Security Incidents for Thursday, July 19, 2007

(1) The DoD is announcing a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM. California Army National Guardsman Specialist Eric M. Holke, 31, of Crestline, California, died from a non-hostile, unspecified cause, apparently at the Tallill Air Base near Nasiriya in southern Iraq on Sunday, July 15th.

(2) The DoD is also announcing two more deaths not previously reported by CENTCOM ... two Navy explosive ordnance technicians who died as a result of enemy action in Salah ad Din Province on Tuesday, July 17th:

Chief Petty Officer Patrick L. Wade, 38, of Key West, Florida
Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey L. Chaney, 35, of Omaha, Nebraska

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has learned more about the circumstances of their deaths. Wade's brother reported that the sailor was in a convoy in the vicinity of Samarra when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. The vehicle and its occupants survived the blast. But upon investigation, more bombs were discovered in a culvert under the highway. The two explosives experts took steps to try to detonate the charges safely, but they exploded prematurely, leaving a crater in the road 40 foot long and 6 foot deep. Wade is the second brother in his family to die in the service ... an older brother in the Air Force was killed in a helicopter accident in Japan in 1993. According to an earlier Associated Press report on Wade, he was actually raised in Manawa, Wisconsin, graduating from high school there in 1987.

(3) MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of four Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers plus an Iraqi interpreter when an improvised explosive device detonated near their patrol in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, July 18th.
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(4) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Task Force Marne soldier in a small arms fire attack on Thursday, July 19th, near Rushdi Mulla, located about 5 km west of Yusufiyah in Babil Province.

(5) The Salt Lake City (Utah) Tribune is reporting the death of an American Fork, Utah, soldier in Iraq: Sergeant Nathan Barnes, 23. According to an interview with his father, Barnes had gone on an assault mission with his 10th Mountain Division unit on the morning of Tuesday, July 17th. The helicopter he was in was taking fire at the time it landed. As they opened the chopper doors, a bullet caught Barnes. This would appear to be a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM. Barnes was raised and went to high school in American Fork, enjoying camping, hiking and hunting in the area. He joined the army at the age of 19 and had been in Iraq since last August. 10th Infantry Division units are currently serving in the area of Mahmudiyah and Yusufiyah in Babil Province, making that area a likely site for his death. He is survived by his parents, four brothers, a sister.

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Baghdad:
#1: Four Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near their patrol during combat operations in an eastern section of the Iraqi capital July 18.

#2: One person was killed and seven wounded by two mortar shells that struck near the main gate of Ibn-Alnafees hospital in central Baghdad, police said.

#3: In Baghdad, suspected Shiite militiamen blew up the minaret on a Sunni mosque in the city's Jihad area, police said. The bodies of two men with bullets in their heads were found dumped near the mosque, police said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.


Rushdi Mullah:
#1: A Task Force Marne Soldier was killed by small arms fire July 19 near Rushdi Mullah.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba
#1: To the north, American and Iraqi forces were continuing operations to clear Sunni extremists from the eastern part of Baqouba, 35 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. said. U.S. troops regained control of the western half of the city last month and launched operations into the rest of Baqouba last Tuesday. Since last month, the Americans said they have killed at least 67 insurgents in Baqouba, arrested 253, seized 63 weapons caches and have destroyed 151 roadside bombs.

Muqdadiyah:
#1: Fifteen gunmen were killed Thursday in violent clashes with joint Iraqi-US forces in north-eastern Baquba. The clashes were within a security crackdown in Abi Sayyad area, near Muqdaiya, Voices of Iraq said citing an official security source.


Hawija:
#1: An Iraqi army officer was killed by gunmen who stormed his home in Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) south west of Kirkuk, police said.

#2: Also in Huweija on Thursday, three civilians were wounded in an explosion near an ambulance, which also severe damage to the vehicle, the news agency said.


Mosul:
#1: Eight bodies including two women found dumped in the troubled northern city of Mosul, police said. They were shot

#2: Gunmen firing from a speeding car killed a bodyguard of a Sunni parliament member in Mosul, police said

#3: A Kurdish political party member was ambushed and killed in eastern Mosul, police also said, speaking on condition of anonymity for the same reason.


Al Anbar Prv:
Haditha:
#1: In western Iraq, residents said assailants blew up two bridges in Haditha overnight. The bridges connect Haditha with Anah, about 160 miles northwest of the capital. The American forces are blocking the area now looking for those involved in the operation.

Unidentified gunmen simultaneously detonated two bridges in the city of al-Haqlaniya on Thursday, local residents from the Sunni al-Anbar province said. "Unknown gunmen planted explosive charges under the bridges of al-Haqlaniya and Wadi Hajlan in western Iraq and totally destroyed them at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday," an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Al-Haqlaniya bridge, 200 meters long, was one of the most important bridges as it links the city of Haditha, 170 km west of Ramadi, capital of Anbar, to the city of al-Boghdadi, while Hajlan links Haditha to Hit, the witness said. The bombings did not leave casualties


Kurdistan region:
#1: Turkey's army heavily shelled Kurdish rebel targets just inside the border of northern Iraq on Wednesday, a Kurdish official said on Thursday, adding there were no casualties. Jabar Yawer, deputy minister for Peshmerga security forces in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region



Afghanistan:
#1: German Foreign Ministry spokesman, Martin Jaeger, confirmed Thursday that two Germans were kidnapped Wednesday morning in the Afghan province of Wardak. The abducted Germans are employees of a Kabul-based company, Jaeger told journalists in Berlin. The UN confirmed on Wednesday that seven people have been kidnapped in central Afghanistan, at least one of them presumed to be a German national.

#2: Suicide bombers hit a convoy of Chinese workers in southern Pakistan and a police academy in the north, killing 36 people as violence swept further across the country. The convoy was passing though the main bazaar in Hub, a town in Baluchistan province near the port city of Karachi, when a moving car blew up next to a police vehicle, officials said. Hub police chief Ghulam Mohammed Thaib said 29 people were killed, including seven police. About 30 other people were wounded, some critically.

#3: In the northwest, a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives when guards prevented him from entering the parade ground of the police academy in Hangu, 45 miles southwest of Peshawar. The bomber killed six bystanders and one policeman, and another 24 people were wounded, academy chief Attaullah Wazir said.

#4: A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a police station in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing one civilian and wounding 25 other people, officials said. The bomber attacked the police station in Fayzabad, the capital of Badakshan province, said Abdul Moman Jalali, the head of the provincial health department. Among those wounded were three women and three children, Jalali said.

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