Security Incidents for Tuesday, July 03, 07


(1) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Task Force Lightning soldier from what would appear to be a roadside bomb attack in Salah ad Din Province on Monday, July 2nd. Two other soldiers were wounded in the blast

(2) MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of two Marines in a non-hostile, unspecified accident in Al Anbar Province on Sunday, July 1st.

(3) The DoD is announcing a new death, not previously reported by CENTCOM. Army Staff Sergeant Robb L. Rolfing, 29, died in Baghdad in a small arms fire attack on Saturday, June 30th. He was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group out of Fort Carson, CO. The DoD release lists his home town as Milton, Massachusetts. But a press release posted by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command describes him as being from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where his family still lives. He did, however, graduate from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 2000. Rolfing enlisted in the army in 2003 as an infantryman, deploying to Iraq that very year. In 2004 he was selected for training to become a Special Forces Engineer ... and in 2005 he earned his Green Beret and Special Forces tab. He was currently on his second deployment to Iraq. Rolfing is survived by his parents, a brother and a sister.

(4) The same British Ministry of Defense release that confirmed the death of Captain Sean Dolan, also contained the news that an American soldier was wounded in the same mortar attack that killed Dolan. The American was airlifted to a medical facility, but later died there of his injuries. We do not know his date of death for sure yet, but will include him in the database on June 30th for the time being until CENTCOM or the DoD confirms the death.

______________________________________________


In Country:
#1: The death toll for private contractors in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has topped 1,000, a stark reminder of the risks run by civilians working with the military in roles previously held by soldiers. A further 13,000 contractors have been wounded in the two separate wars led by the United States against enemies who share fundamentalist Islamic beliefs and the hit-and-run tactics that drain conventional armies. The casualty toll is based on figures the U.S. Department of Labor provided to Reuters in response to a request under the Freedom of Information Act and on locally gathered data. The department said it had recorded 990 deaths — 917 in Iraq and 73 in Afghanistan -— by the end of March. Since then, according to incident logs tallied by Reuters in Baghdad and Kabul, at least 16 contractors have died in Iraq and two in Afghanistan.


Baghdad:
#1: An AH-64 Apache helicopter rescued two Task Force Marne pilots after enemy fire brought down their OH-58D Kiowa Attack helicopter south of Baghdad July 2. The OH-58 pilots received minor injuries.

#2: A security detainee died July 1 of apparent natural causes while in the intensive care unit at the Theater Internment Facility hospital at Camp Bucca. The detainee was pronounced dead at 10:14 a.m. by an attending physician at Camp Bucca’s medical facility. An investigation is pending to determine the cause of death, a standard procedure for detainees who die while in custody of the Multi-National Force (MNF).

#3: In Baghdad, an Iraqi army lieutenant colonel and an Interior Ministry intelligence officer were killed in separate drive-by shootings Tuesday, police said.

#4: Coalition forces killed three suspected militants and detained 29 others during raids in western and central Iraq on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

#5: The death toll from a car bombing in a Shi'ite neighbourhood of Baghdad on Tuesday rose to 18, with 35 people wounded, Iraqi police said

#6: Eighteen bodes were found in different parts of the capital on Tuesday, police said.


Iskandariya:
#1: Gunmen hijacked four fuel tankers near Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Madaen:
#1: Two people were killed and four wounded when gunmen opened fire on pedestrians in Madean, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad.


Dinwaniya:
#1: Local officials have reported that a US military air strike on insurgent targets in a southern Iraqi city killed ten civilians. The US military said two F-16 fighter jets hit targets in a street in the Shia city of Diwaniya after militants fired up to 75 mortar bombs and rockets at the Camp Echo coalition military base yesterday morning. "Coalition forces are reviewing the incident to ensure that appropriate and proportionate force was used in responding to the intense attack," a US statement said, without referring to any Iraqi casualties. A hospital source said the dead included six children under the age of 12. He put the number of wounded at 30.


Kut:
#1: The U.S. military base in western Kut was attacked by unidentified gunmen using mortar shells on Tuesday morning, with no reports of casualties, local residents from the city said. “Five blasts were heard due to an attack by mortar shells on the U.S. Delta military base in western Kut,” an eyewitness from al-Kafaat neighborhood told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq. No word was immediately available from the U.S. army on the incident, but U.S. choppers were seen hovering over the area, according to eye witnesses.


Basra:
#1: The Iraqi-British Joint Coordination Center came under a small-fire attack in central Basra on Tuesday morning. “An armed group attacked, today at dawn, the Joint Coordination Center in al-Hakimiya, central Basra , by light arms and British forces stationed there responded,” the spokesman for the Multi-National Forces in southern Iraq told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq. The attack caused no casualties among the forces,” he added.

#2: the British bases in the city were also attacked during the past 24 hours with no reports of casualties , the media spokesman for the Multi-National Forces in southern Iraq said. Meanwhile, the spokesman said that all British bases in Basra came under indirect fire during the past 24 hours without human or material damage resulting.

#3: Gunmen wearing police uniform killed a civilian in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, while another armed group clad as policemen kidnapped an artist in the Shiite predominately city, local residents said on Tuesday


Samarra:
#1: At least two civilians were killed during clashes between police commandos and gunmen in Samarra, 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad on Monday, police said


Hawija:
#1: Three policemen were seriously wounded when a gunman threw a grenade at their vehicle in Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said


Kirkuk:
#1: A car bomb hit the convoy of an Iraqi police colonel in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing two passers-by and wounding 17, though the colonel survived, police in the city said.

A car bomb explosion has ripped through al-Waseti neighborhood in central Kirkuk killing two people and wounding at least 19. The booby-trapped car blew up near a fuel station in Kirkuk, 250 kilometers north of the capital, AFP reported. The blast apparently targeted the motorcade of a police department chief, according to local authorities. The injured include seven policemen.

#2: A woman was wounded when Iraqi soldiers opened fire in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul#1: Police killed one gunman and arrested 19 other suspects in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Two Marines assigned to Multi National Force-West died July 1 in a non-hostile related accident while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar Province

Ramadi:
#1: The military also said Tuesday that U.S. forces waged a large battle with gunmen near the western Sunni city of Ramadi over the weekend, in fighting that left 23 insurgents dead. The insurgents had massed on Donkey Island, a patch of land in a canal outside the city, and opened fire on U.S. troops, prompting the gunbattle Saturday. Troops found caches of weapons, explosives and suicide vests, the military said.

Fallujah:
#1: A suicide car bomb targeting a prominent tribal leader in Falluja, Sheik Kamel Mohammed al-Essawi, killed four civilians and wounded 10 others, police said. Al-Essawi opposes al-Qaeda in Iraq.

#2: A U.S. base came under a mortar attack near Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, local residents said on Tuesday. "The sound of several blasts were heard this afternoon after mortar shells fell onto the U.S. base in Saqlawiyah district, north of Falluja," an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) over the phone. Another eyewitness said that billows of smoke were seen rising from the base after the attack. A second eyewitness said "U.S. forces sealed off the area immediately after the attack



Afghanistan:
#1: A Taliban suicide bomber targetted a U.S.-led coalition convoy on Tuesday in Afghanistan, but there was no immediate report of any casualties. The attack, part of rising violence in recent months by Taliban insurgents, happened in Logar province which lies to the south of the capital, Kabul.

#2: Afghan and NATO forces are claiming to have killed 33 Taliban rebels during a battle in the southern province of Kandahar overnight. The local provincial governor says four other suspected rebels were also arrested after the clash in the Zhari district. He says no Afghan or NATO forces were hurt.

#3: Elsewhere, U.S.-led coalition troops killed a suspected militant and detained two others during an operation in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday, officials said. The suspected militant was shot as coalition troops were entering a compound suspected of housing militants in the Zana Khan district of Ghazni province, a coalition statement said.

#4: In neighbouring Zabul province, Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol Monday in the Mizan district, killing one policeman, said Ali Khail, spokesman for the Zabul governor. A 30-minute gun battle ensued, leaving three suspected Taliban dead, he said.

.