War News for Tuesday, December 11, 2007

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Task Force Iron Soldier in a suicide vehicle improvised explosive device in Salah ad Din Province on Monday, December 10th. Two other soldier were wounded in the attack.

The DoD is reporting the death of a soldier previously unreported by CENTCOM. Spc. Randy W. Pickering died non-combat related incident in Baghdad on Monday, December 9th. His death under investigation.


Security incidents:


Baghdad:
#1: A suicide car bomber detonated outside the homes of former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and Sunni politician Saleh Mutlaq in western Baghdad, killing at least two police officers, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. Allawi's office said the blast occurred at a police checkpoint near the headquarters of Iraqi National Accord, Allawi's secular political party. Thirteen others were wounded in the attack, which took place as police were gathering for a shift change around 8:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m. ET) on al-Zaytoun Street, which borders the heavily fortified International Zone. Three vehicles and concrete blast barriers were destroyed, the official said.

#2: Drive-by gunmen on motorcycles fatally shot the head of Iraq's largest psychiatric hospital as he was returning home from work late Monday, police and a Health Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisal. Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Ajil was the head of Rashad hospital, Iraq's largest and well-known mental institution, which lies on the outskirts of the sprawling Sadr City district of Baghdad.

According to figures from the Iraqi Health Ministry released earlier this year, 618 medical employees, including 132 doctors, as well as medics and other health care workers, have been killed nationwide since 2003.

#3: An Iraqi security member was killed and seven others were wounded in a booby-trapped body explosion in southern Baghdad on Tuesday, an Interior Ministry source said. A bullet-riddled body packed with explosives detonated when a joint U.S. and Iraqi security patrol approached to pick it up in the Saidiyah neighborhood, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#4: In separate incident, a roadside bomb went off near an Iraqi Army patrol in the Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad in the morning, damaging a military vehicle and wounding a soldier aboard, the source added.

#5: The Iraqi army killed three gunmen and arrested 117 others during last 24 hours in different areas across Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

#6: A car bomb went off in western Baghdad near the home of Saleh al- Mutlak, head of a Sunni political party, al-Arabiya television reported. News of any possible casualties was not immediately available.

#7: In southern Baghdad, a fresh blaze broke out at the Dura oil refinery on Tuesday after another fire in a storage tank there was extinguished overnight, refinery sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. 'A fresh blaze broke out and a plume of smoke was seen coming out of the same storage tank which was hit in a mortar attack yesterday (Monday),' workers at the refinery said.

#8: The US military on Tuesday also announced the death of one more American soldier in a suicide car bomb attack on Monday, taking the military's overall losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,887, according to an AFP count.

#9:(update) The Baghdad explosions started before dawn on Monday, when rockets landed in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where the American and Iraqi government buildings are housed behind miles of blast walls. There were no reported deaths, and officials would not comment on whether anyone was hurt.

#10: Around 5.30 p.m., gunmen riding a sedan car opened fire on an Iraqi army check point near Um Al-Tiboul mosque in Yarmouk neighborhood ( west Baghdad) injuring three soldiers of that check point .

#11: Police found ( 4 ) unidentified dead bodies in the following neighborhoods in Baghdad: ( 3 ) were found in west Baghdad( Karkh bank ) ; 1 in Saidiyah , 1 in Doura and ( 1 ) in Bayaa. While ( 1 ) was found in Bab Al-Mutham in east Baghdad in Risafa bank


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: Gunmen riding a motor bike killed Hassan Al- Jumaili , an official man of Sahwa in front of his house at Katoon ( downtown Baquba ).

Kamaan:
#1: Clashes took place between gunmen and the Iraqi army at Kinaan area ( 10 km south of Baquba) killing one women.


Khalis:
#1: A roadside targeted a police patrol at Al-Aswad village of Khalis area ( about 7 km north of Baquba) injuring three policemen


Basra:
#1: Two dead bodies were found yesterday night in Jamhouriyah neighborhood in Basra city. Those two are Christians and they are from Kazara neighborhood , Basra morgue said.


Samarra:
#1: A policeman was killed by a sniper in western Samarra, 100 km (68 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Balad:
#1: At least six police personnel, including a senior officer, were wounded on Tuesday in an attack north of Baghdad, a police source said. "A police vehicle patrol was attacked by an explosive device blast and followed by a small-arms fire, this afternoon, in eastern Balad town, wounding six police personnel," the source, who asked to remain unmentioned, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The source added "among the wounded was a police officer with the rank of colonel."


Tuz Khurmatu:
#1: Around 9.30 p.m. of Monday night, a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol south of Tuz Khurmatu ( south of Kirkuk) killing three ( one officer and two policemen ) and injuring 5 others .

After nightfall, a police brigadier and two of his officers were killed in an ambush as they journeyed back to the northern city of Kirkuk. Their convoy was returning from Baghdad with weapons supplies when it was struck by rockets, bombs and a volley of gunfire. Seven other people were wounded, and two policemen are still missing.


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: A policeman was killed and another one was injured on Tuesday night when three mortar shells landed on a police checkpoint in northern Falluja, a police source said.


Afghanistan:
#1: A suicide car bomber has attacked a Canadian convoy in the Panjwaii district of Afghanistan, Tuesday. No Canadians were known to have been injured, although Afghan officials said an Afghan man and a child were killed. A police chief said the bomber also died in the attack on what he described only as a NATO convoy.