Security Incidents for Saturday, May 19, 2007

(1) CENTCOM is reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers when their patrol was attacked with an IED and small arms fire in a northwestern part of Baghdad on Friday, May 18th. Two soldiers were wounded in the attack.

(2) CENTCOM is also reporting the death of a Multi-National Force - West soldier from enemy action in Al Anbar Province on Friday, May 18th.

(3) CENTCOM is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Center soldier when he was attacked with small arms fire south of Baghdad on Friday, May 18th.

(4) CENTCOM is also reporting the death of another Multi-National Division - Center soldier in a roadside bomb blast south of Baghdad "today" in a release dated Saturday, May 19th. Three U.S. soldiers and two Iraqi soldiers were injured in the blast.

Both Reuters and the Associated Press (via the New York Times) are reporting the deaths of three German soldiers in the town of Kunduz, Kunduz Province, in the far north of Afghanistan on Saturday, May 19th. The AP article, and also an article from Deutsche Presse - Agentur, have said that NATO has confirmed the deaths, although a press release has not yet been posted on the ISAF website. The attack happened when several German soldiers on a routine patrol got out of their vehicles in Chaiferoshi market in Kunduz to do some shopping with their interpreter. A suicide bomber took the opportunity to walk up beside them in the crowd and detonate himself. Five Afghans were also killed in the blast. In addition, two German soldiers and their interpreter were injured, along with at least seven Afghans.

The DoD has announced a new death that does not appear to have been previously reported by CENTCOM. Sergeant Steven M. Packer, 23, of Clovis, California, is said to have died when an improvised explosive device detonated near his dismounted patrol ... this in the town of Rushdi Mulla, just to the southeast of Mahmudiyah, in Babil Province, on Thursday, May 17th. Of the deaths that CENTCOM has reported on the 17th, three were soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Richardson ... and two were Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers who were killed in south Baghdad. Packer was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum ... and died in Babil Province ... which certainly sets him apart from the other two death clusters. His unit had been working out of Patrol Base Mahmudiyah.

In Country:
#1: Casualties among private contractors in Iraq have soared to record levels this year, setting a pace that seems certain to turn 2007 into the bloodiest year yet for the civilians who work alongside the American military in the war zone, according to new government numbers. At least 146 contract workers were killed in Iraq in the first three months of the year, by far the highest number for any quarter since the war began in March 2003, according to the Labor Department, which processes death and injury claims for those working as United States government contractors in Iraq. That brings the total number of contractors killed in Iraq to at least 917, along with more than 12,000 wounded in battle or injured on the job, according to government figures and dozens of interviews.


Baghdad:
#1: Prime Minister Tony Blair today flew into Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone today shortly after it came under mortar attack.

Three mortar rounds or rockets exploded Saturday in the Green Zone, wounding one person, a U.S. official said. The blasts occurred after British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived there for talks with Iraqi leaders. A fourth projectile exploded just outside the Green Zone, U.S. Embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said. Fintor did not say where the blasts occurred and made no mention of Blair‘s presence.

A senior official of Iraqi ministry of industry escaped mortar attack on his house near the U.S. controlled Green Zone in central Baghdad on Saturday, an Interior Ministry source said. "A mortar round landed near the house of Sami al-Aaraji, deputy of industry minister, killing one of Aaraji's guards," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: A car bomb killed two people and wounded five others when it exploded in a religiously mixed district in western Baghdad on Friday, police said

#3: Iraqi security forces killed four gunmen and arrested 152 suspected militants in several areas of Baghdad during the past 48 hours, under the Baghdad law-imposing plan, the Baghdad operations command said on Saturday

#4: Two soldiers from the Multinational Division-Baghdad were killed Friday when their patrol in northwestern Baghdad was attacked by a bomb and small arms fire, the military said. Two others were wounded in the attack.

#5: A fourth soldier was killed by small-arms fire while on a foot patrol in Baghdad, the military said.

#6: On Saturday, a fifth soldier was killed and three others were wounded when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the military said. Two Iraqi soldiers were also wounded.

#7: A security member working for Sami Al Araji, the deputy minister of industry, was killed when a Katyusha rocket hit near Araji's house near the foreign ministry complex in Salhiyah neighborhood downtown Baghdad at 8:00 am.

#8: Around 9:00 am, a mortar shell hit Zafaraniyah neighborhood south east Baghdad. No casualties recorded.

#10: 1 Iraqi army soldier was killed and 2 others were wounded in a parked car bomb explosion targeted their check point near Jordan intersection in Yarmouk neighborhood west Baghdad around 3:15 pm.

#11: At least 11 civilians were killed and 20 others wounded on Saturday afternoon in a car bomb blast near a popular market in western Baghdad, a security source said. "A suicide bomber detonated this afternoon a car rigged with explosives near a popular market in al-Shurta al-Rabia neighborhood in western Baghdad," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). He added "the blast also damaged some commercial shops and civilian cars." The death toll is primary and is expected to rise.


Diyala Prv:
#1: At least four Iraqis were killed and two wounded Saturday in an attack in the northern Khalis town, an Iraqi security source said. Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying civilians in a major street in Khalis in Baquba city, 60 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source added. The attackers escaped.

#2: An armed group clad in Iraqi army uniform on Saturday shot and killed 13civilians in Mindli town in central Iraq, a police source said. "An armed group in four cars arrested and killed 13 residents from Hamid Shafi village near Mindli this morning," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). He added "the gunmen clad in Iraqi military uniform and came to the village in search for unlicensed weapons."


Diwaniya:
#1: Clashes between Shi'ite militiamen and U.S., Iraqi and Polish forces on Friday left one Iraqi soldier killed and five civilians wounded, including two children, police said.


Nassiriyah:
#1: Three children were killed and an old woman was wounded on Saturday when a bomb, believed to be leftover from previous conflicts, exploded in the southern Iraqi city of Nassiriyah, a police source said.


Basra:
#1: a police source told VOI "an Iraqi policeman was killed and another was wounded overnight in an armed attack on the British-Iraqi joint coordination center in central Basra." The attackers used RPGs and small arms fire, the police source added.

#2: The forensic department over night received six unidentified bodies that were found dumped in different parts of Basra," a medical source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). He added, "the department also received this morning seven bodies belonging to cleaners working for the British forces stationed at Basra airport.

#3: A police source in Basra city said that police patrols found 15 bodies in different neighborhoods yesterday evening and today morning. The source said that torture was obvious on the bodies.


Kirkuk:
#1: Gunmen killed a police officer when they sped past his home in a car and sprayed him with gunfire, police said

#2: while two civilians were wounded on Saturday when two explosive charges detonated in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a police source said.

#3: A roadside bomb wounded four civilians in a residential neighbourhood of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Friday, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Police patrols in Falluja city on Saturday found three bodies of the government-backed Anbar Salvation Council members north of the Sunni city, a police source said

#2: A third soldier from MultiNational Force-West was killed Friday in combat operations in Anbar province, the military said.




Afghanistan:
#1: A suicide attacker blew himself up in a bazaar in the northern Afghan town of Kunduz on Saturday, killing three German soldiers and six Afghans, a provincial governor told AFP. "Three of our German friends were killed and two were wounded. One Afghan interpreter was also wounded," Kunduz governor Mohammad Omar said.
Six Afghans were killed and 12 others wounded, six of them critically, he said. The German soldiers had been shopping in a bazaar called the Tea Market. All that was left of the bomber was two legs, Omar said.

#2: Elsewhere, militants attacked U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces less than 75 miles northeast of Kabul, sparking a rare gunbattle close to the capital that killed an estimated 20 militants, officials said Saturday. Afghan and allied forces were on combat patrol late Friday in the al-Asay Valley in Kapisa province, which borders Kabul province, where the capital is, when they were ambushed, the U.S. coalition said. The militants placed roadside bombs along the route in a "failed attempt to trap" coalition forces, a coalition statement said. Fighter aircraft fired on the militants, the statement said. The coalition said that "several dozen enemy fighters were estimated killed" during the fight and that there were no reports of civilian casualties. Gov. Abdul Satar Murad, the governor of Kapisa province, said about 20 fighters were killed, and he said there were unconfirmed reports of civilian casualties.

#3: In eastern Afghanistan, a remote-control bomb exploded next to a police convoy, killing a district police chief and his driver and wounding three policemen in the Achen district of Nangarhar province, said Ghafar Khan, spokesman for the provincial police chief. The attack happened as police were on their way to eradicate poppies, Khan said.

#4: A mine blast killed police chief of Achin district in Nangarhar province of eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, a local official said. A remote-controlled bomb targeted the police chief's car, killing him on the spot, district chief Achin Abdul Wahab told Xinhua. Another policeman was killed and three others sustained injures, he added.

#5: Eight government officials, including five women, were kidnapped by suspected Islamic militants in Pakistan's Taliban-infested area of North Waziristan. The eight were kidnapped after their vehicle was ambushed on Friday evening in the North Waziristan area bordering Afganistan, Arif Khan, a government official said.