War News for Tuesday, March 11, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths Three Coalition Force Soldiers and an interpreter in a roadside bombing in an eastern Diyala province on Monday, March 10th. One other soldier were wounded in the attack.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: One Iraqi soldier was wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol in western Baghdad's Mansour district, police said.

#2: A car bomb went off near the building of al-Mahmoudiya local council, south of Baghdad, on Tuesday, leaving an unidentified number of civilians killed or wounded, a security source said. "A car bomb went off near a local council building in the district of al-Mahmoudiya, leaving unidentified number of civilian casualties," the source, who declined to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#3: Around 4:30 a.m. gunmen attacked the juveniles’ prison in Tobchi neighborhood in west Baghdad injuring three policemen, three prisoners and releasing five prisoners.

#4: Around 8:05 a.m. an IED exploded on the airport street in west Baghdad. No casualties were reported.

#5: A member of the local council of Yousifiyah town was killed and eight other members were injured when an IED exploded inside the building of Yousifiyah town local council south of Baghdad around 1:00 p.m.

#6: Gunmen also sprayed another bus with machine gunfire shortly after it hit a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad. One person was killed and four others were wounded, police said. The bomb was apparently targeting a nearby police patrol.

#7: U.S. forces have killed five insurgents and detained 11 suspects in the past two days during operations to disrupt al Qaeda networks operating in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

#8: Police found five unidentified bodies in Baghdad. Three bodies were found in Rusafa, the eastern side of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (2 bodies in Jisr Diyala and 1 body in Kubra al Ghizlan neighborhood). The other two bodies were found in Amil neighborhood and Shurta the 4th in the western side of Baghdad.

#9: Katyusha missile has fallen on Tuesday evening on the Green Zone in Baghdad – capital city of Iraq. "The highly secured Green Zone, at the center of Baghdad, has been subjected to an attack on Tuesday evening by a Katyusha missile," a security source at the Iraqi Ministry of Interior (MOI) told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). He added, "There is no information about the casualties, due to the tight security bond imposed by the U.S. forces on the Green Zone."

#10: The Green Zone, which embraces the U.S. and the British embassies in Baghdad, was attacked with 4 mortars earlier, on Tuesday afternoon, without knowing the casualties or the source of the attack.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Three Coalition Force Soldiers and an interpreter were killed by an improvised explosive device attack in eastern Diyala province, March 10. Another Soldier was wounded and transported to a Coalition medical facility for treatment.


Karbala:
#1: In another development, four police officers and a child were injured in Karbala, south of Baghdad, when a bomb went off near a downtown hospital, Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency said


Kut:
#1: At least five people were killed in fierce clashes between Iraqi police and Shiite militia forces in the central city of Kut on Tuesday, police said. Iraqi forces raided three Kut neighbourhoods to nab wanted Shiite militiamen, a local police officer who did not give his name for security reasons told AFP. "The clashes are still going on. Five people have been killed including two brothers when their house was struck by a rocket," the officer said. Another eight people were wounded, including a woman and a policeman. The clashes broke out as the security forces were attacked during the raid, he said, adding that US warplanes flew in to provide aerial support to the Iraqi forces.

At least 10 people were killed in clashes between security forces and the Mehdi Army militia loyal to anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a source at Kut's al-Zahraa hospital said.


Nasiriyah:
#1: In southern Iraq, meanwhile, a roadside bomb hit a bus that was traveling from Basra to Nasiriyah, killing at least 16 civilians on board, according to a Nasiriyah policeman who spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to release the information. At least 22 others were wounded in the attack, which took place about 50 miles south of Nasiriyah. No other details were immediately available.

A roadside bomb missed a passing U.S. convoy and ripped into a bus on a highway south of Baghdad today, killing 16 passengers and injuring 17 others, Iraqi security officials said.


Tikrit:
#1: At least three civilians were killed during a US air raid targeting a western part of Tikrit in northern Iraq, police sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. People had told police they had heard air strikes and explosions hitting areas near their houses, sources said. When police came, three men were found dead.


Dhuluiya:
#1: In a separate incident during the day, at least eight people were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a checkpoint manned by Iraqi soldiers and a local group. Colonel Mohammed Khalid, the local police officer said: "The suicide attack took place in Dhuluiya, 70 km from north of Baghdad, in Salaheddin province, at around 3:15pm (1215 GMT)."


Samarra:
#1: A GRAVE containing 20 bodies has been found by Iraqi security forces near Samarra, just days after 100 decomposed bodies were found at another site. The most recent mass grave, containing the bodies of men, women and children, was found in a dry riverbed in an area called Al-Jillam, north-east of Samarra. The bodies appeared to be killed a long time ago, Lieutenant Muthanna al-Shakir said.


Thar Thar:
#1: A suicide car bomb killed two members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood police patrol and wounded three others when it hit their checkpoint in Thar Thar, 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.


Hawija:
#1: In Kirkuk, some 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, three more members of the Awakening Councils were injured when an explosive device was detonated targeting their patrol in the main road between Howeija and Abbasy districts, sources told VOI. Two police officers were also wounded when a bomb went off targeting an Iraqi patrol in the military district in central Kirkuk.


Kirkuk:
#1: Two policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A policeman was injured when an IED exploded that targeted a police patrol in al Askari neighborhood in downtown Kirkuk city on Tuesday morning.

#3: Three policemen were wounded in an IED explosion that targeted emergency police patrol in al Tis’een neighborhood in downtown Kirkuk city Monday evening.

#4: A policeman was injured when an IED exploded on Kirkuk- Reyadh Street on Monday evening.

#5: The head of Sahwa council of Abbasi district Oda Khalaf Zidan was injured when an IED exploded targeting his convoy west of Kirkuk city.

#6: "A U.S. helicopter shelled a vehicle carrying gas cylinders in the main street in Wana district, north of Mosul, killing three civilians," Brig. Khaled Abdul Sattar Saadon told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq

#7: "Another chopper spotted two gunmen while planting a bomb in al-Iqtessadeyeen region in western Mosul, killing one and injuring the other," the officer noted.


Mosul:
#1: In Mosul, gunmen clashed Tuesday morning with police near a security checkpoint in eastern Mithaq district, the Voices of Iraq news agency cited a security official as saying. Four policemen, four gunmen and a civilian were killed in the clashes.

#2: Gunmen also opened fire on a car carrying the deputy head of Mosul University, another police officer said on condition of anonymity. The academic escaped unharmed.


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: Two Sahwa (Awakening) tribal fighters were killed and three others wounded when a suicide bomber crashed his explosive-rigged vehicle into a Sahwa checkpoint north of the city of Falluja on Tuesday, police said. "A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vehicle near a checkpoint of the Sahwa forces in al-Tharthar, (25 km) north of Falluja, killing two and wounding three," a security source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq



Afghanistan:
#1: On Monday, police clashed with Taliban fighters in Dihrawud district of the southern Uruzgan province, leaving 10 militants dead and two officers wounded, provincial police chief Gen. Juma Gul Himat said.