War News for Wednesday, June 04, 2008

MNF-Iraq is reporting the deaths of three Multi-National Division – North Soldiers from small-arms fire in Hawija Iraq on Wednesday, June 4th. No other details were released.

June 2 airpower summary:


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: The U.S. military could not confirm the discovery, but said its soldiers, acting on a tip from a local citizen, found at least 10 decomposed bodies Tuesday in the sewer shaft of a building in east Baghdad.

#2: A truck bomb ripped through the home of a senior police officer in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least five people and wounding 10, police said. The bomb targeted a police commander involved in joint operations with the army in the Iraqi capital, police said, adding that at least eight other homes in the neighbourhood collapsed from the force of blast.

A suicide bomber killed at least five people in northern Baghdad in an attack on a senior police officer, police said. Police said the attacker was either in a car or truck driving towards the house of police Brigadier-General Nadhim Taeih. It's not clear if he was wounded. The blast wounded at least 10 people, including members of his family, police said.

A car bomb in northeast Baghdad killed at least 13 people Wednesday, Iraqi police and hospital officials said. The car bomb went off around 2:30 p.m. near the house of an Iraqi police general. The general was not hurt, but more than 50 people were wounded, officials said. It was the largest death toll from a car bomb in Baghdad since mid-April.

#3: A senior officer from the interior ministry was killed by unidentified gunmen in eastern Baghdad, the spokesman for the Baghdad’s operations command said on Wednesday. “Unknown armed men killed Colonel Thafer Ghanem in Ziyouna region in eastern Baghdad,” General Qassem Atta told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Gunmen killed a police colonel and wounded his brother, a police lieutenant-colonel, on Tuesday night in eastern Baghdad, police said

#4: Iraqi police patrols on Wednesday found two unknown bodies in northern Baghdad, a police source said.“Two bullet-riddled-bodies were found in al-Guriyaat quarter after police was alerted in the presence of the bodies in the area,” the source, who asked not to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq.

#5: Six people were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in northeastern Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

#6: Five mortar shells fell on residential areas in Somer, north-east of Baghdad, killing and injuring several people, eyewitnesses were cited as saying by VOI, which did not give an exact figure.

#7: A car bomb targeted commandos police patrol at the Ali Al-Lami restaurant at the main street leads to Jadriyah neighborhood. Three policemen were killed and six others were injured including three civilians. Police who were furious started shooting randomly killing and injuring some other civilians.

#8: Police found four dead bodies in Baghdad today: 2 in east Baghdad (Risafa bank); 1 in Zayuna and 1 in Palestine street .While 2 were found in northwest Baghdad; 1 in Shoala and 1 in Hurriyah.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Police forces on Wednesday killed three gunmen, believed to be from Qaeda Organization, during a search-and-detention campaign in Diala province, central Iraq, a police source said.

Baquba:
#1: In Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, a bomb went off on a highway as an Iraqi army patrol drove by, killing two soldiers and injuring eight, medical sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.


Latifiyah:
#1: Iraqi soldiers say they have found at least 12 bodies in a mass grave south of Baghdad.
Associated Press Television News footage shows Iraqi troops and civilians combing a deserted area and digging in dusty soil with shovels. At least three severely decomposed bodies could be seen unearthed from side-by-side graves. Iraqi Maj. Faisal Ali Hussein says he has found 12 bodies so far, all unidentified and some in handcuffs. The grave was found Wednesday in Latifiyah, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area about 20 miles south of the Iraqi capital.

A mass grave containing the remains of 55 people was uncovered in Latifiyah, south of Baghdad, by Iraqi troops conducting a house-to- house search, military sources were quoted by the independent al- Sharqiyah television channel as saying.


Nassiriya:
#1: At least four civilians were wounded on Wednesday by a bomb left inside a car in central Nassiriya, the media director of the Nassiriya police department said.


Basra:
#1: An Iraqi cameraman was critically wounded in a roadside bomb explosion while covering the return of local popular bands in the southern city of Basra, a local police source said here Wednesday. Udai Sabri, cameraman of the state-run Iraqia television, was seriously injured by the blast which occurred on Monday in the neighborhood of Seimur in central the city, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#2: Unknown gunmen on Wednesday killed a goldsmith along with his son inside their shop in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a police source said. “Gunmen shot dead Rahim al-Bidhani and his son while they were inside their goldsmith shop in Souq al-Banat (Girls Market) in Zubaier district, 35 km west of Basra, this afternoon,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.


Balad:
#1: An MQ-1 Predator crashed north of Balad Air Base at approximately 10:40 p.m. local time June 2. The unmanned aerial vehicle was approximately 2 kilometers from the base.


Tuz Khormato:
#1: Unidentified gunmen killed two local officials late Tuesday in central Tuz Khormato, Salah el-Din province, said a police source. “Unknown gunmen opened fire at Dalshad Abdullah, member of the municipality council, and Naseh Moussa, member of the Salah el-Din provincial council from the Kurdish List, inside their car, killing them on the spot,” the source, who asked to be unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.


Tikrit:
#1: On Tuesday night two roadside bombs targeted a police patrol in downtown Tikrit transporting detainees to the police headquarters. One detainee who was arrested by the police was killed and eight policemen were injured.


Hawija:
#1: The U.S. military says three American soldiers have been killed in a small-arms fire attack in northern Iraq. A brief statement from the military says the soldiers died Wednesday in Hawija, about 150 miles north of Baghdad. It says they were assigned to Multi-National Division-North.


Kirkuk:
#1: A bomb exploded outside an alcohol shop, wounding six people in central Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: a security source said that one civilian was killed by gunmen near his house in northern Mosul.


Kurdistan:
#1: Iranian shelling of five villages in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq close to the Iranian border wounded at least two people on Wednesday, a security official told AFP. The pre-dawn bombardment of the villages near the town of Sayed Sadiq lasted two hours, said General Jabari Yawar, a spokesman for the peshmerga, the militia which provides security in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the AFP reported. "Two civilians were wounded, livestock were killed and fields were damaged," he said. The shelling of the villages of Kal-Daza, Jomursi, Borye, Siamio and Kani Sif started at 4:00 a.m. (0100 GMT) and lasted until 6:00 a.m. (0300 GMT), Yawar said. It was the first time that the area had been shelled by the Iranian army, he added.


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: Six policemen were killed and four were wounded on Wednesday in an ambush by unknown gunmen in eastern Falluja, a security source said. “Unidentified armed men attacked a police patrol in al-Jazeera region in al-Karama district, eastern Falluja, killing six cops and seriously wounding four,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq on condition of anonymity.

#2: A roadside bomb struck an army and police convoy, killing two policemen and one soldier and wounding four policemen, just north of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, said a police official.



Afghanistan:
#1: U.S.-led coalition forces killed more than a dozen insurgents in southern Afghanistan. The coalition troops were on a humanitarian mission near Putay in Helmand province on Tuesday when one of their vehicles struck a roadside bomb and insurgents ambushed the convoy, a coalition statement said Wednesday. The troops saw the insurgents entering a home, forcing residents to flee. Coalition forces then responded with air strikes against the insurgents, killing more than a dozen, the statement said. The statement said no women or children were in the area.

#2: a suicide car bomber targeting Canadian troops killed one Afghan child, officials said Wednesday. The suicide car bomb attack against the Canadians happened in southern Kandahar province. Gen. Abdul Raziq, a border police commander in Spin Boldak, said one Afghan child was killed.

#3: Another suicide car bomb that blew up a district government center in the east wounded 23 people. In the eastern province of Khost, meanwhile, a suicide car bomb destroyed a district government building in Jaji Maydan. No one was killed but 23 people were wounded, said Gen. Mohammad Ayub, the provincial police chief. Sixteen civilians, four police and three government employees were among the wounded.

#4: Another vehicle of the force was hit by a mine later, the military added, but did not say if there were any casualties among the troops from the ambush and the blasts.

#5: Six Taliban insurgents were killed during clashes with NATO-led and Afghan forces after the militants ambushed their convoy in an area of eastern Kunar province on Wednesday, an Afghan official from the area said. Only one Afghan soldier was wounded in the ambush and clashes, he added.


Casualty Reports:

lance corporal Gabriel Morse and the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines arrived in Iraq for their tour of duty in July 2006 and were based in Saqlawiyah, near Fallujah. Morse, himself, was struck by shrapnel from hand grenades on the back of his body from the waist down to his shin. He was first evacuated to a hospital near Baghdad, then to a hospital on a U.S. base in Germany. Morse has had to undergo multiple surgeries to repair the shrapnel wounds, including a half-dollar size, six-inch deep hole in his backside, he said. In addition, he also had to have exploratory operations to determine if any of his internal organs had been affected.None were, but he did have to have a loop colostomy for six months, Morse said. But Morse is still on what is called a medical hold and even though he has recovered from his physical injuries, he is being treated for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis.

Sgt. Marcus Kuboy was hurt when his Humvee was bombed in Fallujah. He suffered significant back and leg injuries.