War News for Monday, June 02, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Force – West Soldier in a non-combat related incident in Iraq on Monday, June 1st. No other details were released and the incident is under investigation.



Mideast weather roundup:

Baghdad, Iraq: The temperature was 113 degrees at 3:55 p.m. local time under sunny skies. Tonight will be clear with a low of 87 degrees.

Kabul, Afghanistan: The temperature was 84 degrees at 3:50 p.m. local time under partly cloudy skies. Tonight will be clear with a low of 58 degrees.

Kuwait City: The temperature was 108 degrees at 3 p.m. local time under with blowing dust. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low of 90 degrees.


Reported Security incidents:


Baghdad:
#1: The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Monday ordered an investigation on how Jonasis Saguid, the overseas Filipino worker who died in a mortar attack in Baghdad last Friday, was able to enter Iraq despite a ban. Saguid worked as a cook at Groundworks, Inc., located inside Baghdad's Green Zone. Aside from him, two other OFWs identified only as Julie and Rose, were wounded in the incident. Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait Ricardo Endaya said Saguid's death was caused by a severe wound, which affected his kidney. He was pronounced dead in a military hospital.

An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) was killed in a mortar attack in Baghdad's Green Zone last Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Monday.

#2: Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Al Shahristani declared that Iraq’s production and exports of oil have reached high record levels since the start of the war. Al Shahristani told Reuters that exports in May have exceeded two million barrels while figures of March and April were less than that. He noted that Baghdad expects to pump between 2,800 million barrels and 2,900 barrels a day at the end of the current year.

#3: Official figures from the ministries of defence, interior and health showed that 504 civilians were killed during May, down from 966 in April.

#4: One civilian was killed and three others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in central Baghdad, on Monday, a security official said. "An IED planted by unidentified gunmen on a road near Madinat al-Tibb hospital in Bab al-Muazzam area, central Baghdad, leaving one civilian killed and three others wounded," Maj. General Qassem Atta, the official spokesman for the Baghdad operations command and Fardh al-Qanoon (law imposing) security plan, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded six others, including three policemen, in Bab al-Muadham district, in central Baghdad, police said.

#5: U.S. forces killed two militants and detained 31 others during operations targeting al Qaeda in Iraq in central and northern Iraq on Sunday and Monday, the U.S. military said.

#6: A car bomb wounded four people in Yarmouk district, western Baghdad, police said. Another police source said the four people were wounded when gunmen threw a hand grenade at their car.

#7: Around noon, a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol near Sarafiya bridge in Uttafiyah neighborhood (north Baghdad).One person was killed and six others were wounded including three policemen .

#8: Police found three dead bodies in the following neighborhoods in Baghdad: 2 in Karkh bank;1 in Amil and 1 in Iskan. While 1 was found in Fudhailiyah in Risafa bank


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: In Baquba, some 60 kilometres north of Baghdad, three members of the Awakening Council were wounded when a bomb went off near a location of the Awakening Councils in Amin district, the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency said.

#2: Also in Baquba, a suicide bomber was killed while wearing a suicide belt in his house in Tahrir district, witnesses told dpa.


Mahaweel:
#1: Two bodies were found with gunshot wounds and signs of torture in Mahaweel, 60 km (35 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Hilla:
#1: An improvised explosive device went off on Monday, causing damage to several civilian vehicles but no casualties, a local police source said. "An explosive device was detonated in northern Hilla while a vehicle carrying the director of the communications department was passing the location," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq.


Kirkuk:
#1: In the northern city of Kirkuk, militants opened fire on an Iraqi patrol killing a policeman, security sources told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

#2: Sources said that militants have also abducted a child in the city's Adan district.


Mosul:
#1: Two civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near an Iraqi police patrol in western Mosul on Monday, a police source in Ninewa province said. "A roadside IED planted in al-Rifaie neighborhood, western Mosul, went off on Monday, leaving two civilians wounded," the source, who requested not to have his name revealed, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol killed one woman in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A deputy dean at the University of Mosul was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded in northern Mosul, police said.

#3: One Iraqi soldier was killed and four others were wounded when a car bomb exploded near their patrol in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#4: An Iraqi police officer says at least seven people have been killed and 25 wounded in a suicide car bombing targeting police in the northern city of Mosul. The officer says the attacker detonated the explosive-laden car Monday after approaching the checkpoint at the provincial police headquarters in the city's main commercial district. He says three policemen and four civilians were killed. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

A suicide bomber killed at least three policemen and four civilians in Mosul, police said. Two children were among the dead. At least seven policemen and 25 civilians were wounded. Mosul is 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.



Afghanistan:
#1: NATO military aircraft supported Afghan police in a 12-hour firefight in western Afghanistan that killed at least 10 militants, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Monday. A spokesman for the police in western Afghanistan, Haji Raouf Ahmedi, said 150 militants attacked a police checkpoint Sunday, triggering the daylong battle in Murghab district, near the border with Turkmenistan. Ahmedi said one policeman was also killed.

#2: The commander of U.S. marines waging fierce battles in Afghanistan's Helmand Province west of Kandahar says his soldiers are stemming the flow of insurgents into an area where Canadians are trying to move beyond fighting and begin reconstruction.

#3: Just over two months after deployment, a soldier from the Royal Irish Regiment has been injured in an attempted suicide attack on a military convoy in southern Afghanistan. The convoy had just left Camp Bastion, the main British military base in Helmand province, when it was approached by a vehicle carrying a bomb - which then exploded prematurely - before reaching the military convoy. Therefore, it is understood the unnamed soldier received only minor blast injuries in the explosion on Saturday and is recovering in the field hospital at Camp Bastion.

#4: At least one missile was fired at a house next to a mosque in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, almost completely destroying the building but killing no one, a resident of the area said. Security officials said they had no information about any blasts in a village in the North Waziristan region, a militant hotbed on the Afghan border. "There was a big explosion and we heard a drone flying in the sky," Noor Mohammad, a resident of the village, Sapalga, said of the attack which happened about half an hour after midnight. "It was a missile attack and it destroyed the building almost completely but there were no casualties. "Other residents said two missiles had been fired, adding they had no information about casualties.

#5: Four Canadians soldiers and an Afghan interpreter have been wounded in two separate attacks west of Kandahar. The incidents happened within minutes of each other in the restive Zhari district, where Canadian troops successfully concluded an operation that saw a Taliban sub-commander killed. One soldier was wounded in a firefight, while three other soldiers and the Afghan interpreter were hurt when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb. One of the injured Canadians is described to be in serious condition and will likely be flown to a U.S. military hospital in Germany.