War News for Wednesday, December 05, 2007

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a U.S. Soldier in a vehicle explosion during a vehicle recovery operation in Al Anbar province on Monday, December 3rd. Two other soldier were wounded in the incident.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division – North soldier on Wednesday, December 5th in a roadside bombing and small-arms fire in Salah ad Din province on Tuesday, December 4th.

MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of Two Multi-National Division-North Soldiers complex attack involving an improvised explosive device and small arms fire Salah ad Din province on Tuesday, December 4th. Two other soldier were wounded in the attack.

The British Ministry of Defense is reporting the death of a ISAF soldier from the 5 Regiment Royal Artillery in an explosion near their vehicle north of Sangin, Helmand Province, on Tuesday, December 4th. Two other soldier were wounded in the attack. The ISAF statement can be found here.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded two policeman when it targeted their patrol in Yarmouk district, west-central Baghdad, police said.

#2: Around 8 a.m., an expert of explosives defused a roadside bomb at Al-Ghaddeer neighborhood ( eastern Baghdad ) with no casualties or damages.

#3: Around 10 a.m., an expert of explosives of police defused a roadside bomb in Al-Amana bus station at Karada neighborhood .No casualties or damage recorded.

#4: A blast in a populated Baghdad suburb late afternoon as Gates was meeting Iraqi leaders in the nearby heavily-fortified Green Zone killed three people and wounded 24, security officials said. The car bomb exploded in a crowded street near a Shiite mosque in Karrada suburb, an interior ministry official said

A car bomb exploded in a largely Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday and killed at least 14 people, police said, while Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a visit to the capital that security and stability were within reach, although more work is needed. Gunfire and sirens followed the blast in the Karradah neighborhood, and a plume of smoke rose in the sky. Police and hospital officials said at least 14 people were killed and 28 wounded in the explosion, which took place across the Tigris River from the Green Zone shortly before Gates' news conference with Iraq's defense minister.

#5: Police found ( 4 ) unidentified dead bodies in the following neighborhood s in Baghdad: ( 2 ) were found in west Baghdad 9 Karkh bank ) ; 1 in Hurriyah and 1 in Doura. While ( 2 ) were found in east Baghdad ( Risafa bank ) ; 1 in Shaab and 1 in Doura.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: The deadliest attack Wednesday was in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, where a suicide car bomber targeted a bus station and killed five civilians, police said. At least 20 others were hurt.

#2: Another bombing targeting a US patrol south of the city left a civilian dead and two others injured. A US army vehicle caught fire, according to the sources.

Muqdadiya:
#1: In another incident in Diyala, a policeman was killed and another injured in an attack on their patrol in Muqdadya.


Kut:
#1: Gunmen killed a sheikh in a drive by-shooting, in western Kut, 170 km (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.


Salah ad Din prv:
#1: Two Multi-National Division-North Soldiers were killed as a result of injuries sustained from a complex attack involving an improvised explosive device and small arms fire while conducting operations in Salah ad Din province, Dec. 4. Additionally, two Soldiers were wounded as a result of the same attack and transported to a Coalition medical facility for treatment.

#2: A Multi-National Division – North Soldier died Dec. 5 as a result of wounds sustained from an attack involving an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire while conducting operations in Salah ad Din province Dec. 4.


Baiji:
#1: Around 11.30 a.m., a roadside bomb exploded at Al-Asriyah village in Biji (north of Tikrit) killing one civilian.


Khurmatu:
#1: Around noon, gunmen killed a Kurd security officer of Asayish in Tuz Khurmatu ( north east Tikrit ).


Dhuluiya:
#1: One body was found with gunshot wounds in the town of Dhuluiya, 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: In Kirkuk, a parked car bomb killed three Kurdish troops in a convoy guarding a police chief traveling from Sulaimaniyah to the east, said police Brig. Anwar Qadir. At least 12 others were injured in the explosion, he said.

#2: Wednesday afternoon, gunmen kidnapped a truck driver from Kirkuk in the southern part of the city leaving his truck near one of the hills .No further information of the driver or the abductors .


Mosul:
#1: Mosul police Brigadier General Abdul Karim al-Juburi said a civilian was killed and seven people, including a policeman, wounded when the bomb went off near a police patrol in Mosul's Al-Dawwasa neighbourhood.


Sulaimaniya:
#1: Unidentified gunmen blew up a store for selling alcoholic drinks in the city of Sulaimaniya, a police source said on Wednesday.



Afghanistan:
#1: A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a minibus carrying Afghan soldiers south of Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people and wounding 20 others, officials said. The suicide bomber's car struck a minibus full of soldiers in the Chihulsutoon area south of Kabul, said Aziz Ahmad, an Afghan army officer at the site of the blast.
Six soldiers and seven civilians were killed in the attack, and seven other soldiers were wounded, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a Defense Ministry spokesman. At least 13 civilians also were wounded in the attack, said Abdullah Fahim, a spokesman for the Health Ministry. Four children were among those killed, Fahim said.

#2: Afghan forces clashed with Taliban who had blocked a main highway in the south, killing 10 militants, an official said. Separately, an Afghan army patrol clashed with Taliban fighters in southern Zabul province's Shah Joy district on Wednesday after the militants set up a checkpoint on the main highway linking Kabul to the country's south, said Abdul Raziq, a provincial Afghan army commander. Ten militants were killed, and soldiers recovered 12 motorbikes and weapons from alongside the bodies, Raziq said.

#3: In Helmand province, U.S.-led coalition troops killed several Taliban militants during raids on compounds in Garmser district, the coalition said. The troops "targeted an individual believed to be associated with weapons smuggling operations in the province," it said. "While performing a search of one of the compounds, coalition forces killed several armed militants who posed an imminent threat."


Casualty Reports:

Bradley Buckland, 22, returned to Maine late Saturday on a 30-day Christmas leave from the Walter Reed Medical Center outpatient system in Washington, D.C. On Oct. 20, the soldier was shot in the hip by a sniper as he patrolled the rooftops outside Baghdad, Iraq. He was treated in Iraq, airlifted to Germany and then brought to Walter Reed in critical condition and a medically induced coma. In less than a month and a half, he has had six surgeries and will require months of physical therapy. Buckland a U.S. Army infantryman, still limps. He uses a cane and he is in pain, but he decided to drive back to Maine from Washington with his wife, Jennifer Buckland, 19, to help make the transition from war to hospital to rural Maine. The soldier said he hardly remembers getting shot. He said he was on a rooftop providing security for the Iraqi police when he went to stand up. The sniper’s bullet entered his hip — the only spot on his torso not covered with body armor — slammed into his abdomen and exited through his stomach.

Sgt. Dennis Newberry, 23, a Port Huron Northern High School graduate, was injured Nov. 27 when the Humvee he was driving in Baghdad was hit by a missile. Newberry is with the U.S. Army's Second Calvary Regiment based in Vilseck, Germany. Newberry's mother, Jessica Haggith of Glencoe, Ontario, said since last week her son has undergone five surgeries to fix shattered bones in his right arm and to remove shrapnel from his body. He kept driving even after he was injured," she said. "I was told no one should have survived because nothing is left of the Humvee." Newberry is expected to require extensive rehabilitation and possibly more surgeries. Family members are hoping friends and loved ones can send him letters and messages to show they care.