War News for Monday, December 10, 2007

Baghdad:
#1: Mortar shells slammed into an Interior Ministry prison on Monday, killing at least seven inmates and wounding 23, officials said. Police said American troops sealed off the area and were investigating the bombardment, which took place about 6:30 a.m. The U.S. military said it had no immediate information, and Iraqi Interior Ministry officials could not be reached for comment.

#2: In Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, a rocket or a mortar shell hit an oil refinery, police and an Oil Ministry spokesman said. It was the latest strike against an oil industry vital to the country's economic recovery. The U.S. military confirmed an attack in the area. Assim Jihad, a spokesman for Iraq's Oil Ministry, said a rocket or mortar shell landed on a storage tank around 6 a.m. He said no casualties were reported and the plant was still operating. "The fire is under control and within a few hours it will be extinguished. This will not affect production," Assim told The Associated Press. A police official said the fire was caused by a 120 mm mortar round.

Two personnel of the national security department in al-Dora refinery were "seriously" burnt in the fire that erupted on Monday morning, according to a refinery technical source.

#3: On Monday, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol in eastern Baghdad killed one policeman and injured five other people, police and hospital officials said.

#4: an improvised bomb blew up a car in Karada, a vibrant, mixed neighborhood that hugs the Tigris river. No one was hurt in either attack

#5: Fifteen minutes after that, a missile hit a nearby intersection. No one was hurt in either attack.

#6: At 9 a.m., three policemen were wounded in a rocket attack in the affluent neighborhood of Mansour.

#7: At 10 a.m., an improvised bomb injured five people in Baladiyyat, in the eastern part of the city.

A roadside bomb wounded four police commandos and one civilian in eastern Baghdad's Baladiyat district, police said.

#6: But two people did die in a drive-by shooting that also took place in Karada, at 7:30 a.m.

#7: Five individuals were wounded in an explosive device attack that targeted a U.S. patrol in a western Baghdad neighborhood, Iraqi police said on Monday. On Monday morning an improvised explosive device detonated in al-Faris al-Arabi square near Baghdad International Fair in Baghdad's western al-Mansour neighborhood while a U.S. patrol vehicle was passing the location, wounding five individuals, including three traffic policemen," the source, who requested anonymity, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

8: Three men working in Iraq as contractors for an Alabama-based military operation have died in a bombing. Authorities say an improvised explosive struck their vehicle yesterday. The men worked as security specialists for Tetra Tech EC of Morris Plains, New Jersey. They were part of the Coalitions Munitions Clearance Program, which is responsible for disposing of captured ammunitions in Iraq. The military identified the victims as: 36-year-old Steven Evrard of Arlington, Texas; 32-year-old Micah Shaw of Vancouver, Washington, and 35-year-old Michael Doheny of Omaha, Nebraska. A fourth contractor is listed in serious but stable condition, but officials didn't immediately release his name.

#9: 2 national police members were injured in an IED explosion that targeted their patrol in Qahtan square in Yarmouk neighborhood west Baghdad around 5,30 pm.

#10: Police found 6 anonymous bodies in Baghdad today in the following g neighborhoods (2 bodies in Doura, 1 body in Amil, 1 body in Sadr city, 1 body in Boob Al Sham and 1 body in New Baghdad.


Diyala Prv:
Buhriz:
#1: One policeman and a civilian were killed in clashes between police and gunmen in Buhriz, 60 km (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said. A child, a woman and two policemen were among five people wounded and 10 cars were destroyed.

Baquba:
#1: Six fighters of the popular committees were injured on Monday when an improvised explosive device went off near their headquarters in Baaquba, a security source said.


Baiji:
#1: An Iraqi army soldier was wounded in a suicide car bomb that targeted a check point of the Iraqi army north Biji north of Tikrit city around 9,30 am.

A suicide car bomber killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded two others in an attack on a checkpoint in the city of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: A roadside bomb detonated at a police patrol killing four policemen including a colonel and wounding seven others in Tuz Khurmato, 70 km south of Kirkuk, police said.


Hawija:
#1: Gunmen killed a member of a neighbourhood police patrol in a drive by-shooting at a checkpoint in Hawija, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, on Sunday, police said.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen killed a Christian girl in a market in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, on Sunday, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
Ramadi:
#1: Police found a body with gunshot wounds and signs of torture near Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.




Afghanistan:
#1: Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said that Afghan, British and U.S. forces had "completely captured" Musa Qala, a town in the opium poppy growing belt of northern Helmand province. He said fighting was continuing around the town. On Sunday, coalition troops killed several Taliban militants and captured 10 others in operations around Musa Qalah, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

#2: Also Monday, an Afghan army helicopter crashed in central Afghanistan killing four people on Monday, defense officials said. The Mi-17 aircraft went down in bad weather in the Salar district of Wardak province, west of Kabul, officials said, according to The Associated Press.