War News for Saturday, December 29, 2007

The DoD is confirming the death of Sgt. Benjamin B. Portell and is announcing a new death previously unreported by CENTCOM. Capt. Rowdy J. Inman died from small arms fire in Mosul on Wednesday, December 25th.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: U.S. forces killed three insurgents and detained 34 other suspects during operations targeting al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

#2: Two policemen were killed inside their car when gunmen attacked them near Al Shaab stadium in Zayuna east Baghdad around 7,00 am.


Hilla:
#1: Police said they found the decomposed body of a man dumped in an orchard in the city of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad.


Samawa:
#1: The corpse of a policeman was found three days after his kidnapping by unidentified gunmen in the city of al-Samawa, a security source in Muthanna police said on Saturday." Policeman Abdul-Amir Jassem Muhammad, 52, was found killed in the area of al-Aridiyat, (35 km) northnern Samawa, on Friday," the source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Tikrit:
#1: Gunmen opened fire targeting Ali al-Samarra’i the director of Tikrit pass port office downtown Tikrit city today afternoon. Al Samarra’i was injured seriously while one of his guards was killed in the incident.


Sulaiman Pak:
#1: Gunmen killed one person and wounded two others when they shot at a civilian car on Friday in the town of Sulaiman Pek, 160 km (100 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A child was killed and two wounded, including one soldier, by a roadside bomb near an Iraqi army checkpoint in Kirkuk on Friday, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded two people when it exploded in a village near the city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: A car bomb wounded seven people on Friday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police said.

#2: Nineveh police spokesman, Brigadier-General Saeed Ahmed, was wounded when gunmen opened fire at them as he was conducting a television interview outdoors in the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. One of his bodyguards was killed and a second was wounded in the attack.


Tal Afar:
#1: Police killed five insurgents and detained five others in a clash in the town of Tal Afar, about 420 km (360 miles) northwest of Baghdad, the town's police chief Ibrahim al-Jubouri told Reuters.


Casualty Reports:

Army Spc. Brian Gorham, 23, of Woodburn, suffered second- and third-degree burns to his face, legs, arms and hands, said his father, Toney Gorham. He was serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy, his father said. He had been in Afghanistan for six months before the Dec. 13 incident. Brian Gorham is being treated in an intensive care unit in San Antonio, his father said. He recently had his first set of skin grafts on his arms and legs and looks better, but "he's still got a long way to go," Toney Gorham said.