War News for Saturday, April 05, 2008

The DoD is reporting the death of a soldier at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany on Thursday, April 3rd. Sgt. Nicholas A. Robertson was wounded during dismounted combat operations in the Zahn Khan District, Afghanistan on Wednesday, April 2nd.

The Canadian DnD is reporting the death of a soldier in a roadside bombing in the Panjwayi district, Khandahar province, Afghanistan on Friday, April 4th.

A U.S. Air Force B-1 bomber caught fire Friday after a landing at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, U.S. military officials said. The crew evacuated safely, the officials said. They said the fire began while the plane was taxiing after landing about 9:10 p.m. at al-Udeid, the headquarters of U.S. military air operations for the Middle East. Officials said the fire on the bomber was contained. A military board of inquiry has been appointed to investigate the incident, they said. The officials said initial reports said the plane crashed at the headquarters of the U.S. military's air operations for the Middle East. The B-1B Lancer is widely used by the U.S. military to bomb targets over Iraq and Afghanistan.


Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A Christian priest was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad. The priest, Youssef Adel, was driving to a church when gunmen in another car sped past him and opened fire in the central district of Karradah, two police officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

#2: a bomb exploded on a minibus, killing at least four passengers Saturday in Baghdad, police said. The minibus was bombed shortly before 8 a.m. as people were going to work on busy Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, a police officer said, declining to be identified for the same reason. The four passengers killed and 15 wounded were primarily workers and vendors from the Sadr City district who were on their way to commercial areas elsewhere in the capital, the officer said.

#3: A police officer in the rank of brigadier was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in eastern Baghdad, a security source in the Iraqi interior ministry said on Saturday.“Unknown gunmen opened a volley of fire at Brig. Saadi Razouqi while he was driving his private vehicle on the Muhammad al-Qassem highway, off the eastern Baghdad district of Zayouna,” the source, who did not want to have his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Gunmen assassinated Brigadier General Sadi Rzoqi, an employee in the ministry of interior affairs. The incident took place on Mohammed al Qasim high way in east Baghdad around 3:15 p.m.

#4: Two civilians were injured when two mortar shells hit Rustomiyah district in southeast Baghdad around 12:15 p.m.

#6: Two civilians were injured in an IED explosion which was attached to their vehicle. The explosion took place in al Qahira neighborhood in north Baghdad around 5:00 p.m.

#7: A civilian was killed and seven others wounded when a mortar shell hit Jurf al Naddaf area in east Baghdad around 7:00 p.m.

#8: Police found seven unidentified bodies I Baghdad today in the following neighborhoods (2 bodies in al Khilani intersection, 2 bodies in Bayaa, 1 body in Karrada, 1 body in Amil and 1 body in Zayuna)


Diyala Prv:
Khanaqin:
#1: Four headless bodies of policemen who had been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen earlier on Saturday were found in Khanaqin district, northeastern Diala, a security official said.“The Iraqi police found on Saturday four headless bodies of policemen belonging to an oil company protection force. The bodies were found on the Khanaqin-Naftkhana main road, (100 km) northeast of Baaquba,” Sarjal Abdul-Kareem, the spokesman for the Border Guard force in Diala province, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#2: Gunmen killed four off-duty oil pipeline guards in their car near Khanaqin, near the Iranian border, police said.


Mahmudiya:
#1: One policeman was killed by a sniper while on patrol on Friday in Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Diwaniya:
#1: A multi-national (MNF) troops camp in Diwaniya came under Katyusha rocket attack on Saturday, a military source said. "Three Katyusha rockets fell on the perimeters of MNF Ecco camp, 2 km west Diwaniya," a military source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI).The source added "no casualties were reported in the camp."


Hilla:
#1: A body of an Interior Ministry special forces soldier was found with gunshot wounds on Friday near Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Kut:
#1: A corpse of an engineer was founded dumped in Kut, south Baghdad, on Saturday, a Wassit police source said.


Iskandariya:
#1: Two bodies with gunshot wounds were found in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Hilla:
#1: Police killed one gunman and arrested two others when they tried to assassinate a local police chief in the town of Hamza al-Gharbi, south of the city of Hilla, police said. One policeman was wounded in the incident. Hilla is 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad.


Basra:
#1: Sporadic gunfire could still be heard in Basra, although it was relatively calm as aid workers delivered humanitarian assistance to the beleaguered residents.


Samarra:
#1: In Samarra, Salah al-Din province, the Multi-National Force (MNF) said that two gunmen were killed in a military operation that targeted members of al-Qaeda organization east of Samarra


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb near a police patrol wounded three policemen on Friday in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: In Mosul, unidentified gunmen attacked the headquarters of Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barazani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party, a KDP member said.

#2: MNF killed one gunman at Sommar neighborhood, southeast of Mosul, when he was planting a roadside bomb at the main street there," Brigadier Khalid Abdul-Sattar, the official spokesperson of Ninewa operations command, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

#3: From his side, a police source in Ninewa province said that police forces found two unidentified corpses west of Mosul.

#4: while a police patrol found a civilian’s dead body northwest of the city.

#5: Gunmen killed a man in a drive-by shooting just outside his house in eastern Mosul, police said.


Afghanistan:
#1: Another Canadian soldier was killed Friday in Afghanistan when his armoured vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in a district of the country long acknowledged as the birthplace of the Taliban. Pte. Terry John Street, 24, of Hull, Que., was with the 2nd Battalion of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, based in Shilo, Man., said Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, the commander of Canadian forces in Afghanistan. Street and his colleagues were redeploying after a long day of activity in the volatile Panjwaii district west of Kandahar city when the explosion occurred.