Iraq News Thread

[Ironduke]

Suicide car bombings kill at least 18 Iraqis

Cargo plane leaving Baghdad airport damaged by SAM
Saturday, November 22, 2003 Posted: 5:33 PM EST (2233 GMT)


BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Twin suicide bombing attacks in Iraq on Saturday killed at least 18 Iraqis and injured 30 more, a U.S.-led coalition spokesman said.

The bombings occurred a police stations north of Baghdad, and no coalition troops were injured in either attack.

Later, a surface-to-air-missile hit a courier plane shortly after it took off from Baghdad airport, military sources said, but the damaged plane was able to return to the airport.

Shortly before 8 a.m. (12 a.m. EST), a suicide car bomber killed at least nine Iraqis at a police station in Khan Bani Sa'ad, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) north of the Iraqi capital, coalition spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo said. At least 10 Iraqi civilians were injured.

The attacker drove a vehicle laden with explosives at high speed into the station and Iraqi police fired AK-47s at his vehicle, which detonated, said U.S. Capt. Ryan McCormick of Task Force Thunder.

A huge crater was left in front of the police station where the car bomb detonated. Three hours after the initial attack, another explosion was reported near the same police station, wounding at least two children -- one with a critical head injury -- witnesses told CNN.

At about the same time as the Khan Bani Sa'ad attack, a car bomb hit the Ba'qubah police station about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad, killing at least nine Iraqis -- six police and three civilians -- according to Gen. Ahmed Kadhim Ibrahim, senior deputy interior minister and Iraqi police chief.

At least 20 Iraqis were injured in the Ba'qubah attack.

Also on Saturday morning, a DHL courier plane landed safely at Baghdad International Airport after a heat-seeking surface-to-air missile hit one of its engines, according to military sources at the airport. No one was injured.

The aircraft had just taken off when it was hit by a SAM-7, sources said. A fire in one of the engines was extinguished after the plane landed, the sources said.

A military source said the missile had a one-pound warhead -- not big enough to bring down a large aircraft, but enough to cause damage.

Missiles have been fired several times at planes approaching the airport.

Saturday's incident was the first time a fixed-wing aircraft had been hit since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations May 1. In recent weeks, five U.S. helicopters have crashed or been shot down, killing 39 soldiers.

The U.S. military has stepped up its offensive against the anti-coalition insurgency throughout central Iraq, hammering guerrilla targets in Baghdad, Ba'qubah and other towns in the region where opposition to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq runs high.

Saturday's attacks come a day after rockets launched from donkey-pulled carts hit the Iraqi Oil Ministry and two heavily guarded hotels.

Two people were wounded, one of them a U.S. civilian at the Palestine Hotel, which houses Western journalists and coalition contractors. A bellboy at the Sheraton Hotel had minor wounds.

The oil ministry building was hit by seven to 10 rockets, a U.S. military commander said. There were no known casualties, and the launchers were later recovered.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt described Friday's attacks as "sensational" but "militarily insignificant."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

[Ironduke]

U.S. Jets Strike Central Iraq

Associated Press
November 23, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. warplanes struck targets in central Iraq on Sunday, witnesses reported, and at least three people were wounded when mortar shells hit an oil company compound in the northern city of Kirkuk, officials said.

Jets bombed areas around the city of Samara, about 75 miles north of Baghdad, according to the witnesses. The U.S. military did not immediately confirm the strikes.

Coalition aircraft and artillery have targeted suspected rebel areas for the past two weeks as part of their offensive against guerrillas in central and northern Iraq.

In Kirkuk, 150 miles north of Baghdad, the manager of the Iraqi Northern Oil Company said a club inside the company compound was struck overnight by mortar shells and that three foreigners were hurt.

Adel Al-Qazzaz said he did not know the nationality of the wounded or whether they are soldiers or civilians.

U.S. officials have warned of even more attacks as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan nears its end Tuesday.

On Saturday, insurgents hit a civilian cargo plane with a surface-to-air missile, but the aircraft landed safely.

The plane, operated by the Belgium-based cargo service DHL, was the first civilian airliner to be hit by insurgents, who have shot down several military helicopters with shoulder-fired rockets. DHL and Royal Jordanian, the only commercial carrier flying into Baghdad, immediately suspended flights.

The U.S. occupation authority said it was investigating the cause, but a military official said on condition of anonymity that a SAM-7 surface-to-air missile struck the plane. The damage to the plane also appeared consistent with the effects of a missile hit.

Also Saturday, suicide bombers struck two police stations northeast of Baghdad within 30 minutes. In the market town of Khan Bani Saad, a Chevrolet Caprice sped through a guard's gunfire Saturday morning and exploded at the station gate, police said.

The U.S. military said 10 people were killed: six policemen, three civilians and the driver. Iraqi police said one of the dead was a 5-year-old girl. Another 10 people were wounded.

In Baqouba, 12 miles to the northeast, a white SUV approached the gate to a police station at normal speed but ignored orders to stop and then blew up at the checkpoint, witnesses said.

Three policemen and the driver were killed, and one policeman was missing, the Iraqi police said. At least 10 civilians were hurt.

Elsewhere, an Iraqi police colonel in charge of protecting oil installations was assassinated in northern Iraq, part of what appeared to be an insurgent campaign against U.S.-backed security forces.

Col. Abdul-Salam Qanbar, who was in charge of a police force in the northern city of Mosul, was fatally shot Saturday evening while heading to a mosque, a spokesman said.

"It is clear that the terrorists have targeted Iraqis, the very Iraqis who are trying to improve the security in Iraq and the lives of ordinary Iraqis," coalition spokesman Charles Heatly said.

Also Saturday, a remotely detonated bomb hidden in a juice cart exploded near an American convoy in the northern city of Mosul, police and witnesses said.

No Americans were injured, but two Iraqis were hurt when, according to police, U.S. soldiers stunned by the explosion opened fire in all directions. The U.S. military said it was investigating.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent?..._strike_112303

[Ironduke]

Three US troops killed in Iraq

Two US soldiers and a senior Iraqi policeman have been killed in the northern city of Mosul.

Witnesses said the two American soldiers had their throats cut but this was denied by a US military spokesman, who said they had been shot.

In a separate attack, a US soldier died in a roadside bombing near Baquba, north of Baghdad, US officials said.

The Iraqi Governing Council, meanwhile, appointed Iraq's first ambassador to the United States in 13 years.

The council named Rend Rahim Francke as its Iraq's top diplomat in Washington.

The United Stations severed diplomatic ties with Iraq after former leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Ms Rahim, a veteran Washington lobbyist, told reporters: "I want to build the embassy to be the face of Iraqi diplomacy... and the new democratic and civilised Iraq."

Soldiers killed

The two US soldiers were killed in the centre of Mosul after the attackers approached their vehicle in traffic and slit their throats, witnesses said.

But a military spokesman said: "Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed shortly after midday in west Mosul ...they were shot while en route from one compound to another."

The witnesses said that US troops immediately surrounded the vehicle and began interrogating Iraqis in the area.

The latest attacks brought to 185 the number of US soldiers killed in action since President George W Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq over on 1 May.

Elsewhere in Mosul, Iraqi police said a top police officer was killed by unknown gunmen in a car late on Saturday.

Colonel Abdel Salam Qanbar - who was in charge of oil installations in the area - was gunned down as he "was leaving the mosque" in the evening, Iraqi police general Khaled Fathi Jassim told the AFP news agency.

Baquba bombing

In the Baquba attack, the US soldier from the 4th Infantry Division was killed and two others wounded when their convoy hit an "improvised explosive device," a US military spokesman said.

The spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Bill MacDonald said that the incident happened at about 0740 local time (0440 GMT).

The attack came only a day after car bomb rocked the city's main police station, killing seven policemen and two civilians, a US military spokesman said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3230690.stm

[Ironduke]

Iraq attack 'disrupts oil output'

An important gas pipeline has been blown up in northern Iraq.

The resulting fire was so huge the glow could be seen in the night sky in the town of Kirkuk, 30 kilometres (20 miles) away, say reports.

The attack is expected to cause disruption to production at Iraq's largest oil refinery, officials say.

Amid continuing violence, coalition officials have suspended civilian flights into Baghdad airport after a missile attack on a plane on Saturday.

The Jordanian carrier Royal Wings and DHL courier company have both been ordered to suspend flights.

Together they operated the limited civilian air service to Baghdad.

The ban will remain in place "pending further investigation," coalition military spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt told a briefing, according to news agency AFP.

Military flights will still operate.

Pipeline blow

The Kirkuk-based North Oil Company told AFP an explosive device caused the pipeline fire.

The attack has halted supplies of gas from Jambur oil field to a power plant in the town of Baiji.

That in turn is likely to cause disruption to oil production at the refinery in Baiji - Iraq's largest - the head of the oil company's fire department reportedly said.

There have been a number of attacks on Iraqi infrastructure by insurgents against the US-led occupation.

'No specifics'

In Baghdad, Brigadier General Kimmitt refused to confirm whether two soldiers killed on Sunday in Mosul had had their throats cut.

"We will not be ghoulish about this," he said.

"We have an ongoing investigation. It is not our policy to discuss the specifics of injuries sustained by soldiers and this is not a good place to discuss these kind of things."

The men, from the 101st Airborne Division, were on patrol in Mosul when their convoy was reportedly fired on.

A US military spokesman said the men were shot dead.

However, witnesses said their vehicle crashed and their assailants then slit their throats.

In a separate attack, a US soldier died in a roadside bombing near Baquba, north of Baghdad, US officials said.

The US military has also confirmed that two US soldiers died and one was injured on Saturday, when their armoured vehicle was crushed by an M-1 Abrams tank near Baghdad airport.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3232032.stm

[Ironduke]

Insurgents Shifting Attacks To Iraqis

Associated Press
November 25, 2003


BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi insurgents have shifted from attacking U.S. and other coalition forces to attacks on Iraqis who are working with the U.S.-led occupation, the chief administrator said Tuesday.

"The security situation has changed," L. Paul Bremer III told reporters at a press conference with Gen. John Abizaid, the chief of the U.S. Central Command. "In the past attacks against the coalition were predominant. Now terrorist attacks against Iraqis are regular."

Abizaid said there were some foreigners fighting with the insurgents but their numbers were small. He said the main threat facing U.S. and coalition forces came from supporters of ousted leader Saddam Hussein.

"They have failed to intimidate the coalition," Bremer said. "They have now begun a pattern of trying to intimidate innocent Iraqi. They will not succeed...If Saddam taught the Iraqis nothing else it was how to endure the depredations of thugs."

Bremer was referring to a series of attacks including two car bombs last weekend at police stations in Baqouba and Khan Bani Saad, the assassination Saturday of a police colonel in Mosul and the killing Sunday of a police chief in Latifiyah near Baghdad.

Bremer was asked whether insurgents may try to disrupt the process of choosing members of the National Assembly and other steps to democracy which will be undertaken as part of the plan to transfer sovereignty to the Iraqis by July 1.

"We have to anticipate that there will have to be a level of terrorism in this country" for some time to come, Bremer said. "As the process of democracy moves forward in the next six to seven months, they may try to attack the institutions of democracy."

Abizaid agreed that the number of daily attacks on coalition forces were down by about half over the last two weeks. He gave no figures but U.S. officials said at the time that U.S. forces were being attacked on average of 30-35 times a day.

"In the past two weeks, these attacks have gone down attacks against coalition forces but unfortunately we find that attacks against Iraqis have increased," Abizaid said. He said the attacks had increased not only in numbers but in severity.

Bremer added that the plan for choosing national assembly delegates in caucuses in each of the 18 provinces will produce "a much more broadly representative government" than the current, 25-seat Governing Council.

The U.S.-appointed council includes representatives of Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish and other groups depending on the size of the different religious and ethnic communities.

Abizaid said some of the foreigners believed fighting with the insurgents included Syrians, Saudis and Yemenis among others. Significantly, he said no Iranians had been found so far with the insurgents.

He said the "main problem" facing the coalition was not with foreigners but with "agents of the former regime."


http://www.military.com/NewsContent?file=FL_iraq_112503

[Ironduke]

Commanders Felt Iraq Ammo Was Short
Associated Press
November 28, 2003


WASHINGTON - Soldiers with the Army's 3rd Infantry Division charged into Iraq in April short of the ammunition their commanders had said was necessary to invade, according to the division's postwar evaluation of the fighting.

It was one of a number of supply problems encountered by the 3rd Infantry before and during its 21-day dash to Baghdad from Kuwait, according to the internal review, a 293-page after-action report created by the division's senior officers and troops.

During the run-up to the war, division commanders requested additional ammunition be delivered to front-line units. The request was approved, but the troops could not obtain all the ordnance despite months of war preparations.

"Every attempt to gain the ammunition assets resulted in some agency or another denying requests, short-loading trucks or turning away soldiers," the report said. "The entire situation became utter chaos. ... The division crossed (into Iraq) short the ammunition it had declared necessary to commit to combat."

The report, whose authors were not identified by name, catalogued serious problems with supply, security and the handling of prisoners of war. It blamed many problems on higher headquarters or other parts of the military, although it did point out some places where the division could train its own soldiers better.

A spokesman for the division, Maj. Darryl Wright, characterized the report as a candid effort to pinpoint problems and refine tactics so the division fights better next time. He said the report, obtained by The Associated Press and other outlets, had not yet been finalized.

During the Iraq invasion, more than 12,000 troops of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) joined thousands of Marines and other soldiers in the northward thrust to Baghdad. The first U.S. infantry and armored units entered Iraq on March 20 and took Baghdad within three weeks.

The 3rd Infantry, based at Fort Stewart, Ga., suffered 44 killed during combat in Iraq. Much of its report focused on problems encountered during the rapid thrust into Iraq, which has since given way to an increasingly dangerous occupation.

The report praised the division's troops, leaders and front-line fighting gear, particularly the M-1 Abrams tank and the M-2 Bradley fighting vehicle.

"The Third Infantry Division (Mechanized) moved farther and faster than any other ground offensive operation in history," the report claimed.

"U.S. armored combat systems enabled the division to close with and destroy heavily armored and fanatically determined enemy forces with impunity, often within urban terrain," it said.

Yet the division had serious problems receiving supplies while on the move, including vehicle parts, ammunition, fuel and medical supplies. Had the division been required to move beyond Baghdad, or had it required more time to reach the city, its advance would have stalled, the report suggested.

"Most units literally spent 21 days in continuous combat operations without receiving a single repair part," the report said. "Shortages of predictably high-demand repair parts and vehicular fluids had the most lasting effect on fleet readiness."

In a section describing the problems combat engineers faced in receiving needed construction equipment, the report said, "The Army's current supply system failed before and during the operation."

Despite well-publicized fears that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would use chemical or biological weapons on advancing U.S. troops, not all soldiers had complete protective gear, the report said.

A battalion of air defense troops was among those. "More than half of the battalion deployed with some type of nuclear, biological and chemical equipment shortage," the report said.

Units ran into shortages of gloves, suits and mask filters. Some protective suits weren't fitted properly, and decontamination kits had expired. Some troops simply left their equipment at home.

The division also had problems handling enemy prisoners of war, the report said.

"Soldiers failed to properly record the circumstances of many captures," it said. "Later, we were unable to identify enemy soldiers who violated the law of war, and, therefore, cannot achieve a major goal set forth by President Bush: To punish those who violate the law of war."

Some units that operated away from the front lines had inadequate weapons to defend themselves as they faced guerrilla attacks, the report said. "Security was lacking for critical command and control nodes ... as well as for critical staff personnel."

Communications were another persistent problem. The division, along with other advancing units, stretched out across southern Iraq, with support units reaching back to Kuwait. But some transmitters didn't have the range to reach more distant units. Iridium satellite phones only functioned about half of the time, the report said.

The division also had difficulty delivering mail to the troops, the report said. Mail, in particular, is considered a critical morale booster for fighting soldiers.


http://www.military.com/NewsContent?file=FL_ammo_112803

[Ironduke]

Iraq attacks kill more foreigners

Nine more foreigners have died in attacks on allies supporting the American-led occupation in Iraq.
Two Japanese diplomats were shot dead near the northern city of Tikrit on Saturday.

And in another ambush, seven members of a Spanish intelligence team died when their vehicles were ambushed south of Baghdad.

The attacks come at the end of what has been the worst month so far for casualties in the US-led coalition.


'Undeterred'

The attack in Tikrit against the Japanese diplomats was carried out by a single attacker, AFP news agency reports.

They were travelling to a reconstruction conference in the city.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the attack would not alter his country's policy in Iraq.

"Japan has a responsibility to provide humanitarian and reconstruction aid in Iraq," he said on Sunday.

"There is no change to our policy of not giving into terrorism."

Tikrit, the birthplace of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, lies 180 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad and is widely seen as a stronghold of anti-coalition forces.

Japan is deliberating over whether to send a small contingent of troops to back the US-led coalition in Iraq.

'Celebrations'

Earlier, the eight-member Spanish team came under attack near the town of Hilla, as their convoy returned from a mission.

Spanish Defence Minister Federico Trillo said the eighth member of the team had been wounded.

A journalist who drove past the scene described a jubilant crowd kicking the bodies, chanting: "We sacrifice our souls and blood for you Saddam".

Mr Trillo described the attack as an assault on democracy and has repeated its resolve to fight "terrorism, wherever it lurks".

King Juan Carlos professed his profound sorrow at news of the deaths.

Justice Minister Jose Maria Michavila said: "We are grateful to all the people who serve Spain and Spain's democracy beyond our borders fighting terrorism and guaranteeing freedom and democracy,"

Spain has 1,300 troops serving with the Polish-led multinational contingent in the south of the country.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has been one of the strongest supporters of the US-led invasion of Iraq, despite significant domestic opposition.

Mounting casualties

The southern zone where the ambush against the Spaniards happened is dominated by the Shia majority, which has so far been more accepting of the coalition occupation.

But almost three weeks ago, a suicide bomber destroyed an Italian base in Nasiriya, killing 32 people.

Spanish radio said the latest ambush was carried out with mortars and grenades.

Spanish helicopters were sent to the scene. The surviving officer was taken to a medical centre.

A Spanish diplomat working for Spain's intelligence agency was assassinated near his residence last month.

Before the attack, 98 coalition troops were said to have died in Iraq during November.

They included 79 US troops, and 17 Italian soldiers who were killed in the bombing of the Italian military headquarters in Nasiriya.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3249658.stm

[Ironduke]

Spain pledges to stay on in Iraq

Spain's prime minister has vowed to keep troops in Iraq despite "great pain" at the killing of seven intelligence agents in an ambush.

"Freedom is under threat from the terrorists," said Jose Maria Aznar, whose country is a key European member of the US-led coalition in Iraq.

Shortly after he spoke reports came in of two South Koreans being ambushed

Twelve people from four nations allied to the United States have been killed in ambushes in Iraq this weekend alone.

The South Korean foreign ministry confirmed that two of its citizens, both electricians, had been killed in an ambush near Tikrit on Sunday. Two others were wounded.

Earlier, the US military announced that a Colombian contractor had been killed and two wounded when their car came under fire near the town of Balad on Saturday.

On the same day, two Japanese diplomats were shot dead along with their driver near Tikrit and two US soldiers were killed near the Syrian border.

A US military spokesman in Baghdad, Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, said there appeared to have been a clear shift in strategy by militants to undermine support for the US-led coalition.

Spain mourns

A pro-Saddam militant group calling itself the al-Faruq Brigades has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Spanish agents in a statement published on a London-based Arabic website, Movement for Islamic Reform.

The statement goes on to say that three other Spanish agents, including a "senior officer", were taken prisoner in the ambush - but there has been no confirmation of this from Madrid.

The bodies of the seven agents were due to arrive back in Madrid on Sunday evening on a plane also carrying the survivor and Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo.

Mr Aznar has brushed aside Spanish opposition demands for troops to be withdrawn, declaring that his country would "fulfil its commitments".

"The international community is now facing the challenge of a tyranny which is reluctant to disappear and of a terrorist network which has become the biggest global challenge for free societies, for our societies," he said.

The agents' convoy was ambushed near the town of Hilla, as it returned from a mission. Only one man is known to have survived.

Television images showed local youths dancing, kicking the charred corpses and shouting slogans in support of Saddam Hussein.

The images were carried by Spain's leading newspapers on Sunday.

The leftist opposition has described the 1,300-strong Spanish military contingent as an invasion force and a visible target and called for its withdrawal.

A total of 106 coalition troops are reported to have died in Iraq during November.

'Furious'

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said his country would continue to meet its "responsibilities for humanitarian aid and reconstruction"

"Japan must not give in to terrorism," he told reporters.

The two diplomats were shot along with their Iraqi driver as they stopped to buy food.

They had been travelling to a conference on the reconstruction of northern Iraq in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's birthplace and an anti-coalition stronghold.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3251000.stm

[Ironduke]

Iraqis rally against 'terrorism'

Hundreds of Iraqis have marched in the capital, Baghdad, to protest against "terrorism" and continuing violence.

Among the demonstrators were relatives of some of those killed in recent bombings in Baghdad and elsewhere.

There was a heavy Iraqi police presence as the protesters marched through the city centre, with American military helicopters hovering overhead.

In the latest attack, a US soldier was killed when rebels shelled a military base in the northern town of Mosul.


"Yes to Iraq, no to terrorism," chanted protesters, who gathered at Baghdad's al-Firdos square.

Three empty coffins adorned with Iraqi national flags were brought to the rally to honour civilian victims of attacks by militants.

"We demand peace," Ali Sahib, who lost his daughter in a recent suicide bombing, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"We demand that all criminals, whether they are Saddam [Hussein] loyalists or al-Qaeda members, be chased and tried for their crimes against the Iraqi people," Mr Sahib added.

Iraqi police and US troops kept a close watch at the rally, searching a suspect vehicle at one point but finding no explosives.

'Bodyguard' held

A soldier from the US 101st Airborne Division was killed on Friday when mortar shells hit the division's base in Mosul on Friday morning.

An Iraqi worker was also slightly injured, a US military spokesperson said.

Troops immediately launched a search for the attackers.

In another development, the US military said its forces had captured a former Saddam bodyguard, identified as Brigadier General Khalid Arak Hatimy.

The US military said he was captured during a night raid in the town of Ramadi, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3247266.stm

[Ironduke]

US plans Iraqi paramilitary force

The US-led administration in Iraq is planning a paramilitary force to fight insurgents, composed of members of the main parties in the interim council.

The new battalion - part of the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps - will have up to 850 militiamen, who will work with US special forces in and around Baghdad.

Correspondents say the new force will give the party leaders an increased role in Iraq's internal security.

The US-led forces are anxious to quell the insurgency amid daily attacks.

The move to set up a paramilitary battalion is seen as an acknowledgment that relying on Iraqi police and civil defence forces has been insufficient to restore security within Iraq.

Naysayers

The BBC's Tristana Moore is Baghdad says that the US coalition hopes that members of the new battalion will be able to use their local knowledge and help track down insurgents.

Another advantage - according to a source close to the coalition - is that the battalion would help bring the militias belonging to political parties off the streets.

The five parties set to contribute to the new force are: the Iraqi National Accord, the Iraqi National Congress, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Coalition officials insist that members of the force will be rigorously screened to ensure that they will be loyal to their country, not to their old party leaders.

The current president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Abdelaziz al-Hakim, has said the militias were patriotic men who would play a very useful role in Iraq.

But some independent members of the Iraqi Governing Council are angry at what they consider is the advantage the political parties will have with the battalion.

One told the Washington Post that the move was "a very big blunder".

Ghazi Yawar said "we should be dissolving militias, not finding ways to legitimise them - this sends the wrong message to the Iraqi people".

The paper also quoted a US military official as saying the militiamen would "have to leave their political identity at the door".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3288615.stm

[Ironduke]

Roadside bomb kills 3 Iraqis, U.S. soldier

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- At least three Iraqis and a U.S. soldier were killed and 13 others wounded Friday when a roadside bomb hit a passing U.S. military convoy and an Iraqi passenger bus in southeastern Baghdad, a coalition spokesman and an Iraqi police official said.

Those wounded included 11 Iraqis and two U.S. military personnel.

A few kilometers away, a second roadside bomb detonated, slightly injuring a U.S. soldier who returned to duty shortly after, a coalition military spokesman said.

Iraqi Brig. Thamir Sa'adoon Al Janabi told CNN that the first improvised explosive device detonated as the military convoy passed near the Samari mosque in Baghdad's Jadida neighborhood. A CNN crew on the scene said the blast badly damaged the passenger bus, which was stained with blood.

Witnesses said six Iraqi civilians were killed -- two women and four men -- and more than 20 Iraqis were injured.

The explosive device, placed in the median of the road, exploded around 9 a.m. (1 a.m. EST) as three Humvees passed by, the witnesses said. The blast hit the third vehicle, killing the driver.

Two other soldiers were injured -- one in the shoulder, the other in the leg -- and were evacuated while coalition soldiers and Iraqi police cordoned off the area, the witnesses said.

U.S. raids in Iraq snag insurgents
Overnight raids Wednesday by U.S. forces -- intended to rout out anticoalition insurgents -- netted 63 suspects in towns west of Baghdad, the Coalition Joint Task Force said Thursday.

The troops, from the 82nd Airborne Division, came under attack from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms as they carried out operations northwest of Khalidiyah, about 60 miles west of Baghdad. The forces killed one of the attackers and captured eight.

No U.S. troops were injured.

Acting on a tip from an informant, U.S. forces raided six houses in Husaybah near Iraq's border with Syria, capturing 19 suspects and confiscating small arms, bomb-making materials and a logbook of previous attacks on coalition forces.

The houses were identified as the sites of recent enemy ambushes.

In 24 hours' time, the 82nd Airborne Division conducted 161 patrols, 10 of them with the Iraqi border guard and Iraqi police.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

[Ironduke]

Rumsfeld flies into northern Iraq

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has arrived in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk for an unannounced visit.

Mr Rumsfeld plans to make a first-hand assessment of the military and political situation in the country, Us military officials said.

He arrived on board a US Air Force plane that flew in from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

It is Mr Rumsfeld's first visit to Kirkuk, the centre of Iraq's northern oilfields.

Details of the visit are sparse but it is known that he landed shortly after dawn at an airfield in Kirkuk.

After meeting American military personnel, he is reported to be planning to hold talks with local Iraqi officials before going on to Baghdad later in the day.

It is the third visit to Iraq by Mr Rumsfeld since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

He is being escorted by the Fourth Infantry Division, which has borne the brunt of guerrilla attacks by Iraqi militants believed to remain loyal to Saddam Hussein in his home region north of Baghdad.

Mr Rumsfeld was due to meet US troop commanders and political leaders in Kirkuk, before going on to Baghdad later in the day.

There he is due to meet the US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, who has warned that attacks against coalition forces may escalate in the coming months as preparations continue to install a new Iraqi government.

On 15 November, the Iraqi Provisional Authority agreed to hasten the transfer of power to a partially elected government with full sovereign powers by the middle of next year.

"The dead-enders can see that all this, plus the fact that the Iraqi people will get their sovereignty back, spells trouble for them," Mr Bremer said on Friday.

Earlier in the day, at least three Iraqis and one American soldier were killed in a blast outside a mosque in the Iraqi capital.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3296149.stm

[Ironduke]

Gunmen kill US soldier in Mosul

A US soldier has been killed in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the US military says.

The soldier was on duty at a petrol station when gunmen opened fire from a passing vehicle, US military spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said.

The spokesman said he believed "four Iraqis" were involved in the incident.

The shooting brings the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq to 193 since major combat operations were declared over on 1 May.


The latest attack came a day after another soldier from the same US Army 101st Airborne Division was killed by a roadside bomb in Mosul, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Baghdad.

The US troops in Iraq have been facing almost daily attacks by insurgents since Saddam Hussein's forces were defeated on the battlefield.

On Sunday, US General Ricardo Sanchez said he expected more attacks as Washington prepares to hand over power to Iraqis at the end of June.

"We has a soldier today (Monday) at approximately midday (0900 GMT) who was involved in an operation in the vicinity of a petrol station," General Kimmit said.

"There was a drive-by shooting by four, we believe, Iraqis who shot and killed him," he added.

Witnesses said another US soldier was wounded by a gunman who opened fire from the sunroof of a passing black BMW, according to the AFP news agency.

"We heard gunshots, we went outside and we saw two Americans lying on the ground bleeding," said petrol station owner Akwan Abdulkarim Mohammad, quoted by AFP.

The witnesses said other US soldiers rushed to the scene of the shooting to form a cordon around the victims.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3301211.stm

[Ironduke]

Rebels Attack Coalition HQ
Associated Press
December 12, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqi rebels fired a salvo of mortar shells at coalition headquarters early Friday in the first attack against the U.S. seat of power since the Americans mounted a massive counteroffensive against insurgents last month.

Nobody was injured and only light damage was reported to a building in the so-called Green Zone, the downtown area housing the headquarters of the U.S.-led coalition, a military spokesman said.

The mortar barrage was the first attack at the headquarters compound since U.S. forces mounted "Operation Iron Hammer" in Baghdad last month to prevent strikes against the coalition's military and civilian targets.

"I heard what appeared to be incoming mortar rounds," Charles Krohn, a U.S. defense spokesman, said by telephone from his room inside the Green Zone. "I was shaken and I heard a couple of thumps. I felt the vibrations."

The zone includes the Al Rasheed Hotel, which was rocketed Oct. 26 in an attack that killed a U.S. colonel and wounded 18 other people. Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was staying in the hotel at the time but escaped injury.

Friday's shelling came just hours after three suicide bombers in a furniture truck blew themselves up at the gates of a U.S. Army base in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding 14 others. It was the third suicide attack on American troops in Iraq this week.

The region around Ramadi and the nearby city of Fallujah is one of the most dangerous for coalition troops and sits in the so-called Sunni Triangle, where the majority of U.S. deaths in hostile action have occurred since President Bush declared an end to major combat May 1.

Also Thursday, the military reported one U.S. soldier drowned and another was missing after a patrol boat accident on the Tigris River in Baghdad.

"The soldiers were conducting routine patrols on the Tigris River when one of the soldiers fell overboard, and the other soldier jumped in to save him," the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

Ghazi al-Talabani, director of the Northern Field Protection Force, which guards oil pipelines in northern Iraq, said an explosion set a pipeline ablaze, forcing officials to halt the flow.

An official of the U.S.-led coalition, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a pipeline was sabotaged late Tuesday or early Wednesday. It was unclear whether the official referred to the same incident.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent?..._rebels_121203

[Ironduke]

Troops arrest black marketers, seize tankers

By Sabah Jerges
Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq — With fuel in acutely short supply in oil-rich Iraq, U.S. forces arrested 20 people and seized 28 gasoline tankers and nine propane trucks allegedly involved in a black market operation in Baghdad, the military reported Friday.
The U.S. sweep occurred Thursday as the Iraqi Oil Ministry announced a rationing plan to overcome gasoline shortages throughout the country, which has the world’s second-largest oil reserves. Neighboring Saudi Arabia has the largest reserves.

In recent weeks, Iraqi drivers have endured fuel shortages akin to those that plagued the country after the March invasion by the U.S.-led coalition.

The official price of gasoline is about 5 U.S. cents a gallon. It can be as high as $1.85 a gallon on the black market.

In Baghdad, lines of cars at antiquated gas stations stretch more than a mile, and drivers line up overnight to beat the daylight rush. It can take 10 hours or more to reach the pumps from the end of the queue.

First Armored Division soldiers detained 20 “black marketers” in the Thursday night raid, part of Operation Iron Justice, the military said. Commanders fear anti-U.S. rebels are benefiting from illegal gasoline sales to fund their insurgency.

“The operation is intended to combat corruption both to improve quality of life for the Iraqi populace and to deny former regime elements illegal sources of income,” the U.S. military said in a statement.

The new Oil Ministry regulations require cars with odd license plate numbers and even plate numbers to fill up on alternate days. The regulations limit each car to about 8 gallons daily.

“The new policy is meant first and foremost to defuse the bottleneck at the gas stations and let as many people as possible get gasoline,” Abdul-Sahib Salman Qutub, an Oil Ministry adviser.

“The measure is temporary and will be abolished when the situation is under control,” Qutub said. However, lines at gas stations remained long on Friday.

War-damaged and antiquated refineries in Iraq and difficulties in bringing crude oil supplies back to sufficient levels are blamed for the shortages. As much as two-thirds of Iraq’s gasoline supplies have been coming by truck from Turkey. There was a strike last week at the border, causing a severe slowdown in imports.

Also the country is awash in newly imported cars. About 250,000 cars are estimated to have entered Iraq from Turkey, Jordan and Syria over since the April ouster of Saddam Hussein.


http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f...25-2496901.php