War News for Monday, January 07, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier in a roadside bombing in southern Baghdad on Sunday, January 6. Three other soldiers were wounded.

The Canadian DND is reporting the deaths of two Canadian soldiers in Nalgham, in the Zhari District, 40 km South-West of Kandahar City, Afghanistan when their Light Armoured Vehicle rolled over, during a tactical move across difficult terrain on Sunday, January 6. Here's NATO's statement.

Two US F/A-18 fighter jets crashed during an Iraq-related mission in the Gulf on Monday, US naval forces in Bahrain said. All three aviators safely ejected from the planes, were rescued and brought back to the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier, the Navy's Fifth Fleet said.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Two suicide bombers struck in a Sunni Arab district of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 14 people including the leader of a U.S.-backed neighborhood security patrol, police said. Three separate police and security sources confirmed the death toll and said about 20 people were wounded. Baghdad security spokesman Brigadier-General Qassim Moussawi told Iraqiya state television six people were killed and 26 wounded. One of the bombers detonated an explosive vest, the other struck with a car bomb. Among the dead was Riyadh al-Sammarrai, head of neighborhood security volunteers in Adhamiya, a mainly Sunni Arab area in northeastern Baghdad.

The first blast was caused by a suicide bomber, who apparently targeted Riyadh al-Samarrai, the head of a local US-backed armed group set up to oppose al-Qa'ida in Iraq. Mr al-Sammarai, a former police colonel, was killed in the explosion.

#2: a bomb hidden in a market cart that killed four in the central Karrada district

In another incident, a bomb went off near the Technological University in central Baghdad, killing four and injuring 16, including students, the local news agency has also reported that

#3: The first bomb detonated near Baghdad University on the southeastern bank of the Tigris river, killing a passing driver and wounding his passenger.

#4: About three minutes later, the officer said, another bomb went off near a police patrol that had responded to the first bombing, injuring three policemen.

#5: two explosive charges detonated near Saint Maskinta church in the afternoon, destroying the external wall of the church and creating a wave of panic among children and nuns. Bishop Faraj Raho in Mosul told VOI that the 'the two charges were planted in front of the bishopric adjacent to Saint Maskinta church.

#6: In Baghdad, a Roman Orthodox Church in the city's eastern part was hit by a mortar attack

#7: a monastery in the Zafaraniyah neighbourhood in the south was also targeted.

#8: Two separate roadside bombs wounded four people in Karrada district, in central Baghdad, police said.

#9: A civilian (employee in the ministry of trade) was injured when an IED exploded inside his car in Zafaraniyah neighborhood southeast Baghdad around 9,00 am.

#10: A civilian was injured in two IEDs explosion near Husam ice cream shop in Jadriyah neighborhood downtown Baghdad around 12,10 pm.

#11: A civilian was injured when an IED exploded inside a car (Kia sedan) near Saj al Reef restaurant in Karrada neighborhood downtown Baghdad around 1,00 pm.

#12: Three civilians were injured in an IED explosion in al wathiq square in Karrada around 1,30 pm.

#13: A civilian was killed and three others were wounded in an IED explosion inside a car (Oldsmobile sedan)in Palestine Street east Baghdad around 5,00 pm

#14: Police found seven anonymous bodies in Baghdad today. Four bodies were found in Karkh, the western side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (2 bodies in Doura, 1 body in Bayaa and 1 boy in Mahmoudiyah). The three other bodies were found in Rusafa, the eastern side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (2 bodies in Sleikh and 1 body in Shaab)


Diyala Prv:
#1: In Diyala province, some 57 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, a group of militants gunned down an element of the Awakening Council, security sources said.

Baquba:
#1: Police said they found five bodies of men handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head in volatile Diyala province

Five blindfolded, handcuffed bodies with gunshot wounds to the head were found in a town southeast of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Two civilians were wounded when a mortar shell fell on a house in central Baaquba on Monday morning, an official security source in Diala said.

A police office and a member of Sahwa were injured when a mortar shell hit a combined check point downtown Baquba city today morning.

Buhriz:
#1: Gunmen killed a civilian in Buhorz village south of Baquba today morning


Samarra:
#1: gunmen killed a member of a neighborhood patrol working as a carpenter inside his shop in Samarra.


Baiji:
#1: A large fire erupted at Iraq's Baiji oil refinery on Monday, a Reuters cameraman at the scene and a member of the Oil Protection Force guard unit said. "The fire erupted in a unit in the refinery. It is a huge fire. Firefighting trucks are trying to extinguish the blaze," the Oil Protection Force member told Reuters. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

An explosion at a fuel storage tank caused a huge blaze at Iraq's largest refinery on Monday, injuring at least 36 workers, and the fire was spreading, witnesses said. A Reuters cameraman at the the Baiji refinery complex, some 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, said he had seen at least one dead body and had counted at least 36 others suffering from burns. "This is the biggest fire I have ever seen at Baiji refinery. We have not had a fire like this before," said an engineer, employed at the plant since 2003, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said the explosion had started in a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unit.


Hawija:
#1: A couple and their son the were killed inside their private car when gunmen attacked them near Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.


Riyadh:
#1: Gunmen killed three civilians (a brother and his sister and a soldier) in Abo Saif village, part of al-Reyadh city west of Kirkuk city yesterday night.


Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi soldier was wounded when an explosive device was detonated overnight near a house in Qadiseya district in Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, VOI said.

#2: The headquarters of state television in Kirkuk is the latest target in a wave of terrorist attacks to strike Iraq in recent days.According to the local news agency, Voices of Iraq, a Katusha rocket struck the offices of the state broadcaster on Monday.The attack only damaged the building and caused no injuries.


Mosul:
#1: In Mosul, a monastery in western Mosul, a Catholic convent in the Jadida neighbourhood, the Saint Paul Church in Mohandiseen and the Virgin Mary Church of Assyrian Christians in Shohadaa were also attacked. The blasts smashed church windows and caused damage to nearby houses.

#2: One person was killed and three others were wounded including two children when gunmen attacked police station on Sunday in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: An IED planted under the vehicle of Col. Mouyad Muhammad of the Ninewa police department went off in Bab Kash area, central Mosul, setting it totally on fire and causing damage to nearby houses," Brig. Abdul-Kareem al-Juburi, the chief of the Ninewa police operations room, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#4: A Ninewa police force managed to defuse an IED planted near the house of a policeman in the province, not too far away from the site of the first IED," Juburi added.



Afghanistan:
#1: A suicide bomber on a motorcycle attacked a border police patrol on Monday in southern Afghanistan, killing a policeman. Four other policemen were seriously wounded when the bomber struck the police vehicle in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, said border security police commander Gen. Abdul Raziq.

#2: In neighboring Helmand province, police discovered and tried to defuse a remote-controlled roadside bomb Monday in Nad Ali district, but it exploded, killing two policemen and two civilians, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussain Andiwal. Four other civilians were wounded.

#3: In the Zhari district of Kandahar, three Taliban militants were killed in a battle between police and NATO troops on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Another militant was detained during the operation, it said.

#4: In neighboring Uruzgan province, a clash between NATO troops and Taliban insurgents near Tirin Kot, the provincial capital, left two civilians dead and five others wounded on Friday, an alliance statement said. The violence followed a roadside bomb attack on NATO's International Security Assistance Force soldiers. "The dead are a child and an adult; the injured included three children," the statement said. "It is not clear how they sustained their injuries."

#5: Two Canadian soldiers were killed Sunday when their light armoured vehicle rolled over about 40 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City.