War News for Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Baghdad:
#1: a roadside bomb detonated near a U.S. patrol in the Bab al-Mua'dham area in central the capital on Wednesday, causing damages to one of the patrol's Humvees, the source said. It was unclear whether the U.S. army sustained any human casualty as the troops immediately cordoned off the area, preventing the Iraqi security forces from approaching the scene, he added.

another Iraqi police source told VOI that an improvised explosive device went off on Wednesday morning in central Baghdad's area of Bab al-Muatham, destroying a U.S. Hummer vehicle. No casualties have been reported on the U.S. forces' side.

#2: A number of mortar rockets landed on al-Bueithiya area in Baghdad's southern neighborhood of al-Doura," an informed source from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The source did not reveal whether the attack caused any casualties, but eyewitnesses said that plumes of smoke were seen in the sky after the explosion.

#3: The Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research said on Wednesday that its Department of Missions and Cultural Relations was robbed during the holiday of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, or the Greater Bairam, dismissing news about an armed raid on the building.

#4: Iraqi police patrols found four unidentified bodies dumped in different parts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad during the last 24 hours, an interior ministry source said on Wednesday.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: "MND-North Soldiers killed two suspected extremists and detained four more in an intelligence-driven raid in Baquba," KUNA, the Kuwait News Agency, reported Wednesday.

Three members of a neighbourhood patrol fighting with Iraqi forces and the U.S. military against al-Qaeda were killed and two were seriously wounded when a booby-trapped house exploded as they entered it in Baquba, police said.

#2: The decomposed bodies of 17 men have been found in Iraq's restive Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, the Iraqi army said on Wednesday. The bodies were found in a town near the provincial capital of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, in the past two days. All had gunshot wounds in the head.

Kanan:
#1: Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army check point, killing three soldiers and wounding another seven in the small town of Kanan, east of Baquba, a security source said.


Madain:
#1: "Fierce clashes erupted between fighters from an Awaking Council Sunni group, who fight the al-Qaida network in Iraq, and gunmen suspected to be al-Qaida militants in the al-Madain town, 30 km southeast of Baghdad, wounding five people," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.


Latifiya:
#1: Two bodies were found bound and shot in the town of Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Basra:
#1: Iraqi police discovered a spy plane hidden among a depot of heavy arms in the southern city of Basra. Police said the plane was discovered Tuesday alongside a large amount of heavy weapons, explosives, documents and videos.


Shurqat:
#1: A gunman believed to belong to al-Qaeda organization was killed during clashes with a police force trying to arrest him in the left coast's district of al-Shurqat," a security source from Tikrit police, who requested anonymity


Tuz Khurmato:
#1: a police patrol opened fire at a group of armed men while they were planting a roadside explosive device in Tikrit's northeastern district of Touz Khormato, killing one of them and forcing the others to flee," the same source indicated.


Baiji:
#1: Gunmen killed Ali al-Igaidi, a tribal leader, in a drive-by shooting in the town of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said.


Ninewa Prv:
#1: Two Multi-National Division – North Soldiers died from wounds sustained from small-arms fire while conducting operations in Ninewa Province Dec. 26. Additionally, three more MND-North Soldiers were injured in the attack and evacuated to a Coalition hospital.


Mosul:
#1: An explosive charge went off, today, in Eden quarter, eastern Mosul, killing three children and wounding two more," Brigadier Abdel Karim al-Jubori, Ninewa police operations chief, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Kurdistan:
#1: Turkish warplanes on Wednesday struck eight suspected hideouts of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)in northern Iraq, said a statement issued by the Turkish General Staff. Posted on Turkish Gernal Staff's Website, the statement said that the warplanes hit eight caves and other hideouts used by the PKK rebels in an "effective pinpoint operation" after spotting a large terrorist group was preparing to spend the winter in those hideouts. In another statement issued on Tuesday, the Turkish General Staff said that Turkish warplanes carried out airstrikes at some villages near the border in the Qandil mountains, killing one woman and wounded six other people.


Casualty Reports:

Louis Romano, 22, is just in the beginning stages of rehabilitation after sustaining extensive nerve damage, and paralyzed vocal chords, when he was shot in the face by enemy fire in Afghanistan in October." The whole side of my face felt like somebody had hit me upside the face with a baseball bat and my ear rang. Just throbbing pain. It was excruciating." Last week Louis learned that he's lost all his hearing in his right ear