Security Incidents for Wednesday, May 30, 07


Boys stand amongst the rubble of a damaged house after a raid by U.S. soldiers in Baghdad's Sadr City May 30, 2007. U.S. forces detained five suspected insurgents and one suspected cell leader during a raid in Sadr city in northeastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The raid targeted members of a network suspected of importing roadside bombs and weapons from Iran. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ)


(1) The DoD has announced a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM. Marine Lance Corporal Emmanuel Villarreal, 21, of Eagle Pass, Texas, died in a non-hostile vehicle accident at Kuwait Naval Base in Kuwait on Sunday, May 27th

(2) The DoD has announced a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM. Army Specialist Mark Ryan C. Caguioa, 21, of Stockton, California, was severly wounded in a roadside bomb blast in Baghdad on May 4th. He was medically evacuated to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, but died there of his injuries on Thursday, May 24th. Caguioa's godmother has written a lovely tribute to her godson at her blog. She says that he was his mother's firstborn ... and that he will be buried this coming Saturday at the San Francisco National Cemetery at the Presidio.


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In Country:
#1: Turkey has sent large contingents of reinforcement soldiers, tanks and armored personnel carriers to its border with Iraq as debate heated up over whether to stage a cross-border offensive to hit Kurdish rebel bases.


Baghdad:
#1: Hundreds of American and Iraqi troops have conducted a series of raids in Baghdad. They're apparently searching for five British citizens abducted from a government building yesterday. Residents of Sadr City said the area was sealed off overnight and troops carried out a series of arrest raids that lasted until dawn. Police say two civilians were killed and four others injured in crossfire from gunbattles that broke out during one raid.

#2: Elsewhere today, two people were killed in a roadside bomb attack on a convoy carrying a police commander south of Baghdad.

#3: A civilian was also killed in another roadside bombing targeting a passing police patrol in the Sadr City area of the Iraqi capital

#4: Three people were wounded by a mortar attack in Jamiaa district of western Baghdad, police said

#5: Gunmen killed Colonel Mohammed Shakir, the officer in the directorate of the external roads in the ministry of interior affairs. The incident happened near Buratha mosque in Utefiyah neighborhood north Baghdad around 3,40 pm.

#6: 1 civilian was killed and 3 were injured when a mortar shell hit Al Rasheed wholesale market south Baghdad around 4,15 pm.

#7: 4 civilians were injured in an IED explosion in Amiriyah neighborhood west Baghdad around 5,30 pm.

#8: 1 Iraqi army soldier was killed and 2 others injured in an IED explosion targeted their vehicle in Al Jami’s neighborhood west Baghdad around 6,30 pm.

#9: 23 bodies were found in Baghdad today. 21 bodies were found in Karkh, the western part of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (10 bodies in Amil, 3 bodies in Doura, 3 bodies in Bayaa, 2 bodies in Mansour, 1 body in Kadhimiyah, 1 body in Shalchiyah, 1 body in Ali Al Salih). 2 bodies were found in Sadr city in Rusafa, the eastern side of Baghdad.

#10: We can confirm that two local embassy employees are missing in a suspected kidnapping," said Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman. "We are working with the Iraqi authorities in a sustained effort to find and recover them." Gallegos could not say when the pair went missing and could not confirm reports that they are a married couple who had been killed by insurgents.


Diyala Prv:
#1: The town commissioner Uday Al Khadran said that the police had orders to arrest one of the wanted men from Al Ably family and when they arrived the place, they were attacked by a sniper which led to the death of 3 policemen. He added that the situation developed when a bother of one of the killed policemen broke in the hospital where tow snipers were taken and he killed them. After that many gunmen related to Al Ably family spread in the town and heavy clashes happened which required the involvement of the Iraqi army and the MNF.

Khalis:
#1: Ten people were killed, including four policemen and an Iraqi soldier, on Wednesday in gunfights that erupted in a small town north of Baghdad during a raid to arrest suspected Sunni Arab insurgents, police said. Police imposed an indefinite curfew in Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, in volatile Diyala province, after the clashes broke out. Five other people, including three policemen, were wounded. Mortar rounds were being fired in the fighting, police said. "The situation now in the town is very dangerous," a police source told Reuters.


Iskandariyah:
#1: Gunmen wounded three policemen when they attacked a checkpoint on Tuesday in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km south of Baghdad, police said.


Amarah:
#1: In Amarah, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad, gunmen mowed down Nazar Abdul-Wahid as he stood on a city street, according to a police official in the city who refused to give his name for fear of retribution from militants. Abdul-Wahid worked as a reporter for several Iraqi newspapers and the Voices of Iraq Internet news agency. The 33-year-old father of two was standing on the sidewalk in central Amarah when gunmen in a pick up truck shot him dead at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said. Abdul-Wahid also was chairman of a non-governmental organization for young journalists that is funded by the Iraqi government.


Madaen:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting police commandos wounded four policemen on Tuesday in Madaen, 45 km south of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen killed Brigadier General Ala’a Abdul Razzaq Qasim (a member interior ministry intelligence) and two of hid guards in AL Mada’in town south east Baghdad around 3,30 pm.


Karbala:
#1: Unknown armed men in three civilian cars managed to capture salaries of an Iraqi army unit, 350 million Iraqi dinars, in an ambushed prepared for two army vehicles,” the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq. “The gunmen stopped the two vehicles, which were carrying six officers, from a military unit in al-Nasr neighborhood, southwest of Karbala, disarmed them, confiscated the money and fled to unknown place,” the source explained. “The police arrested the six officers and started an investigation on the incident,” he noted, adding no further details.


Al-Hamza:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police intelligence officer's convoy killed two of his bodyguards and wounded three others, including the officer, police and medical sources said


Salah Ad Din Prv:
#1: “Four senior officers from Tikrit’s Western Region Customs, Salah ad-Din province, have disappeared while in their way to Tikrit coming from Baghdad,” the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).He said that the officers were most likely kidnapped on the road between al-Dujail district and Samarra, 120 km north of Baghdad. “The officers are: Chief of the 2nd Customs Police Department Brigadier Khedr Mahdi, two colonels and a fourth officer,” the source noted.

#2: Meanwhile, the same source said that unknown armed men shot and killed an Iraqi soldier, Mohammad Ibrahim Jasem, on Wednesday in al-Mazaree region in Salah ad-Din province.


Balad:
#1: Five bombs went off consecutively targeting two U.S. patrols in Balad city, destroying a U.S. hummer and minesweeper, a police source said on Wednesday. “Three roadside bombs planted by unidentified gunmen on the main road in Yathereb district, east of Balad, went off in succession on Wednesday, targeting a U.S. vehicle patrol and destroying a minesweeper,” the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq. “Fierce clashes erupted after the blast between gunmen and the U.S. forces,” he added, noting that the U.S. forces were shooting randomly, killing two passing by civilians.”

#2: Two more bombs exploded on Tuesday night targeting a U.S. military vehicle in al-Qadissiyah neighborhood in Balad city, destroying a hummer,” the source also said.The U.S. forces are cordoning off the neighborhood and “U.S. choppers are still hovering over the area,” he explained.


Basheer:
#1: 3 policemen were injured in 2 IEDs explosions targeting their patrol. The source said that the police patrols responded to a call from one of the farmers who informed about fire in one of the farms near Basheer village today early morning and while the police patrols were in the way to the place, the two IEDs exploded causing the injury of the policemen


Hawija:
#1: A source in the Iraqi police in Hawija district (45Kms west of Kirkuk) sadi that the head of the judicial committee of Hawija had survived from an assassination attempt implemented by gunmen who shot his convoy near Al Khan village on the street of Kirkuk- Hawija north of Baghdad before mid day. The source said that 3 gunmen were killed and one of the guards of judge was killed while two others were injured.


Mosul:
#1: A woman was killed and two policemen were wounded in clashes between gunmen and police in Mosul, police said

#2: A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol wounded two civilians in Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: Two Iraqi policemen were wounded on Wednesday when a car bomb exploded near their patrol vehicle in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a police source said. "A car bomb detonated today afternoon near a police vehicle patrol in al-Maaridh area in eastern Mosul, wounding two policemen," Brigadier Abdel Karim al-Juburi, head of Ninewa police command's operation room, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#4: Meanwhile, head of the police operation room told VOI "two bodies crammed with explosives were found in al-Thawrah neighborhood in western Mosul today." A U.S. vehicle patrol cordoned off the area and managed to defuse the explosives planted inside the two bodies, Brigadier al-Juburi noted.


Kirkuk:
#1: An officer in the Iraqi army was injured when an IED exploded targeting a joint force of Iraqi army and the MNF. The explosion happened in the intersection of Kirkuk- Rashad street west of Kirkuk city at 9,30 am police said. The source added that the targeted vehicle was damaged.

#2: A vehicle of the Iraqi army was damaged in an IED explosion targeted an Iraq patrol near Zghetoon valley on Kirkuk


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: At least nine Iraqi civilians have been killed in a mortar attack apparently targeting a US military base in the city of Fallujah today. The mortars missed their target and slammed into a court building and a residential neighbourhood.

“A mortar round hit the Falluja court in al-Jumhouria neighborhood this morning, killing five persons and injuring 20

#2: another mortar shell landed on a residential house in al-Baath neighborhood in central Falluja, killing a civilian and wounding three others from the same family,” the source,

#3: “A third mortar shell hit a U.S. base in central Falluja,” the police source also said, adding no further details on casualties.

#4: Unknown armed men on Tuesday night stormed the house of Abul Rahman al-Essawi, a journalist, in Abu Saleh town in Ameriyah Falluja district, south of Falluja, and opened fire against him and his six-member family, killing them immediately,” the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Abdul-Rahman al-Essawi was killed Monday afternoon when gunmen broke into his home about 15 kilometers (10 miles) west of Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold in Anbar province. Al-Essawi was shot to death along with his wife, son, father, mother and three other relatives, said Dr. Anas al-Rawi of Fallujah General Hospital where they bodies were taken. Other family members told an Associated Press reporter in Fallujah that al-Essawi was working as a reporter the online NINA news agency and as the media representative of Anbar Salvation Council. The council was formed recently among Sunni tribes in Anbar to fight al-Qaida in Iraq.


Afghanistan:
#1: Coalition and Afghan forces, acting on intelligence reports, were conducting a raid early Wednesday on a compound suspected of housing Taliban fighters near the eastern city of Jalalabad when they came under fire, the coalition said in a statement. A brief gunbattle killed six militants and wounded another, it said, adding that no civilians or coalition forces were wounded. Four militants were detained for questioning, the statement said.

#2: Also Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed four policemen and wounded another in the southern province of Uruzgan, provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Qassim Khan said.

#3: A roadside bombing killed three Afghan guards working for a U.S. security company in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, an official from the company Rahmatullah told Xinhua. The incident took place in Gereshk district at noon, killing three guards of the private U.S. Protection and Investigation (USPI), Rahmatullah said.