draft--War News for Sunday, April 13, 2008

Baghdad:
#1: The U.S. military says an Apache helicopter has accidentally destroyed one of its own armored vehicles in Baghdad.The military says the incident occurred Saturday afternoon, when the chopper spotted a group of four militants placing roadside bombs. It says a Hellfire missile hit the group, killing two gunmen.Sunday's military statement says that a second Hellfire missile was then launched. That missile missed its target and struck a U.S. armored vehicle instead. Two soldiers and three civilians were wounded.Iraqi police confirm that a Humvee was set ablaze Mashtal area of eastern Baghdad.

#2: The Iraqi government has dismissed about 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted or refused to fight during last month's offensive against Shiite militias and criminal gangs in Basra, officials said Sunday. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said 921 police and soldiers were fired in Basra. They included 37 senior police officers ranging in rank from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general. The others were dismissed in Kut, one of the Shiite cities where the fight had spread. Speaking in Basra, Khalaf said those dismissed included 421 police officers and 500 soldiers who had not returned to duty in the southern port city and would be tried by military courts. In Kut, a senior police officer said 400 local policemen have been sacked for refusing orders to combat the militias, including the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

#3: Fighting between Shi'ite militiamen and security forces in Sadr City eased on Sunday after a week of intense clashes, with hospitals in the Baghdad slum saying they had received no dead or wounded overnight. A Reuters reporter who spent the night in Sadr City said the slum had been relatively quiet overnight, with only sporadic gunfire. Iraqi forces appeared to be blocking some road exits from Sadr City on Sunday morning, causing traffic to back up. A U.S. military spokesman described the situation as "calmer" and said there had been no new reports of killings in the sprawling district. Sadr City's two hospitals said they had experienced the quietest night in weeks.

#4: Around 10:00 a.m. Iraqi security forces detonated under control two bombs which were planted in Ferdows intersection in downtown Baghdad.

#5: Two policemen were injured in an IED explosion that targeted their patrol near the national theater in Karrada neighborhood in downtown Baghdad around 12:00 p.m.

#6: Around 4:00 p.m. two mortar shells hit the green zone.

#7: Police found tow bodies in Baghdad today. The first body was found in Zayuna neighborhood and the other body was found in Saidiyah neighborhood.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A civilian was killed and another was injured in a bomb explosion in Abo Saida area east of Baquba city around 10:00 a.m.

#2: A civilian was killed in al Aswad area north of Baquba city around 11:00 a.m.


Hilla:
#1: Separately, a US soldier was wounded when a roadside bomb went off targeting a US patrol in Jabla area in the city of Hillah, some 100 kilometres south of Baghdad, witnesses told dpa.


Basra:
#1: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a policeman at 'Manawi Pasha' neighborhood, central Basra, killing him immediately," the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq on condition of anonymity. He added "The gunmen escaped to unknown place."

#2: source at Basra city morgue said "The morgue received on Sunday two civilian corpses that were found at al-Tarbiya street, 8 km western Basra, with signs of gunshots on them."The source did not reveal any further details, but he asserted that police forces found the two corpses on Sunday's dawn.


Tikrit:
#1: Five al Qaeda members were killed and two others wounded when U.S. and Iraqi forces staged a joint air assault on a desert camp near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Iraqi police said 13 suspected al Qaeda members had been killed and five others detained in the operation.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb killed one member of U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrol unit and wounded another near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Also in Kirkuk, two passengers were seriously injured when a bomb went off in a bus, targeting a checkpoint in Hoziran district, police said.

Two members of awakening councils were injured seriously in a bomb explosion that targeted their bus near Wahid Huzairan area in south Kirkuk on Sunday morning.

#3: Another explosive device was detonated near an Awakening Council patrol in Kharab Rot area north of Kirkuk, wounding three members of the council.

#4: A member of awakening council was killed in a bomb explosion that targeted his patrol in Dirsh village south of Kirkuk city on Sunday morning.
Three members

#5: A bomb exploded near the gate of an employee in the directorate of health in Kirkuk city causing material damages only.


Mosul:
#1: A stick bomb on an oil truck detonated, killing two people and wounding ten others on Saturday near an Iraqi Army checkpoint in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: The deputy of the local council in Falluja town Qasim Mashkoor and his 11 years old son were injured seriously when an IED attached to their car exploded. The incident took place in Nowab al Thobat neighborhood in downtown Falluja town around 7:15 p.m.



Afghanistan:
#1: Kandahar provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib said the militants killed four eradication who were destroying a field of opium poppies, officials said Sunday. police in the province's Maiwand district on Saturday.

#2: Elsewhere in the south, Taliban fighters attacked a police checkpoint in the Gereshk district of Helmand province said district police chief Khair Uddin Shuja. Police dispatched backup to the checkpoint, but Taliban militants ambushed one of the police trucks, killing four officers and wounding seven, he said.

Army Spc. Brad Thomas, 22, of Jones Creek is recovering from broken bones and brain damage suffered by in an Iraqi bomb blast in January.

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Jon Hart was shot in the line of duty. Hart is now home from a tour of duty in Iraq. While there, he was conducting patrol when a ricochet bullet struck him in the left forearm, grazing the bone. To top it off, another bullet nicked his left shoulder.Hart was able to remain calm and quickly ran to a medic. Hart was out of commission for a couple of weeks, but as soon as he healed he was back in action.