leadership, the Kurdish leadership, and elements of the Shiite leadership that are not associated with these special groups have been working together better than at any time before," Rice said, referring to "special groups" within the Mahdi Army that the US says are rogue elements trained and funded by Iran. With Iraq's Sunni and Kurdish leaders backing Mr. Maliki, a Shiite, Rice said the combined effort against Sadr marked a turning point that was a "moment of opportunity." But the ongoing offensive against the Shiite militia, which began last month, didn't start well for Iraq. The government has charged some 1,300 Iraqi soldiers with retreating from and abandoning the initial Basra battle. The fighting spread to Baghdad, and scores of civilians have been killed. Also, in Basra, the situation didn't begin to calm until the United States military sent air power in support of government forces and a cease-fire was brokered in Iran. On Saturday, Iraqi forces announced they had taken over the last Mahdi Army stronghold in Basra in operations with US and British forces. The Americans have been pressing Maliki for more than a year to confront the Shiite militias that have gained a stronghold over much of southern Iraq. The brunt of the government's action fell on the Mahdi Army and other supporters of Sadr, who wields considerable power both in his parliamentary bloc and as an extragovernmental influence. And as if to respond to Rice's high-profile show of American support for Maliki's actions, the Green Zone in Baghdad was rocked by mortar fire during the visit – probably fired from Sadr's bastion of support north of the center in Sadr City. In recent days the US military has built a wall around the southernmost section of the 2 million mostly poor residents in an effort to keep out the teams of rocket and mortar launchers who have used the area to target the Green Zone. Gunmen also attacked a US checkpoint with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortar shells. That strike sparked a battle between the US and the militiamen that left at least seven militants dead. Iraqi forces reportedly killed three men who they said were planting roadside bombs. "There was an uptick in violence in comparison with the past couple of weeks," said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover. He declined to link it to Sadr's warning, which was broadcast over mosque loudspeakers inside Sadr City late Saturday. In his statement, Sadr said "[I am] giving my final warning to the Iraqi government to abandon violence against the Iraqi people. If the government does not [stop its attacks] we will declare an all-out war until liberation."

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Iraq

MND-B Soldiers kill 12 criminals

2008-04-20

Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers killed 12 criminals and detained three in separate events in Baghdad April 20. At 6:40 a.m., MND-B Soldiers witnessed five individuals emplacing an improvised explosive device in the Adhamiyah district. The Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment engaged the criminals as they were emplacing the IED. The IED detonated during the engagement killing three and wounding one. Also in Adhamiyah at approximately 8 a.m., the 1st Bn, 21st Inf. Soldiers engaged and killed seven criminals carrying three PKC machine guns, three AK-47s and a rocket propelled grenade launcher. A Stryker element supporting the mission killed two more criminals carrying AK-47s on a nearby rooftop. In another incident, Soldiers with the 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment detained two men in possession of various illegal weapons and bomb making material at approximately 4 a.m. in the East Rashid district in southern Baghdad. “We are not initiating these engagements,” said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, 4th Infantry Division and MND-B spokesman. “Coalition forces will continue to defend ourselves against criminals who ignore the Iraqi rule of law.”

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Iraq

60 die as car bombs rip through crowded areas in Iraq

2008-04-16

Car bombs and a suicide attacker struck crowded areas in Baghdad and former insurgent strongholds to the north and west of the capital Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people and breaking a recent lull in violence in the predominantly Sunni areas. The attacks were a deadly reminder of the threat posed by suspected Sunni insurgents even as clashes between Shiite militia fighters and U.S.-Iraqi forces continued elsewhere. The U.S. military condemned the bombings and said they appeared to have been carried out by al-Qaida in Iraq. The first blast occurred in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, when a car parked in front of a restaurant exploded just before noon across the street from the central courthouse and other government offices. One survivor described a huge fire that sent black smoke billowing into the sky and left charred bodies inside their cars. "I was on my way to the government office when a big explosion occurred nearby," said the witness, who would only identify himself by his nickname Abu Ali. "As I approached the site, I saw cars on fire, burned bodies and damaged shops damaged with shattered glass everywhere." At least 40 people were killed and 70 wounded in the blast, according to hospital officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information. AP Television News footage showed many of the bodies covered in crisp white sheets in the main hospital's courtyard while the emergency room inside was overwhelmed with the wounded. The U.S. military in northern Iraq gave a slightly lower toll, saying 35 Iraqi citizens were killed, including a policeman, and 66 wounded in the attack. It was the deadliest bombing in Iraq since March 6 when a twin bombing killed 68 people in a crowded shopping district in the central Baghdad district of Karradah. A suicide attacker on a motorcycle later drove up to a kebab restaurant in Ramadi and detonated his explosives vest around 12:30 p.m., killing at least 13 people including three policemen and wounding 20 other people, police Capt. Abu Saif al-Anbari said. Hospital officials said two children were among the dead. Police initially thought a parked car had exploded in the industrial area but later determined it was a suicide attack, al-Anbari said. Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a 27-year-old mechanic, was at the restaurant when the blast occurred but escaped injury because he was sitting at a back table. He said his cousin, who owned the restaurant, had been killed. "Pieces of flesh flew into the air and the roof fell over us. I saw the horrible sight of bodies without heads or without legs or hands," he said. Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, is the capital of Anbar province and has largely been sealed off by checkpoints. Like Baqouba, the area has seen a sharp decline in violence in recent months as Sunni tribal leaders have joined forces with the Americans against al-Qaida in Iraq. The U.S. military said overall attacks in Diyala province have dropped more than 76 percent since June 2007. "Although attacks such as today's event are tragic, it is not indicative of the overall security situation in Baqouba," Maj. Mike Garcia, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Diyala, said in a statement. A parked car bomb also targeted a police patrol in central Baghdad, killing four civilians who were passing by and wounding 15 other people, police said. Elsewhere in northern Iraq, a double car bombing in Mosul wounded three Iraqi policemen and 15 civilians, the U.S. military said. Mosul is considered one of the last urban strongholds for al-Qaida in Iraq and the American and Iraqi militaries have promised a security crackdown. The relative calm in predominantly Sunni areas has coincided with clashes between Shiite militia fighters and U.S.-Iraqi forces in Baghdad and the oil-rich southern city of Basra. But while the Bush administration has begun citing what it calls Iranian-backed Shiite factions as the greatest threat to Iraq's stability, American commanders have consistently warned that al-Qaida-led insurgents continue to pose a serious danger. In other violence Tuesday, U.S. soldiers backed by an airstrike killed six militants during clashes in the Sudayrah area near Baghdad's main Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City, the military said. Iraqi police in the area claimed that two boys were among those killed in the airstrike, but the military said no civilian casualties were reported. Lt. Col. Steve Stover said separately that American troops killed four militants who fired rocket-propelled grenades at a tank elsewhere in the area. Clashes also broke out later Tuesday in Sadr City, leaving four militiamen killed and 15 others wounded, Iraqi police and hospital officials said.

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Iraq

Coalition issuing 6 Packs of Virgin Vouchers with complementary Tickets to Paradise

2008-04-11

UAV kills 6 heavily armed criminals Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO BAGHDAD – Coalition forces from Multi-National Division – Baghdad operating an unmanned aerial vehicle observed a large group of criminals with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and a mortar tube in northeast Baghdad at approximately 9:30 p.m. April 10. The UAV fired a Hellfire missile killing six heavily armed criminals at approximately 9:45 p.m. “U.S. Soldiers and their Iraqi partners are always vigilant in our efforts to protect the Iraqi people from criminals,” said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. “We remain committed to their safety, welfare and well-being.” UAV destroys mortar position, kills 6 Multi-National Division South East PAO BASRA – A Coalition forces unmanned aerial vehicle engaged a group of criminals firing mortars at Iraqi Security Forces at around 2:30 a.m. on April 11 killing six and injuring one. The criminals were observed in the Hyanniyah district of Basra by a Coalition aircraft and positively identified as an active mortar team. An air strike was called in to attack their position and neutralize the weapon. This is part of the ongoing support provided by Coalition forces to Iraqi Security Forces to assist in combating the destabilizing criminal elements in Basra which seek to undermine the authority of the legitimate government of Iraq.

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