War News for Friday, April 25, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Center soldier in a roadside bombing in a neighborhood south of Baghdad on Thursday, April 24th. No other details were released.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1-4: Hospital officials say overnight clashes between U.S. and Iraqi forces and Shiite militants in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district killed seven people. The U.S. military confirms that fighting broke out late Thursday. Officials at two local hospitals, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the dead included two women. The clashes left 45 wounded, they said. Witnesses say clashes ended in the early hours of Friday. U.S. helicopter gunships reportedly struck targets in Sadr City.

The Sadr City medic said the dead included four old men, two women and a child. Women and children were also among the wounded, he added.

#1: It said that in the first incident at around 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) yesterday, a group of US and Iraqi soldiers was attacked with 60mm mortar rounds. “A three-man mortar team was engaged and killed,” the military said in a statement to AFP.

#2: At around 10:00 pm, an aerial weapons team (AWT) spotted two people digging in the ground to plant bombs. “The AWT engaged them with a Hellfire missile and killed the two.”

#3: At 1:00 am today, an AWT spotted four people placing bombs and a Hellfire missile was fired at them, killing them, the US military said.

#4: Thirty minutes later, the AWT saw two people setting up a rocket-firing position. They were “engaged with a Hellfire missile” and one was killed. The other fled, the military said.

#5: A roadside bomb exploded in Adhamiya neighbourhood, northern Baghdad, on Thursday night, wounding three people, police said.

#6: Iraqi police found three bodies on Thursday overnight in different areas of Baghdad, police said.


Yusufiya:
#1: A roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded another in Yusufiya town, 15km (9 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Iskandariya:
#1: Gunmen killed two people in al-Qariya al- Asriya in Iskandariya town, 40km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Gunmen shot dead a man near his house overnight in Iskandariya town, 40km (25 miles) south of Baghdad and police said they arrested six people in connection with the attack.


Hilla:
#1: US and Iraqi forces conducted a joint operation and arrested six people on Thursday in the Mahwaeel area, 75km (45 miles) south of Baghdad, arresting two suspects after gunmen shot and wounded an Iraqi policeman, police said.


Al Qarna:
#1: A cameraman working for the al-Nakhil TV channel was killed by an unidentified gunman in the area of al-Qarna, 100 km north of Basra, on Friday, an official police source in the province said. "A gunman opened fire at Ali Jassem al-Battat in al-Qarna, killing him instantly and escaping to an unknown place," the source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq


Tikrit:
#1: An Iraqi police officer was killed on Friday when a bomb struck his vehicle in the northern city of Tikrit, police said. Hassan Ahmed, a police officer, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Jabar Ghazwan was killed when an explosive device was remotely detonated. He added that the bomb, which was fastened to the car, is a new method by the militants.


Mosul:
#1: Gunmen shot dead a policeman in western Mosul, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb killed two members of U.S.-backed neighbourhood patrols in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#3: One fisherman was killed and another wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire at them northeast of Mosul, a security source in the Ninewa police said on Friday. "The gunmen opened fire at the two fishermen while practicing their job in a lake in the district of Zammar, northeast of Mosul, during a late hour of Thursday evening," the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.


Tal Afar:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded a civilian in Tal Afar, 420 km ( 260 miles) north of Baghdad, the Iraqi army said.


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: A bomb implanted beneath a Friday prayers preacher's seat exploded in al-Raqeeb mosque in al-Julan area, northwestern Falluja, 50km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, wounding 4 people including two policemen, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: Four people were killed and 30 hurt when a car bomb demolished a police station in northwest Pakistan Friday, ending a lull in attacks since a new government took power last month. The blast early on Friday reduced the police station in central Mardan to a pile of rubble and wrecked an adjoining hotel and several shops, said senior police officer Mohammad Akhtar Khan. Two policemen including an officer and two civilian workers died, while several shops were also destroyed, he said. Officials said 30 were injured, including ten police who were inside the building and were hit by shrapnel.


Casualty Reports:

Jedidiah Bryan, 24, is an Army Specialist for the 418th Transportation Company in the U.S. Army. He and three members of his troop were injured March 12 in Iraq when two rocket-propelled grenades hit the truck in which they were riding.Bryan’s father, Carl Bryan, said the blast from the grenades blew out Jedidiah’s eardrums and damaged a few nerves leading to his brain. He was sent to a hospital in Germany for about three weeks after the accident and stayed at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. the accident damaged Jedidiah’s hearing, eyesight, speech and equilibrium. “He didn’t wear glasses before,” Bryan said. “In fact, he had 20/20 vision and now he has to wear fairly thick glasses with bifocals. ”Bryan said Jedidiah cannot hear without a hearing aid now and has developed a stutter in his speech. The hospital said it could take three to five years for Jedidiah to recover and for the damaged nerves to heal, Bryan said. No surgical procedures can heal Jedidiah’s injuries, but doctors hope that with medication and time, Jedidiah’s eyesight, speech and balance will be restored, Bryan said. Doctors expect Jedidiah’s hearing loss to be permanent, however.

Maj. Dave Underwood of Harrison, Ark., On Jan. 16, an IED explosion in Iraq took his left arm several inches below the elbow, and both legs suffered puncture wounds. But Underwood is working hard and making progress in his rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Army Spc. Adam Lichman, 24, was hurt last Sunday when his Humvee was damaged by an anti-tank weapon during a patrol. His mother, Connie Lichman, of Plymouth, says he was treated for a perforated ear drum, slight concussion and shrapnel injuries to his back. She says he returned to work the next day. An Iowa soldier who was shot in the arm last December in Iraq has been injured again.