War News for Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Baghdad:
#1: In 2006, there were 386 sniper attacks on coalition forces, according to data from the Multi-National Force-Iraq headquarters in Iraq. Through Oct. 26 of this year, there were 269 sniper attacks, the figures show. However, the rate of sniper attacks has dropped slightly in 2007 and fallen dramatically in the past four months, according to military records given to USA TODAY.

#2: The editor of a Baghdad weekly newspaper was murdered at the weekend, Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory said on Tuesday. The Iraqi non-governmental organization said Shehab Mohammed al-Hiti, a Sunni Arab editor of the al-Youm newspaper, was last seen leaving his home in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Jamiaa on Saturday. He was heading for the newspaper's office in the centre of the capital. Iraqi security forces found his body later that day in the northern Baghdad district of Ur, which is a Shi'ite neighborhood. In a statement the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory did not say how he had been killed.

#3: a civilian was killed and another wounded Monday evening when a US patrol fired at them in the centre of the city of Kut, the capital of the province of Wasit south-east of Baghdad, police sources were quoted as saying by VOI. "A US patrol, which was driving through the streets of Kut, fired at a civilian vehicle Monday evening at an intersection in the district of Kafat, north of the city, killing the driver and critically injuring a passenger," the sources said.

#4: From the invasion in March 2003 through Oct. 1, 2007, more than 36,000 U.S. troops were evacuated from Iraq. More than 77 percent of the evacuations were for illnesses or noncombat injuries, according to data from the Department of Defense, Deployment Health Support Directorate.

#5: A bomb inside a minibus wounded two people on a highway in eastern Baghdad, police said.

#6: Two policemen were wounded when a mortar round landed in the Mansour district of western Baghdad, police said.

#7: A militant killed one street cleaner and wounded six others when he threw a hand grenade at their vehicle in eastern Baghdad's Zayouna neighbourhood, police said.

#8: Four bodies were found in different districts of Baghdad on Monday, police said.

#9: A bomb in a minibus killed one person and wounded four others in the central Baghdad Alawi bus terminal, police said.

#10: U.S. forces killed four suspected militants and detained 17 in operations on Monday and Tuesday targeting al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.


Najaf:
#1: Gunmen killed a police lieutenant on Monday in the holy city of Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Local police forces found the body of a captain from Najaf's Thu al-Faqqar Brigade near his house in al-Jamiyya neighborhood in the north of the city," the source, who requested anonymity, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#2: Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen shot down a policeman from Najaf police force at an early hour on Tuesday morning in al-Abbasiya district in the east of the city, the same source indicated.


Kut:
#1: One man was killed and another seriously wounded by soldiers of a U.S. patrol who opened fire at them at an intersection in central Kut without any apparent motives, police said on Tuesday. "A U.S. patrol roaming the streets of Kut opened fire at a civilian vehicle on Monday evening at the al-Kafaat intersection, killing the driver and seriously wounding another passenger," a security source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Samarra:
#1: Four policemen were killed and eight others wounded when a car bomb exploded near their patrol in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Clashes erupted on Tuesday morning between unidentified gunmen and security forces of the Iraqi interior ministry in the city of Samarra, an official security source said. No information was immediately obtained about casualties, the source said. "Unidentified gunmen attacked security forces headquarters in Samarra with RPG-7 missiles but no casualties were revealed yet," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Kirkuk:
#1: A body was found shot and tortured on Monday night near the city of Kirkuk, police said.

#2: Gunmen killed an off-duty policeman in a drive-by shooting in central Kirkuk, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Police said they found four bodies in the northern city of Mosul.



Afghanistan:
#1: An American soldier was killed and another wounded in a firefight with the Taliban this morning near Sperwan Ghar in Kandahar province. Canadian Forces Captain Josee Bilodeau said the victims were members of the embedded training team that mentors members of the Afghan National Army. She said the team was attacked by an unknown number of insurgents and that an Afghan soldier was also slightly injured in the ensuing firefight.

#2: a roadside blast targeted the intelligence chief of Qarghayi district in Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan as he was travelling in his car, said a spokesman for Laghman's governor. The explosion killed the intelligence chief, his driver and two bodyguards

An intelligence chief and three of his men were killed Tuesday by a roadside mine in eastern Afghanistan. The head of intelligence for the Qarghai district of Laghman province was killed when a newly planted mine blew up his vehicle, said Nezamuddin Nezam, spokesman for the provincial governor. The incident occurred when he and the three agents was travelling from the district to the provincial capital of Mihtarlam, Nezam said, adding that police units were sent to the area to investigate.