Security Incidents for 04/08/07

PHOTO: Supporters of a anti-US cleric Muqtada al-Sadr arrive to the holy city of Kufa, Iraq, 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Baghdad, Sunday, April 8, 2007. al-Sadr called on his supporters to come to the holy cities of Kufa and Najaf to mark the fourth year of the US-led invasion on Monday. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Baghdad:

15 killed and 25 injured, all of them were civilians, by Katyosha missiles that fall on civilian resident building in Al Mahmoodiyah neighborhood south Baghdad.

Another 2 civilians were killed and 12 were injured when a mortar shell fell in Mahmoudiyah neighborhood south Baghdad.

2 civilians were injured when a mortar shell fell in Al Ma'amil neighborhood in east Baghdad.

An Iraqi army soldier was killed and another was injured in an IED explosion targeted their vehicle in Mansour neighborhood south west Baghdad.

Gunmen opened fire targeting a mini bus on Al Qanat street east Baghdad injuring 2 passengers.

4 cleaning workers were injured when gunmen opened fire in Al Amil neighborhood west Baghdad.

A civilian was killed by a sniper in Um Al Ma'alif neighborhood south Baghdad

Baghdad – A U.S. force raided al-Mustansiriya University in eastern Baghdad, a university source said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces captured a senior al-Qaeda leader and two others during a raid in Baghdad, the U.S. military said. [or so they say…. – dancewater]

Three Multi-National Division – Center Soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device during a patrol south of Baghdad Sunday. One Soldier was also wounded in the incident.

One MND-B Soldier died and three others were wounded when an indirect fire attack targeted units operating south of the Iraqi capital April 8.

At least five Iraqis were killed and 20 wounded when a car bomb exploded in a southern-Baghdad district, local al- Iraqiya channel reported. The explosion reportedly ripped through al-Ilam street on Sunday, and according to the local channel, ambulances and paramedics had rushed to the scene. The wounded were moved to the nearby Yarmouk hospital. [Another report said seven were killed. – dancewater]

A roadside bomb went off on Sunday morning near a police patrol in Baghdad's northern district of Adhamiyah, killing a policeman and wounding seven others, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity

17 anonymous bodies were found in Baghdad today. 15 bodies were found in Karkh, the west side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods, 4 bodies in Amil, 2 bodies in Jihad, 2 bodies in Bayaa, 2 bodies in Doura, 2 bodies in Mansour, 2 bodies in Hurriyah and 1 body in Salihiyah. 2 bodies were found in Selikh neighborhood in Rosafa, the eastern side of Baghdad.

Diyala Prv:

Four Task Force Lightning Soldiers were killed Saturday as a result of an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala Province. One other Soldier was also wounded in the attack and was taken o a Coalition Forces' medical treatment facility.

A MND-N Soldier died of wounds Sunday as a result of injuries sustained while conducting combat operations in Diyala Province.

Nine mortar rounds landed in and near the city of Baquba, police said. There were no reports of casualties.

Gunmen attacked a police patrol and wounded three policemen in Baquba, police said.

The bodies of five people were found shot in Baquba, 65 Km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said

At least three people were killed and four others were wounded on Sunday as clashes broke out between tribesmen and al-Qaeda linked militants in Diala province, 57 km northeast of Baghdad, an eyewitness said.

The clashes continue among the armed group in Baaquba after the killing of one leader from these groups who was called Asmael Al Kubasi.

Police source said there were attacks accomplished by police in Al Gaton and Al Mafraq neighborhoods and the police killed 10 from terrorist and arrested 4.

The police in Baaquba found 2 killed clerics - they were sheik Wisam Saadon imam of Al Salam mosque who kidnapped in last Tuesday and sheik Abd Al Ghafor Al Qasi who kidnapped last Thursday.

DIYALA PROVINCE - In a joint Iraqi-U.S. operation, which began two weeks ago northeast of Baquba, more than 30 insurgents were killed and 28 detained, the U.S. military said. Over 15 weapon caches were found and two insurgent safe havens cleared.

Mahmoudiya:

A car bomb killed up to 17 people and wounded two dozen in a town south of Baghdad on Sunday, the latest in a spate of attacks outside the Iraqi capital since a new security plan there took effect. The mayor of Mahmudiya, Muaid al-Amiri, said the car bomb targeted industrial workshops and had killed 17 people and completely demolished a three-storey building. Many smaller shops had been levelled and a number of cars destroyed. An official at Mahmudiya General Hospital, Yehya Najm, said the death toll in the bombing was 15, with 30 wounded. Several bodies were still buried in the rubble, he said.

NEAR MAHMUDIYA - U.S. forces detained three insurgents on Sunday near the town of Mahmudiya, the U.S. military said.

Al Samrah:

One gunman was killed and six Iraqi troops were wounded during clashes in southeast of Baghdad, an Iraqi army source said on Sunday. "Clashes broke out last night between Iraqi troops and gunmen in al-Samrah area near al-Sawirah district, Wassit province," the source, who preferred not to be identified, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Hilla:

A roadside bomb targeting a police Scorpion Brigade patrol wounded three policemen in the Shi'ite city of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. Police raided neighbouring districts and arrested two suspected insurgents

Kut:

Iraqi army forces killed a gunman while six Iraqi soldiers were injured in clashes in the area of al-Samra, in Kut, an Iraqi army source in Wassit province said

Dalouiya:

An explosive device went off near a U.S. patrol, severely damaging one of the vehicles, a source from Dalouiya police, Salah al-Din province, said

Missan Prv:

Three identified bodies were found on Sunday in Missan province, 380 km southeast of Baghdad, a medical source said.

Salah Ad Din:

A Task Force Lightning soldier died Sunday of wounds sustained while conducting combat operations in Salah Ad Din Province.

Hawija:

Gunmen killed an Iraqi soldier on Saturday in Hawija, 70 Km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

Kirkuk:

Three civilians were wounded when an explosive charge went off in the district of al-Rashad, Kirkuk city, a police source said.

Last night an armed group opened the fire on the army in Kirkuk, killing one. The police had arrested 12 in that incident.

Kirkuk – An explosive device went off near the War Veterans Society’s headquarters in the central part of town but no casualties or injuries were reported, a source from the Kirkuk police said.

Mosul:

Seventeen civilians were killed and 30 others wounded in a blast that targeted a residential building in southern Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said.

An Iraqi army base and a police station came under mortar attack with no reports of casualties in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a security source said on Sunday.

Nazdor:

Turkish forces shelled with artillery the area of northern Zakhu, on the borders of Iraq, but no casualties or injuries were reported, eyewitnesses in Bativa in northern Zakhu said on Sunday. "The shelling occurred on Sunday, about 2 km north of the village of Nazdor," Mustafa Shilani, a local from the village, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Sulaymaniya – Security forces managed to defuse a rocket placed near the Central Institute of Teachers office in Halabja, Sulaymaniya, an official source in the Iraqi Kurdistan region's government said.

Diwaniya - Fifty people were arrested in a raid in the northern part of al-Diwaniya, conducted by forces from the Iraqi army's 8th Division backed by U.S. and Polish troops, as a curfew is still active in the predominantly Shiite city, a security source said.

KERBALA - Bodies of six goat-herders were found shot west of Kerbala, 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Al Anbar Prv:

Roadside bombs also killed two Iraqi policemen in separate attacks in the capital and Fallujah, 40 miles west of the capital, police said.

Police said they found the body of a man shot dead in Falluja

Thirteen unidentified bodies were found in the city of Falluja, a source in the city's local council said on Sunday. "A police patrol found four bodies in the neighborhood of al-Andalus, western Falluja, while policemen in the southern part of the city found nine others," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) on the condition of anonymity.

Thanks to whisker for most of the links above.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military said violence had dropped in Baghdad under the new crackdown, with a 26 percent decline in "murders and executions" between February and March, and a 60 percent fall between the last week of March and the first week of April. [Who ya gonna believe – the US military or your own lying eyes? – dancewater]

NAJAF - Thousands of Iraqis flocked to Najaf for a big demonstration called by fiery Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr against the U.S. presence in Iraq.

BAGHDAD - A 24-hour vehicle ban will be in force in Baghdad on Monday as the capital marks the fourth anniversary of the fall of the capital to U.S. forces, an Iraqi military official said on Sunday. [I wonder if this is to make it harder for the Iraqis to get to Najaf to demonstrate. – dancewater]

BASRA - British forces transferred authority of the Shatt al-Arab military base in northern Basra to Iraqi forces. It is the second base to be handed over to Iraqi forces. Two other military bases remain under British command.

THINGS ARE NOT GOING WELL IN AFGHANISTAN, with over 700 people killed so far this year. Whisker often puts together information on Afghanistan and I post on my blog News About Afghanistan.