Security Incidents for Thursday, August 16, 2007

MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers from enemy action in an area north of Baghdad on Wednesday, August 15th. Six other soldiers were wounded in the attack.

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Baghdad:
#1: At least nine Iraqis were killed and 17 others wounded in an attack on Thursday in central Baghdad, pan-Arab al- Arabiya news broadcaster reported. A car bomb detonated in the morning in Rusafai square near a crowded wholesale market and a bus station, the independent Voices of Iraq news agency reported citing a police source.

#2: Two Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers were killed during combat operations in an area north of the Iraqi capital Aug. 15. Six other Soldiers were wounded in the attack.

#3: Three people were wounded by a roadside bomb near al-Zewraa Park in west central Baghdad, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb went off in the afternoon near a U.S. military patrol in Baghdad's eastern neighborhood of Zaiyounah, wounding five civilians," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. It was not known whether the U.S. patrol sustained any casualty or not as the troops sealed off the scene, according to the source.

#5: The U.S. military said it had killed 13 suspected insurgents and detained 16 others during operations against al-Qaeda bombing networks in Baghdad, Samarra and Muqdadiya on Wednesday and Thursday.

#6: 1 Ministry of Interior commando killed and 1 injured in IED explosion that targeted their patrol in Dora, south Baghdad at 04:00 this afternoon.

#7: 2 civilians injured in IED explosion in Salhiyah, central Baghdad, at 04:00 pm.

#8: Zaineb Ali Siwan, a policewoman, was kidnapped from Zayuna, east Baghdad, by gunmen around 04:45 this afternoon.

#9: Ahmed Qassim Mohammed, a reporter, was attacked by gunmen in Palestine St. just before five pm. He sustained a gunshot (wound) and is now in hospital. He works for al-Noor Newspaper.

#10: 19 unidentified bodies were found by Iraqi Police today. 1 in Mansour, central Baghdad; 4 in Saidiya, south Baghdad; 1 in Alam, south Baghdad; 1 in Kadhemiya, north Baghdad; 2 in Bayaa, south west Baghdad; 2 in Amil, south west Baghdad;3 in Fadhil, central Baghdad; 2 in al-Amin, north Baghdad; 1 in Shaab, north Baghdad; 1 in Zafaraniya, south Baghdad and 1 in Karrada, central Baghdad.


Diyala Prv:
Khalis:
#1: U.S. military aircrafts shelled gunmen’s hideouts at dawn inside al-Majdad village in Khalis district, which has been a focus of U.S. operations since Wednesday night,” eyewitnesses said. “The U.S. forces attacked al-Majdad village, killing eight al-Qaeda elements and destroying a number of houses used by gunmen as hideouts,” the general also said.

Hibhib:
#1: Unknown gunmen positioned a fake checkpoint, this afternoon, on the road linking Hibhib town and Jidiydat al-Shat district, 55 km north of Baghdad, and forced ten civilians at gunpoint to unknown place," an eyewitness told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Another eyewitness said "the gunmen intercepted civilian cars at the fake checkpoint and forced ten civilians out of their cars at gunpoint to unknown destination."


Diwaniya:
#1: Gunmen killed Sheikh Nadhim al-Bdairi, a Fadhila Party official in Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, in a drive-by shooting on Wednesday, police said.


Arab Jabour:
#1: U.S. forces launched an airborne assault on a desert compound south of Baghdad on Thursday, the first air strike in a major new offensive. Major-General Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. forces south of Baghdad, told Reuters on Wednesday that about 4,000 of his men would be involved in the operation and would use air strikes and air-mobile infantry units to attack insurgents in the Tigris River valley south of the Iraqi capital. Pointing on a map to the palm groves south of Baghdad in an area known as Arab Jabour, he said his troops had already pushed out many Sunni Arab militants in the past month and now planned to strike those who escaped southwards..


Basra:
#1: The Joint Coordination Center in al-Hakimiya region in central Basra came under attack by light-arms and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) at dawn without casualties,” Captain Maskeli told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). “The attack caused no casualties among the forces,” he added.
#2: the spokesman said that all British bases in Basra came under indirect fire during the past 24 hours without human or material damage resulting.


Balad:
#1: U.S. forces killed six insurgents it said were linked to al Qaeda and detained 26 others during coordinated operations east of Balad in the past week, the U.S. military said.


Mosul:
#1: four people - one of whom was a child - were killed Wednesday evening in an explosion in a Kurdish district of the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.


Qahataniya:
#1: (update) The Interior Ministry said Thursday that at least 400 people were killed in a string of suicide bombings targeting an ancient religious sect in northwestern Iraq earlier this week. Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said that 2 tons of explosives were used in the blasts, which crumbled buildings, trapping entire families beneath mud bricks and other wreckage as entire neighborhoods were flattened near the Syrian border. The victims were Yazidis, a small Kurdish-speaking sect that has been targeted by Muslim extremists who consider its members to be blasphemers


Kirkuk:
#1: Four policemen were wounded by a roadside bomb in southern Kirkuk, police said.

#2: Another two policemen were wounded by a second roadside bomb in central Kirkuk.

Colonel Hadi al-Bayati, an officer in the Kirkuk police department, and one of his bodyguards were injured when an explosive device was detonated in Mafraq Domez region in southern Kirkuk,” the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: 3 policemen injured in mortar attack upon the police station in Ameriya al-Fallujah residential compound.



Afghanistan:
#1: A roadside blast killed two Pakistani soldiers and wounded four on Thursday in the North Waziristan region near the Afghan border, intelligence officials said. The soldiers were travelling in a convoy when one of their vehicles was blown up near the town of Mir Ali, the officials said.

#2: a pro-government tribal elder and his driver were killed by a roadside bomb in Bajaur, a tribal border region to the northeast of Waziristan.

#3: U.S. and Afghan air and ground forces pounded al Qaeda militants for a second day on Thursday in the Tora Bora mountains. Afghan media quoted local government officials as saying some 50 militants had been killed in the fighting so far and up to 100 families had fled the region. "I personally don't have any casualty reports at this time, but we do know that there have been
.