Iraq Today

News of the Day for Sunday, May 25, 2008

2008-05-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

A man grieves over the body of his son, a member of a neighbourhood patrol who was killed during clashes, in a hospital in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad May 25, 2008. Gunmen killed a policeman and a neighborhood patrol member during clashes in Baquba on Sunday, police said.
REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ) And, as so often happens, this photo caption is the only report I have been able to find of this incident. It seems odd that Reuters can post this photograph and not mention the incident in its Factbox or anywhere else, but it happens regularly, with AP photos as well. -- C

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

Car bomb near convoy of Babel Province Gov. Salim al-Muslimawi in western Baghdad injures 11, including 7 of Governor's security guards.

“Unknown gunmen shot dead Ali Hashem, the Investigation department head of the Inspection General office of Health Ministry, yesterday evening in Tunis neighborhood, eastern Baghdad,” the source, who spoke on anonymity condition, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

Roadside bomb targeting a police patrol injure 5, including two police. One source says there was a fatality.

Kirkuk

Roadside bomb injures 5 police, 2 civilians.

Garma (near Fallujah)

Awakening Council leader survives a bomb attack.

Hilla

Police find the body of a man dead of gunshot wounds.

Tikrit

Security officials say they arrested a senior member of al Qaeda in Iraq, Ali Hussein al-Sanjari.

Other News and Analysis

LA Times Alexandra Zavis suggests that the physical presence of the Iraqi army in Sadr City does not signal political control. Excerpt:

For the first time since U.S.-led forces invaded the country in March 2003, Iraqi soldiers blanket Sadr City, the heavily populated Baghdad district that is the bastion of firebrand Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia. Tanks painted with the Iraqi flag are positioned at major intersections, and soldiers scan vehicles for weapons and fighters at newly erected checkpoints. "You see, the Iraqi army is everywhere. Nobody is targeting them," Abdul-Wahab said with obvious pride. "The Iraqi army is in control of Sadr City."

But the posters plastered across bullet-sprayed walls tell a different story. Sadr's face and that of his revered father, the slain Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq Sadr -- for whom the district is named -- are everywhere. Menacing black graffiti proclaims: "The state of Sadr: It is forbidden to be entered by the Americans and the forces of [Prime Minister Nouri] Maliki."

The cleric's fighters did not challenge the Iraqi soldiers when they deployed throughout Sadr City last week, under an agreement by the major Shiite political parties to end weeks of deadly clashes.

Iraqi officers say many senior militia leaders slipped away while the deal was being hammered out. But thousands of foot soldiers remain. Some are cooperating with the Iraqi troops, pointing out bombs and the occasional weapons cache. Others are watching and waiting.

And indeed, government attacks on prayer gatherings and places of worship have Sadrists threatening to end the truce. Excerpt:

By Aws Qusay BAGHDAD, May 24 (Reuters) - Supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr warned the Iraqi government on Saturday that it was jeopardising a fragile truce, accusing security forces of attacking worshippers loyal to him in Baghdad and Basra. Iraqi security forces fired shots to disperse worshippers in the southern oil port city of Basra during Muslim prayers on Friday and seized hundreds of Sadr supporters in southwestern Baghdad at about the same time.

Officials in Sadr's political movement, one of the biggest blocs in parliament, said on Saturday that police had targeted a mosque in Baghdad's Amil district, arresting 400 worshippers inside and outside the building during Friday prayers. The mosque is also Sadr's office in the area.

Sadrists in Basra said one person was killed and five wounded when Iraqi troops opened fire to prevent worshippers from gathering in a square. Police said the soldiers had fired shots into the air to break up an illegal gathering and that six had been wounded.

"We consider this a new page in the targeting of Sadrists by the Iraqi government and the U.S. forces," Salah al-Ubaidi, spokesman for Sadr, said in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf. "This aggression on our Friday prayers is a new escalation which could have grave consequences for the future."

Sadrists said the government was violating recently agreed peace deals to end weeks of fighting between Sadr's Mehdi Army militia and U.S. and Iraqi forces in which hundreds have died. The truces negotiated in Basra and Baghdad have largely held and are partly credited by U.S. forces for near record-low levels of violence countrywide in the past two weeks.

They allowed some 10,000 Iraqi troops backed by tanks to enter Sadr City, Sadr's main stronghold in Baghdad, unopposed this week, to stamp the government's authority over an area largely outside its control since coming to power in 2006.

Sadrists, former allies of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who pulled out of his government last year, held a news conference on Saturday to protest against the security force action and also met Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassim in Baghdad. A Defence Ministry spokesman and Sadr officials said the minister had promised to ensure troops respected Friday prayers.

"We have seen a serious breach we didn't witness even under the Baathist dictator," Sadrist lawmaker Hassan al-Rubaie told the news conference, referring to Saddam Hussein, whose Sunni Arab-dominated government suppressed Shi'ites for decades.

Sadrists vow to protest these actions in parliament. Excerpt:

Baghdad, May 25, (VOI) – The Sadrists, or Iraqis loyal to Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr, said they will question Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki over "his violation of the constitution and refusal to allow Sadrist bloc members to practice their religious rituals including the Friday prayers," said a Sadrist legislator.

"We will work on questioning the prime minister in Parliament for his violation of the constitution and refusal to let the Sadrist bloc members to practice their religious rituals. Security forces bulldozed a fence of a court dedicated for the Friday prayers in Basra during the early hours of Sunday," Uqeil Abdul-Hussein told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

Security forces on Friday banned the Muslim congregational prayers in al-Amil neighborhood, southern Baghdad, and the Iraqi port city of Basra, 590 km south of Baghdad, and shot rounds to disperse masses of worshippers. bdul-Hussein had threatened on Saturday that the bloc would adopt a "firm stand" if security forces banned Friday prayers in the mosques belonging to the bloc. We would use all legitimate legal and constitutional means available against whoever denies access to the next Friday prayers," he told VOI on the sidelines of a press conference in Baghdad on Saturday.

Ayatollah Ali Sistani reported to issue Fatwas approving of armed resistance to the U.S. occupation. Now this is interesting, to say the least. It seems reports of Sistani's imminent demise may have been incorrect. This is a couple of days old but hasn't been posted here previously. Note the last paragraph I quoted. The Iraqi view of the situation, even from the collaborationist government, is very different from what most Americans think it is. -- C Excerpt:

By HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA – BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad.

The edicts, or fatwas, by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani suggest he seeks to sharpen his long-held opposition to American troops and counter the populist appeal of his main rivals, firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia. But — unlike al-Sadr's anti-American broadsides — the Iranian-born al-Sistani has displayed extreme caution with anything that could imperil the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The two met Thursday at the elderly cleric's base in the city of Najaf south of Baghdad.

So far, al-Sistani's fatwas have been limited to a handful of people. They also were issued verbally and in private — rather than a blanket proclamation to the general Shiite population — according to three prominent Shiite officials in regular contact with al-Sistani as well as two followers who received the edicts in Najaf. All spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Al-Sistani — who is believed to be 79 or 80 — has not been seen in public since a brief appearance in August 2004, shortly after returning from London for medical treatment for an unspecified heart condition. But his mix of religious authority and political clout makes him more powerful than any of Iraq's elected leaders.

For American officials, he represents a key stabilizing force in Iraq for refusing to support a full-scale Shiite uprising against U.S.-led forces or Sunnis — especially at the height of sectarian bloodletting after an important Shiite shrine was bombed in 2006.

It is impossible to determine whether those who received the edicts acted on them. Most attacks — except some by al-Qaida in Iraq — are carried out without claims of responsibility.

snip

A senior aide to the prime minister, al-Maliki, said he was not aware of the fatwas, but added that the "rejection of the occupation is a legal and religious principle" and that top Shiite clerics were free to make their own decisions. The aide also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Symposium in Karbala reveals a dramatic rise in drug abuse since the U.S. invasion. Excerpt:

Karbala, May 25, (VOI) – A symposium on drug addiction organized by Karbala's health department revealed that the number of drug users in the city has dramatically increased since 2004, with researchers and health experts urging prompt measures to curb the phenomenon.

"The health department organized a symposium entitled, 'For a drug-free environment,' to discuss means of putting an end to this phenomenon," the media director in Karbala's health department told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq - (VOI). Among the subjects tackled during the symposium were the implications of drug addiction for society, the reasons behind its spread, and the role of the government, civil society organizations, and religious clerics in raising youth awareness of its dangers, the director explained.

On the sidelines of the symposium, a psychologist from the department, Asmahan Ibrahim, said that the number of drug users is on the rise in Karbala city.
According to her, in 2004 (one year after the collapse of the former regime) there was an estimated 41 drug users in the city. They rose to 65 in 2005 and 95 in 2006. In 2007, the number reached 367. We expect the figure to reach 600 by the end of the current year if effective measures are not taken," Asmahan said, noting that the figures include only those who have been officially registered by the health department.

McClatchy's Halimah Abdullah tells the story of an Iraq vet whose PTSD eventually drives him to suicide. Excerpt:

Until the day he died, Sgt. Brian Rand believed he was being haunted by the ghost of the Iraqi man he killed.

The ghost choked Rand while he slept in his bunk, forcing him to wake up gasping for air and clawing at his throat.

He whispered that Rand was a vampire and looked on as the soldier stabbed another member of Fort Campbell's 96th Aviation Support Battalion in the neck with a fork in the mess hall.

Eventually, the ghost told Rand he needed to kill himself.

According to family members and police reports, on Feb. 20, 2007, just a few months after being discharged from his second tour of duty in Iraq, Rand smoked half of a cigarette as he wrote a suicide note, grabbed a gun and went to the Cumberland River Center Pavilion in Clarksville, Tenn. As the predawn dark pressed in, he breathed in the wintry air and stared out at the park where he and his wife, Dena, had married.

Then he placed the gun to his head and silenced his inner ghosts.

"My brother was afraid to ask for help," said April Somdahl. "And when he finally did ask for help the military let him down."

Since the start of the Iraq war, Fort Campbell, a sprawling installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, has seen a spike in the number of suicides and soldiers suffering from severe post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Leaked British government document says Iran paid insurgents to attack British troops in Basra. Note that this is a field report by a single British officer. It is not reported what his source of information may have been, or how credible the British government considers this report to be. -- C

Quote of the Day

Shh! Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities. Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before somebody stumbles on it?

-- Dr. Ira Katz, chief of mental health services for the Department of Veterans Affairs, who then went on to lie about it to Congress. Emanuel Margolis goes on to tell us:

The Veterans for Common Sense lawsuit has already demonstrated that the VA intentionally misled Congress and the public about the epidemic of veterans' suicides. Here are the facts squeezed out of the government to date:

• 120 veterans commit suicide every week.

• 1,000 veterans attempt suicide while in VA care every month.

• Nearly one in five service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan (approximately 300,000) have post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms or major depression.

• 19 percent of post-Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been diagnosed with possible traumatic brain injury, according to a Rand Corp. Study in April.

• A higher percentage of these veterans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder than from any previous war because of "stop loss" or an involuntary extension of service in the military (58,300), multiple tours, greater prevalence of brain injuries, etc.

Remember this while the parade goes by.

War News for Saturday, May 24, 2008

2008-05-24T04:22:00.000-07:00

The AP is reporting the death of an Estonian ISAF soldier after being injured while unloading equipment from a truck in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan on Saturday, May 24th. Sgt. Major Ivar Brok died in a military hospital in Kandahar overnight after a spare wheel of a heavy armored vehicle rolled over him at the British Camp Bastion. Here's the Estonian MoD statement.

Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Whidbey bomb disposal unit pays a high price in Iraq war. This is the headquarters of the Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Detachment Mobil Unit 11, more simply called the EOD. The six were fellow bomb disposers, all killed in Iraq. The 160 sailors in this highly select, perpetually tested band are known for their cool under pressure. Their training never seems to end: underwater diving, parachuting and practicing ground warfare. They test themselves constantly to outthink bombmakers.

#2: Iraqi soldiers let their guard down after taking over the Baghdad stronghold of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. But residents of Sadr City slum interviewed yesterday were not so relaxed. They doubt a truce between Iraqi troops and Sadr’s Mehdi Army fighters will bring stability to the area anytime soon...

#3: U.S. and Iraqi troops swept Shiite neighborhoods in southwestern Baghdad on Friday, detaining hundreds of suspects, witnesses and police sources said on Saturday. The troops surrounded and searched the neighborhoods of Baiyaa and al-Amil for several hours starting from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.local time, a police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The source said that more than 200 suspected militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have been detained during the raids in the two adjacent neighborhoods. Witnesses told Xinhua that the troops rounded up more than 300 people, some of them teenagers and elderly men.

#4: (Friday) 2 unidentified bodies were found in Saidiyah, southwest Baghdad by Iraqi Police today.

#5: Three people were killed when a minibus was attacked with a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
Four people were also wounded in the attack this afternoon. All the dead and wounded were passengers in the vehicle, which was hit at around 1pm in the Sunni-dominated Al-Mansur district in the capital's east.

#6: U.S. forces killed three al Qaeda militants and arrested 17 others during operations on Friday and Saturday in various areas of Iraq, the U.S. military said.

#7: A rocket blast wounded two people near the Adhamiya area of northern Baghdad, police said.

#8: Police found three unidentified bodies throughout Baghdad, one in Zayuna, one in Ubaidi, one in Dora.

Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: In one incident, militants opened fire on a location of the Awakening Council in Baquba's Had Mokasar's area, killing one member, police sources told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

#2: At least three members of a family were wounded on Saturday as a Katyusha rocket landed on their house in Jalawlaa district, 200 km northeast of Baghdad, a police source said.

Behrez:
#2: In Baquba's Behrez area, militants attacked another meeting point of the Awakening Council, injuring two members.

Khanaqin:
#1: An Iraqi army officer with the rank of Captain was killed and five soldiers were wounded on Saturday as gunmen attacked an army base in Diala, central Iraq, a police source said. “Unknown gunmen waged an attack on an Iraqi National Guards base in al-Samah area near Khanaqin district, 155 km northeast of Ba’aquba, killing Captain Farouq al-Mandilawi and wounding five more soldiers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq.

Karbala:
#1: Police forces in the Shiite holy city of Karbala killed a gunman and wounded another in clashes that broke out at a district just outside the city, police chief said on Saturday. “The clashes erupted last night in al-Hussayniya district, 20 km north of Karbala, while police forces were about to arrest two gunmen involved in killing a policeman,” Major-General Raed Shawkat, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq. The police chief added “the one-hour-long clashes left a gunman dead and the other wounded.”

Basra:
#1: Four gunmen stormed a currency exchange office in central Basra killing the owner and fled the place.

Kirkuk:
#1: Two women's bodies were found with gunshot wounds near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Another police source said they were killed in the crossfire of a clash between two tribes.

Mosul:
#1: In the Iraqi province of Nineveh, police sources told the Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency that members of a US patrol opened fire on civilians, killing two and wounding a child. Sources said that US forces shot at civilians after an explosive device was detonated in the Nabi Younes area in the northern city of Mosul. No further details were mentioned about the incident, while the US military did not comment on the attack when contacted

A bomb attack targeted a U.S. foot patrol in Iraq's northern city of Mosul on Saturday, killing two Iraqi civilians and wounding three U.S. soldiers, a local police source said. The attack occurred when a gunman threw a hand grenade on the soldiers in a popular marketplace in Nabi Younis neighborhood in eastern the city of Mosul, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The U.S. troops immediately cordoned off the scene to secure the area and evacuated the casualties, the source said. The U.S. military did not confirm the incident yet.

#2: A roadside bomb wounded two Iraqi soldiers when it exploded near their vehicle in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

#3: Mosul Mayor Zuheir al-Aaraaji said a roadside bomb wounded two guards in the convoy he was traveling in.

#4: Police found two dead bodies of two women were shot in different parts of their bodies near Perdey town north of Kirkuk. Police also found beside the deceased women a kid, about 5 years old, who was hospitalized.

Irbil:
#1: Guards of the local Kurdish security militia, Asayesh, shot and injured a taxi driver as he failed to stop at a check point and hit the concrete barrier at the militia's headquarter in Erbil yesterday

Sulaimaniyah:
#1: Medics in Iraqi Kurdistan said on Saturday that they had seen a surge in violence against women in May, with both so-called "honour" killings and female suicide on the increase. "At least 14 women died in the first 10 days of May alone," a doctor said in the region's second largest city of Sulaimaniyah. "Seven of them took their own lives, the other seven were murdered in still unexplained circumstances," apparently the victims of "honour" killings. "Over the same period, we recorded 11 attempted self-immolations -- these women were so desperate they set fire to themselves," the doctor added, asking not to be identified.

Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: update U.S. military officials said Saturday seven Marines and two Iraqi police officers were wounded by a roadside bomb in the city of Fallujah.A civilian interpreter was killed in the incident, military officials told CNN, which said the Iraqi Interior Ministry described the attack as a suicide car bombing that happened at a government security checkpoint.

Afghanistan:
#1: The U.S.-led coalition says several insurgents have been killed and six others detained during an operation in southern Afghanistan. A coalition statement says its troops clashed and called in airstrikes on insurgents during an operation in Garmser district of Helmand province on Friday.

#2: A police official and his driver have been killed and two gunmen injured in an explosion occurred in the Nasir Bagh area of Peshawar on Saturday. According to sources, the SHO and his driver have been killed and two gunmen injured seriously when a roadside remote-controlled bomb hit their vehicle.

About two hours later, another bomb struck a vehicle in Peshawar that was carrying local police chief Khaista Khan, killing him and his driver. Two policemen were wounded the attack, he said.

#3: Government officials in Afghanistan are expressing outrage over the decision by the U.S. military not to prosecute any of the Marines involved in a notorious shooting incident last year.
Afghanistan's human rights commission says as many as 19 civilians were killed and 50 other people were wounded by gunfire as an American convoy drove along a 10-mile stretch of road. Witnesses say the gunfire broke out after a suicide attack on the convoy. The Afghan commission concluded that the Marines fired indiscriminately at vehicles and pedestrians at six different locations as they drove away.

#4: Hundreds of NATO soldiers got a dash of Canadian music and humour last night before a Taliban rocket attack forced a troupe of entertainers to temporarily douse the lights at Kandahar Airfield. The music and jokes had been flying for about an hour when the first explosion and siren forced everyone to scurry for nearby bunkers. No one was hurt.

#5: The first attack happened in Bara, a town 10 miles east of Peshawar, when a roadside bomb exploded near a civilian vehicle, killing one person and wounding three others, the official Ata Ullah said.

#6: Five Taliban militants were killed in a mine explosion in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban militants were killed when the mine they were trying to place on a road in the Musa Qala district of southern Helmand province exploded prematurely on Friday, Mohammad Hussain Andewala, provincial police chief, said.

#7: (?) four police officers were wounded and two Taliban militants were detained in a clash, officials said Saturday.

#8: Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi meanwhile said that the militants had attacked some ten Afghan security posts in the Musa Qala district.

#9: NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters in Brussels last week that attacks in Afghanistan were up 50 percent in April from last year. That number is not considered to be as significant as the jump between March and April. That is because attacks are up 25 percent nationwide over the past year, probably because there are more international troops in Afghanistan. Officials have reported the deaths of 68 ISAF troops across Afghanistan so far in 2008. A total of 232 were killed in 2007. Officials with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that attacks in eastern Afghanistan in the past three or four weeks have jumped to about 100 a week from 60 a week in March.

On The Home Front:

#1: A 21-year-old Marine, Cpl. Chad E. Oligschlaeger, died in his barracks Tuesday at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms.First Lt. Curtis Williamson, the public information officer for 1st Marine Division, said the investigation into what caused Oligschlaeger’s death is ongoing. He could not comment further until the investigation is complete.Oligschlaeger, an Austin, Texas, native, was found unresponsive in his barracks room, where he was pronounced dead by the Marine base fire department. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. A mortarman, Oligschlaeger joined the Marine Corps on July 19, 2004, and had served in Iraq twice.

Casualty Reports:

Marine Sergeant Shurvon Phillip, 27, was in Iraq's Anbar Province, in May 2005 was riding back to his base after a patrol when an anti-tank mine exploded under his Humvee. The Humvee's other soldiers were dealt an assortment of wounds: concussions, broken bones, herniated discs. Along with a broken jaw and a broken leg, Phillip suffered one of the war's signature wounds on the American side: though no shrapnel entered his head, the blast rattled his brain profoundly. A portion of the left side of his skull had been cut away to relieve the pressure of the casing of bone against his swelling brain. "His head," Ulerie said, "looked like a ball with the air half out of it." Piero and Clay Kelly, the hospital's chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation, explained that Phillip had hardly progressed from when he first arrived at the Cleveland facility; he remained in a nearly vegetative state and was seen as having, in the words of an evaluating neurologist, "little hope for improvement." But Piero said a system of nostril-flaring that Phillip mastered with his speech therapist had made him able last spring to respond reliably to yes-or-no questions. This breakthrough, Piero said, dissuaded the team from diminishing his physical work.

Michigan National Guard veteran Sgt. Michelle Rudzitis, 33, recounted losing her right leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, on Jan. 22, 2007. Her Humvee was the only vehicle in a convoy struck by a bomb that hurls a piece of molten copper through steel. Two in the crew were killed and two were injured, including Rudzitis, whose right leg was severely damaged. Rudzitis, a former Farmington Hills resident who lives in Traverse City, said the Humvee's extra armor had been removed because it was to be refitted with new shielding. Her description of the injuries -- her eyelashes were fused by the blast so she could not open her eyes, and she woke up in a hospital with her leg amputated.

Army National Guard Sgt. Ralph McCallum, 23, it was June 2007 and he was riding in the gunner position atop a convoy’s scout truck as it traveled through southern Iraq. A roadside bomb hidden behind a lamppost suddenly detonated, knocking McCallum off the peak of the Humvee and inside the vehicle, which soon caught on fire.Rescuers pulled him from the burning Humvee, but he came away with deep lacerations on the left side of his head as well as his left forearm, and the radial tendon in his right hand was sliced. Three soldiers inside the fortified vehicle suffered concussions.

Spc. B.J. Jackson of the Iowa National Guard woke up at Brooke Army Medical Center after he lost both legs and was severely burned by a land mine in Iraq.

Jacob "Jake" Knospler. Jake is a 26-year-old Marine. This great Marine and American served two tours in Iraq. In 2004, while fighting in Fallujah, he was injured when an enemy grenade put a hole in his cheek and upper jaw. The right side of his brain was injured and he was partially blind and deaf. There were other injuries to his body. He already had 22 surgeries.

U.S. Army Spc. Matt McCool suffered multiple skull fractures and a concussion from a bomb in Iraq in late March. McCool was treated at Walter Reed National Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and at the Palo Alto Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center. He later returned home.

Army veteran Rob Kislow lost his lower right leg in a firefight in Iraq two years ago

War News for Friday, May 23, 2008

2008-05-23T04:01:00.000-07:00

MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Center soldier in a roadside bombing 12 miles southwest of Baghdad on Thursday, May 22nd. no other details were released.

Reported Security incidents:

Basra:
#1: Iraqi soldiers opened fire to disperse supporters of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who were gathering for prayers in Basra on Friday, jeopardising a fragile peace in the southern city. Police said Iraqi troops fired in the air to disperse hundreds of worshippers, whom they said had no right to gather in a square in northern Basra, wounding six. But Sadr supporters accused the Iraqi armed forces of attacking the worshippers and of indiscriminately opening fire on them. They said one person was killed and five wounded.

Lake al-Tharthar:
#1: west of Samarra on Friday, the body of a woman near Lake al-Tharthar, police said. A body of a woman in her 30s showing signs of having been shot was also found in a cell under the ground," Shakir added.

Tuz Khormato:
#1: 2 Iraqi army soldiers from Sulaiman Bek were attacked by gunmen near Tuz Khormatu on the main route from Kirkuk to Baghdad Friday.

Hawija:
#1: One civilian was killed and three others wounded when an explosive charge went off in al-Rimaniya village, Huweija district, on Friday, police said. "An improvised explosive device went off near a gathering of people in al-Rimaniya village in Huweija, (70 km) west of Kirkuk, leaving one civilian killed and three others injured," a security source speaking on condition of anonymity told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Kirkuk:
#1: At least one civilian was killed on Friday, and another three wounded when a bomb went off in the northern city of Kirkuk, media reports said. The Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency said that an explosive device targeted people gathered in the al-Romaniya area in Kirkuk.

Mosul:
#1: A fire erupted in a house in northern Mosul when U.S. forces raided it on Friday, a security source in Ninewa police said."A house in the northern Mosul neighborhood of al-Rifaq was on fire while U.S. soldiers were raiding it. The U.S. soldiers detonated a stun bomb near the door, causing the house to burn," the source, who did not want to be named, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI). The source did not say whether the house owners were arrested. "None of them was hurt," he said.

Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah
#1: A suicide bomber killed at least six Iraqi civilians in an attack on a checkpoint in the Sunni Arab town of Fallujah, Iraqi police said. Captain Mohammed Hussain said the suicide bomber targeted a joint Iraqi and US military checkpoint in the Al-Julan neighbourhood of Fallujah, 50 kilometres west of the capital Baghdad. "The victims were civilians," he said. There was no immediate reaction from the US military.

#2: A roadside bomb on Friday struck a dismounted joint patrol of U.S. troops and Iraqi police in the city of Fallujah in Anbar province, killing one interpreter and wounding two Iraqi policemen, a provincial police source said. The bomb detonated in the morning when U.S. troops and Iraqi police were on foot patrol in the al-Azraggiya neighborhood in northern Fallujah, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. It was unclear whether any U.S. soldier was killed or wounded by the attack as the troops immediately cordoned off the scene, allowing a U.S. helicopter to evacuate the casualties, the source said. The U.S. military has not confirmed the incident yet.

Six U.S. marines were wounded and their Arabic-speaking interpreter was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

#3: A roadside bomb exploded in Falluja when Iraqi police tried to safely dispose of it, the U.S. military said. The blast wounded two policemen.

#4: Gunmen attacked the home of Falluja's local council leader Hameed al-Hashin but were repelled by his guards returning fire. No one was hurt.

#5: A police officer was killed and four were wounded when a suicide car bomber drover into the compound of a police station in Falluja, police said.

Afghanistan:
#1: A government official says a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan has killed four Afghan soldiers and a child. Defense Ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi says the suicide bomber blew himself up as the Afghan army convoy slowed to pass a pothole-riddled section of the road.
Azimi says the attack Friday killed four soldiers and a child. Four other soldiers were wounded.
The attack occurred about 12 kilometres west of Khost city.

Casualty Reports:

Private Liam Haven, Brisbane-based soldier, was inside a Bushmaster armoured vehicle near An Nasiriyah in the early hours of last Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded, injuring his arm, neck and face. He has undergone surgery in Germany. "The 19-year-old is assessed as being in a stable condition," a Defence statement said.

Jesse Schertz, 24, is also a Marine, injured in Iraq almost four years ago when a car bomb exploded near his convoy. "They had homemade napalm and stuff like that, so we got a lot of burns," said Schertz. "I had burns from my face, my hands, caught shrapnel in my ankle and broke my leg." Doctors amputated his leg. Schertz spent 15 months in the hospital.

Army Specialist Josh Eckley serving two tours in Iraq and surviving a devastating Humvee explosion that left him fighting for his life.

War News for Thursday, May 22, 2008

2008-05-22T04:10:00.000-07:00

The USA Today is reporting the death of a ISAF soldier from gunfire during a protest against an American sniper who shot at a copy of the Quran in Iraq, near an airfield in western Ghor province, Afghanistan, on Thursday, May 22nd. Two other civilians were killed when police opened fire on protesters and one soldier and and seven civilians were wounded in the incident. Here's the official NATO statement. The AFP is reporting the dead soldier as Sergeant Arunas Jarmalavicius and he is from from Lithuania.

Reported Security incidents:

Mideast weather roundup:

Baghdad, Iraq: The temperature was 104 degrees at 3:55 p.m. local time under sunny skies. Tonight will be clear with a low of 81 degrees.

Kabul, Afghanistan: The temperature was 86 degrees at 3:50 p.m. local time under partly sunny skies. Tonight will be partly cloudy with a low of 60 degrees and a chance of rain.

Kuwait City: The temperature was 108 degrees at 3 p.m. local time with blowing dust. Tonight will be clear with a low of 85 degrees

Baghdad:
#1: An Iraqi satellite TV channel says its cameraman has been killed during clashes in eastern Baghdad. Tariq Maher, a correspondent for the Afaq TV station, says Wissam Ali Auda was killed Wednesday by sniper fire in the Obeidi area. Maher says the 30-year-old cameraman apparently got caught in the crossfire as he was on his way home. The U.S. military says 11 suspected gunmen were killed in fighting with Shiite militia fighters.

A reporter for the Washington Post was shot to death today in Baghdad, Iraq. The Washington Post said Salih Saif Aldin was shot and killed while taking photographs of several houses that were burned. The paper said the killing was a deliberate attack on the reporter. Salih Saif Aldin, 32, was shot once in the head, apparently at close range, other details of the killing.

#3: Several US soldiers exposed to a 2003 sulfur plant fire in Iraq have been diagnosed with a lung disorder that constricts small airways of the lung, making them unfit for duty, US researchers said on Wednesday. Doctors at Vanderbilt University in Nashville identified the illness after evaluating 56 soldiers stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, who suffered from unexplained shortness of breath after exercise. Miller and colleagues eventually took lung samples from 31 of the soldiers who were referred to Vanderbilt, and 29 had a form of bronchiolitis, a condition that involves a narrowing of the small airways of the lung. "Of the 31, seven had biopsies and did not have this exposure, which says there are probably other inhalation exposures in Iraq that these guys are exposed to," said Miller. He and colleagues presented the findings at a meeting of the American Thoracic Society in Toronto.

#4: 6 unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad by Iraqi Police today. 1 in New Baghdad; 1 in Kamaliyah; 2 in Bayaa; 1 in Amil and1 in Saidiyah.

Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: The body of another journalist, Haidar Hashem al-Husseini, was found in the town of Baquba northeast of Baghdad on Wednesday, two days after he was kidnapped, a local police official said. His hands and feet bound, he had been shot execution style and dumped in a common grave with eight other bodies. Abdul Rassul Ziyara, editor of the As-Sharq, confirmed the death.

Baiji:
#1: A U.S. helicopter airstrike on Wednesday night killed eight civilians, including two children, north of Baghdad, police officials said on Thursday. Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi, police chief in the town of Baiji, said the attack was on a group of shepherds in a vehicle in a farming area. Relatives said some of those killed were fleeing on foot after the U.S. military arrived in the area. A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lieutenant-Colonel Maura Gillen, said the helicopter fired on the vehicle after observing "suspicious activity." She said the driver had ignored warnings to stop. "There were two boys, one was eight and the other was 11," said police Major Ahmed Hussein, giving the ages of two of the victims. A doctor at Baiji hospital who asked not to be named said it had received eight bodies following the incident early on Wednesday evening. One body was that of a 60-year-old man.

Kirkuk:
#1: An Iraqi policeman was killed by unidentified gunmen Thursday in Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, a source in the Iraqi police said. The source said the gunmen ran away after shooting the policeman.

Mosul:
#1: Police said five kidnapped Iraqi soldiers were found shot dead near the northern city of Mosul. A roadside bomb exploded as security forces went to investigate, wounding seven soldiers and two policemen, including a police lieutenant-colonel, police said.

Afghanistan:
#1: Increasingly, NATO allies, which are under growing pressure to bring troops home, are balking at sending soldiers to reinforce the more than 60,000 foreign troops — 34,000 of them American — already in the country. Senior Bush administration officials say they may send 7,000 American troops next year to fill the gap.

#2: Four NATO soldiers were wounded in an apparent suicide car bombing in eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan, the alliance force and local officials said. The blast from a parked car struck the International Security Assistance Force soldiers on Wednesday as they were patrolling near the small border town of Barmal, ISAF spokesman General Carlos Branco told AFP. Someone had been sitting in the vehicle but it was not clear if it had been a suicide attack, the general said. He did not give the nationalities of the soldiers. Most troops in eastern Afghanistan are US nationals.

#3: Taliban spokesman Zabihallah Mojahed has said the militants have blasted two US tanks in the southeastern province of Paktia in Afghanistan. He claimed that all the US occupants of the tanks have been killed, Press TV correspondent reported from Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a US-led coalition troops' spokesman confirmed the clash and claimed one US tank has been blasted and two coalition forces wounded.

#4: An Afghan child was killed and three others were wounded when Taliban insurgents attacked NATO bases in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement on Thursday.
Insurgents' attacks targeted two NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) bases in Asmar district of eastern Kunar province, close to border with Pakistan, ISAF said in a statement. 'Three separate groups of insurgents launched the attacks on the ISAF bases with heavy machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire. The attacks lasted approximately 20 minutes,' the statement said.

#5: Police found Thursday the bullet-riddled bodies of three Afghan security guards kidnapped a week ago by insurgents, an officer said, as the Taliban claimed responsibility. The guards had been working for a private Afghan security company that escorts supply convoys on risky routes to bases of the US and NATO forces helping Afghanistan fight the Taliban and other extremists, police said. "They were kidnapped by the armed opposition," Ghazni province deputy police chief Mohammad Zaman said. "We found their bodies today."

#6: Elsewhere in Ghazni, a Taliban fighter was killed and two others wounded in a gunfight with security forces, Zaman said.

#7: A NATO spokesman says a protest in Afghanistan against an American sniper who shot at a copy of the Quran in Iraq turned violent, leaving one alliance soldier and two civilians dead. Maj. Martin O'Donnell says the soldier was hit by gunfire, but that it was not clear who fired the gun. He says the two civilians were killed when police opened fire on protesters. O'Donnell says the protest took place Thursday near an airfield in western Ghor province. It became violent when demonstrators threw rocks and set tents on fire. O'Donnell says one NATO soldier and seven civilians were wounded.

#8: According to the United Nations an average of 60 people every month are killed or wounded by landmines or explosives left over from war in Afghanistan and an estimated 270 square miles are still contaminated with explosive devices

#9: A bomb attached to a bicycle exploded Thursday in southern Afghan city of Kandahar as an Afghan army convoy was passing by, leaving one soldier killed and another soldier wounded, a police officer told Xinhua.

#10: An executive of a Pakistani television channel says gunmen have killed one of its reporters after he interviewed a militant commander near the Afghan border. Fahad Hussain is a senior official at the private Express News TV channel. Hussain said officials told him that several masked men ambushed the reporter on Thursday as he rode a motorcycle near Khar, the main town in the Bajur tribal region. He said reporter Muhammed Ibrahim Khan was returning from an interview with a spokesman for Taliban militants in the area.

Casualty Reports:

Maj. Josef S. Hatch was promoted nine days before he and two other soldiers were injured in a 107 mm rocket attack in early October 2007. He was in a Humvee on their forward operating base when rockets hit the vehicle. Hatch was in the driver's seat. He hit the steering wheel and windshield, losing consciousness.

Capt. Theresa L. Ellison was in a Humvee on their forward operating base when rockets hit the vehicle. Ellison was sitting in the back seat and hit the roof of the vehicle, she said.

Sgt. 1st Class Nathan B. Gray was in a Humvee on their forward operating base when rockets hit the vehicle. Gray was in the passenger seat and was hit with shrapnel.

War News for Wednesday, May 21, 2008

2008-05-21T04:12:00.000-07:00

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an explosion in Ghazni province on Tuesday, May 20th. Two additional soldiers were wounded and a civilian interpreter was killed in the attack. NATO later released an updated statement that one one the wounded soldiers later died in an ISAF hospital.

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by CENTCOM. Lt. Col. Joseph A. Moore died of natural causes in Djibouti on Tuesday, May 20th. He was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. No other details were released.

Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Iraqi troops tightened their grip on the Baghdad militia bastion of Sadr City on Wednesday, a day after moving into the Shiite district for the first time in eight weeks, officials said. More Iraqi soldiers were seen deploying in the district and dozens of blasts were heard as they carried out controlled explosions of roadside bombs planted by militiamen during deadly clashes with US troops, residents said.

#2: Hospitals in Sadr City said they admitted no casualties from any violence in the district overnight, in sharp contrast to the past weeks of violence when dozens of dead or wounded were admitted daily.

#3: Another three civilians were wounded when a bomb went off in Baghdad's Palestine street, witnesses told dpa. Nearby stores were also destroyed in the blast.

Four civilians were wounded on Wednesday in a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad, said a police source."An explosive charge went off in Sahet Beirut in Palestine street region in eastern Baghdad, wounding four civilians," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#4: At least 11 people were killed Wednesday when gunfire broke out after a roadside bombing in a Shiite militia stronghold in eastern Baghdad near Sadr City, scene of a major military clampdown, Iraqi police said. The violence Wednesday also raises fears that Shiite fighters could stir up trouble in nearby parts of eastern Baghdad. Two Iraqi officials said the shooting occurred about 5:30 a.m. in the Obeidi neighborhood after three roadside bombs targeted joint U.S.-Iraqi troops. But the U.S. military said its forces were not involved in any events in the area. It was not clear who opened fire after the explosions. Eleven bystanders were killed and one person wounded, one of the police officials said. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

American soldiers killed 11 suspected Shiite gunmen in clashes Wednesday in a militia stronghold near Baghdad's Sadr City, scene of a major Iraqi army clampdown, the U.S. military said. The U.S. military identified the 11 killed Wednesday in the New Baghdad district as "special group criminals," terminology it uses to refer to rogue Shiite fighters who defy al-Sadr's cease-fire orders. Four heavily armed militants were killed while traveling in a sport utility vehicle, four others were killed because they engaged in suspicious behavior, and three were killed after they were spotted planting two separate roadside bombs, according to a statement. Two Iraqi police officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said earlier that 11 bystanders, including two street sweepers, were killed and one wounded when joint U.S.-Iraqi troops opened fire after a roadside bombing in the area.

#5: A booby-trapped car parked near the Sa'ah Restaurant in Mansour district detonated around 3 p.m. (1200 GMT), killing a civilian and wounding six others, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

#6: Also in the afternoon, another car bomb parked at the Kendi thoroughfare in Harthiyah neighborhood detonated and wounded four people, damaging several nearby shops and civilian cars, the source said.

#7: Gunmen assassinated Colonel Abdul Kareem Muhsin, the director of the protection department in the ministry of transportation while he was in his way back home on Mohammed al Qasim high way in east Baghdad around 3:00 p.m.

#8: Three people were killed and two wounded in a mortar attack in southern Baghdad, police said.

#9: Around 6:00 p.m. a parked car bomb exploded in Atifiyah neighborhood in north Baghdad targeting a US military convoy. No casualties reported.

#10: On Wednesday morning, an IED attached to the car of Judge Qasim Ali Motar, the judge in the investigation court in Abo Ghraib while the judge was driving to work in Abo Ghraib district in west Baghdad. Judge Qasim was injured seriously and lost one of the his legs in the explosion.

#11: Police found five unidentified bodies throughout Baghdad (1 body in UR, 1 body Zayuna, 1 body in Doura, 1 body in al Risalah and 1 body Saidiyah)

Diyala Prv:
#1: In other news, Kurdish security sources said four members of the Awakening Council were killed and another three wounded when militants opened fire on their checkpoint in the late hours of Tuesday. The insurgents attacked the checkpoint in Jolaa district, north- eastern Baghdad.

Gunmen attacked a checkpoint in Sheikh Baba district, part of jalawla northeast of Baquba city killing four Kurdish security members known as (Asayish).

#2: The Asayish forces attacked al Shawathib area in the same district and arrested 15 young men. Two hours later, the bodies of two of the 15 young men were found while no information provided about the others.

#3: Iraqi security forces killed four gunmen who attacked their checkpoint near Jalawlah town, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad. Three Kurdish troops were wounded, Major Jalil Muhammad Ali said.

Bahraz:
#1: Policemen found three unidentified bodies in south of Baaquba city, a security source said on Wednesday. "Police forces, in cooperation with local residents, found three unknown corpses in al-Karama neighborhood in Bahraz district, south of Baaquba," the source, who asked to be unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

Iraqi army found two mass grave yards in al Abbara area south of Baquba city. The first grave included three corpses while the second grave included seven corpses.

Mosul:
#1: Gunmen in a car killed the cleric of a mosque in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Al Anbar Prv:
Anbar Cuty: (?)
#1: Separately, a woman suicide bomber detonated her explosive belt in front of a headquarters of an Awakening Council (the US-backed anti- insurgency militia), killing two police officers and wounding another four, al-Iraqiya television reported. The explosion occurred in the Ratab area of Anbar city, some 100 kilometres west of Baghdad.

Afghanistan:
#1: Attacks on Khyber trucking threaten US supply line: Thieves, feuding tribesmen and Taliban militants are creating chaos along the main Pakistan-Afghanistan highway, threatening a vital supply line for U.S. and NATO forces. Abductions and arson attacks on the hundreds of cargo trucks plying the switchback road through the Khyber Pass have become commonplace this year. Many of the trucks carry fuel and other material for foreign troops based in Afghanistan. U.S. and NATO officials play down their losses in these arid mountains of northwestern Pakistan - even though the local arms bazaar offers U.S.-made assault rifles and Beretta pistols, and the alliance is negotiating to open routes through other countries.

#2: Afghan troops have killed 14 Taliban militants in southern province of Zabul, a local official said Wednesday. "Afghan troops with the support of air power pounded militants positions in Khak-e-Afghan district Tuesday night killing 14 rebels," Gulab Mangal, deputy to Zabul provincial administration, told Xinhua. He said eight of the bodies left on the ground appeared to be foreign nationals. However, the official did not say if there were any casualties on Afghan forces.

#3: Six Afghan police officers were killed Wednesday and five were wounded in a traffic accident in western Afghanistan, police said. A police ranger vehicle collided head-on with a trailer truck as both were travelling at a high rate of speed on the highway between the Shindand district of the western province of Herat and Herat city, its provincial capital, said Abdul Mutalib Rad, a police spokesman in the region. Rad said the injured police, some in critical condition, were evacuated to a provincial hospital for treatment.

#4: The police official died when insurgents targeted a security check post late Tuesday in Ningolai area of the volatile Swat valley in North-West Frontier Province, according to a statement from the Pakistan Army.

#5: The Islamic militants also set ablaze two girls' schools in Swat, where the Pakistani army has been conducting operations since late October to clear out followers of a radical Muslim cleric, Fazlullah, who wants to impose Taliban-style Islamic rule in the region.

#6: Separately, unknown gunmen on Wednesday morning opened fire at the vehicle of a parliament member, Noorul Haq Qadri, in the tribal district of Khyber Agency that borders Afghanistan. The member of parliament was not in his car but his four relatives died in the attack.

War News for Tuesday, May 20, 2008

2008-05-20T04:46:00.000-07:00

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier in an explosion in the Musa Qaleh area of Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Monday, May 19th. No other casualties were reported. Here's NATO's official statement.

NATO is reporting a second death of an ISAF soldier from hostile enemy action in southern Afghanistan on Monday, May 19th. No other details were released. The Sun Herald is reporting that a U.S. Marine, Cpl. Justin Cooper was killed this past weekend in combat in Afghanistan. This appears to be the second ISAF death.

WMAZ is reporting the death of Sgt. First Class Davy Weaver in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan on Sunday, May 18th. No other details were released.

Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Thousands of Iraqi troops moved into Baghdad's Sadr City district Tuesday in a major operation aimed at bringing government control over the Shiite militia stronghold, the Iraqi miltary said. The large Iraqi force backed by tanks entered the sprawling district before dawn, with troops taking up positions on street corners and deploying on rooftops as Iraqi Humvees patrolled the streets, residents said. Al-Moussawi said three brigades with about 10,000 troops were involved in the deployment. He and the U.S. military said American troops were participating, though al-Moussawi said U.S. forces were nearby in case their support was needed.

Iraqi soldiers, who previously controlled only the outer perimeter of Sadr City, met no opposition during their advance into the suburb, home to 2 million people.

#3: Around 9:00 p.m. (Monday) an IED exploded targeting the vehicle of Major Ahmed, the chief police of al Quds police station in Shaab neighborhood north Baghdad. Major Ahmed got injured with three of his guards.

#4: Two civilians were injured in a bomb explosion in Ghadeer neighborhood in east Baghdad around 9:00 p.m (Monday).

#5: Around 8:00 p.m. (Monday) gunmen opened fire targeting a vehicle carrying three policemen in Qadisyah neighborhood west Baghdad. The policemen were injured and taken to the hospital.

#6: (Monday) Gunmen attacked an officer in the ministry of interior affairs in Zafaraniyah neighborhood in southeast Baghdad. The officer was injured in the attack.

#7: A roadside bomb inside a minibus killed one person and wounded four others in Rustumiya district, in southeastern Baghdad, police said.

A bomb also exploded inside a minibus in Baghdad, killing two passengers and wounding five others.

#8: A roadside bomb wounded two people in Zayouna district, in eastern Baghdad, police said.

#9: A roadside bomb targeted a US military convoy in al-Qanat Street, near the Talbiyah traffic fly over bridge at 7.45 am Tuesday. One hummer vehicle was damaged.

Diyala Prv:
Mandili:
#1: A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up at about 7 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) at a house in the al-Bakir neighborhood in the town of Mandili, near the Iranian border, a source from the town's police station told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The suicide bomber targeted Sheikh Talib al-Nadawi, the chieftain of Nadawi Sunni tribe and head of the local U.S.-backed Awakening Council group, the source said. Nadawi who was at the house as a guest escaped unhurt, but a female child was killed and two people were wounded, he said.

A girl child was killed and nine civilians wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his explosive belt northeast of Baaquba on Tuesday, police said.

A woman suicide bomber attacked the house of Sheikh Mutlib al-Nidawi, the head of the U.S.-backed neighbourhood police of Mandili, killing his niece and wounding him as well as two of his guards, police said. Mandili is 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad.

Balad Ruz:
#1: In separate incident, a mortar round landed on a house in the town of Baladruz, some 70 km northeast of Baghdad, killing two family members and wounding eight others, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

Samarra:
#1: U.S. forces killed a senior al Qaeda leader in Samarra, north of Baghdad, and detained 20 others in different areas in Iraq on Monday and Tuesday, the U.S. military said

Dolouiya:
#1: Four Sahwa- Awakening- fighters were killed on Tuesday in an armed attack near Dolouiya district, 90 km north of Baghdad, a local police source said. “Unknown gunmen attacked and killed Qassem Balil al-Dulaimi, a local Sahwa leader, along with three escorts in Bishkan village near Dolouiya,” the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq. The source added “The victims were ambushed on a rural road while the attackers fled to unknown place.”

Sulaimaniyah Prv:
#1: 3 people were injured in Sulaimaniyah city during a fight that was related to a vengeance killing, in Hachi Awa neighbourhood at 8 pm Monday. One of the gunmen is a captain in the armed forces and has been handed over to the military authorities for disciplining.

#2: 1 woman was injured in the continued Iranian bombardment of border villages. Halima Ibraheem was injured by flying shrapnel Monday evening and was taken to hospital for treatment. 5 border villages were targeted Tuesday from 11 am until noon.

Baaj:
#1: Late Monday, gunmen suspected of being al-Qaida fighters ambushed a minibus carrying Iraqi police recruits near the Syrian border west of Mosul, killing all 11 passengers, Iraqi officials said—the first deadly attack since the Mosul sweep began. The attack, one of the bloodiest in months against police, left the minibus riddled with bullets in the desert west of Mosul near the town of Baaj, 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Syrian border, according to a provincial official in Baaj and a Mosul police officer. Some al-Qaida fighters are believed to have fled the city toward neighboring Syria.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A suicide bomber killed himself and three members of his family including his wife and sister and wounded two others when the police surrounded his house in western Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

Afghanistan:
#1: A provincial governor says a roadside blast has killed five nomads and dozens of sheep in southwestern Afghanistan. The Nimroz province Gov. Ghulam Dastagir says the nomads were transporting sheep on a truck when their vehicle hit the freshly planted bomb late on Monday.

#2: Five people were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near an army vehicle in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, the third blast to hit the country in three days, police said. The incident occurred in the northwestern garrison town of Kohat, a major base for Pakistani troops involved in military operations against Taliban militants in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan."Three soldiers and two civilians were injured in the bomb blast, according to initial reports," police official Shakir Khan said.

#3: The decapitated body of the policeman was found in the southwestern province of Farah on Monday, a day after he had been captured by Taliban fighters, the police spokesman for the region told AFP. He was caught while travelling home for a holiday, said spokesman Abdul Mutalib Rad, blaming Taliban extremists.

#4: In a separate incident, militants fired mortars at an aid agency's water tanker in eastern Afghanistan, an Afghan army spokesman said. "Then they came and killed the driver and stole his tanker," said Mohammad Gul, blaming the "opposition".

#5: In southwestern Nimroz province meanwhile, a mine blew up a truck transporting sheep and killed five men and several of the animals, provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said.
It was not clear if the device was newly planted or left over from other conflicts in Afghanistan.

#6: And in Wardak, near Kabul, a mine apparently intended for police exploded under a civilian car and killed two people, deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Asif said.

#7: In southern Logar province, Shah Mohammad, security chief of the province's Charkh district, was killed by unknown gunmen Tuesday morning, said Gholum Mustafa, provincial police chief.

#8: The Afghan government will decide when foreign troops will leave the country, the foreign minister said on Tuesday, but added they would be needed until Afghan security forces could stand on their own feet.

On the home front:

A Marine home on leave and scheduled to return to Iraq on June 2 died in a motorcycle crash while visiting relatives. Lance Cpl. Noah Alexander Cole, 25, of Martin, was spending his 30-day leave in West Michigan visiting family and friends. The young man's body was found on the road by a passing motorist just after sunrise Monday, following an apparent overnight crash with his 1997 Yamaha on U.S. 131 near 140th Avenue, near Dorr Township in Allegan County, state police said.

Robert Crutchfield survived 14 months of gunfire in Iraq. But the 21-year-old lance corporal returned home for Christmas and was shot in the neck by two robbers on Jan. 5 at a bus stop at East 72nd Street and Superior Avenue. Crutchfield died Sunday night from his injuries.

When Pfc. Alberto Martinez returned from heavy combat in Iraq in 2003, he reported tightness in his chest, memory loss and sleeplessness. He would not go to bed without his gun. He repeatedly checked his windows and doors to make sure they were locked. The soldier in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division had classic symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, according to court records. But he did not get help for it. soldiers who had fought side by side during some of the most violent battles in Iraq, went out for a night of hard drinking in Columbus. They first hit Hooters, then drove to the Platinum Club, a strip club. By the end of the night, one soldier, Spc. Richard R. Davis, 24, was a tattered corpse, stabbed more than 30 times by Martinez. The Georgia Supreme Court today will hear the appeal of Martinez, 27, convicted in 2006 of Davis' murder and serving life in prison.

Casualty Reports:

Senior Aircraftman Jon Butterworth (brit) lost his left arm below the elbow during the attack at Basra airfield last August. The 22-year-old, who is based at RAF Cottesmore, had been driving his Land Rover to work with a colleague when the attack happened.The father-of-one said: "Four rockets were fired and they started landing all around me. "They were landing within about 50m of me, and then the third one was only about 10m away. "My body had lifted off the ground and shrapnel from the rocket went through my left elbow."

Spc. Will Grumet was injured in Aug. 21, 2007 by an Improvised Explosive Device while driving a Bradley fighting vehicle on a mission in Mosul, Iraq. "We did route clearance," said Grumet. "Basically, it was our job to drive down the streets before the units who did any kind of raid or mission in the city." combat engineers like Grumet would do a route clearance mission in the morning and go out at night to repair IED craters on the road so they could not be used by insurgents to hide other IEDs. he heard the explosion and felt the Bradley lift up underneath him. "(The vehicle) moved over about five feet and came down. I could see a big flash of light and could see fire through the periscope." Grumet was evacuated to the field hospital at Ballad Air Base with burns and shrapnel wounds on his face and a concussion. His two fellow crewmen were also injured, but were not killed.

U.S. Army Captain Ferris Butler lost his left leg and most of his right foot when an improvised explosive device ripped through his Humvee while on patrol in Iraq. For 15 months, a glum Butler was confined to a wheelchair while doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., worked to get him walking again.

Private Carl Clowes, 21, (brit) who serves with the Royal Logistic Corps, was on his first tour of the war-torn country when an armoured Land Rover was blown up in the notoriously dangerous Helmand Province. Surgeons have had to amputate the lower left leg of a Bradford soldier who suffered horrific injuries in a land mine blast in Afghanistan. One of his colleagues in the vehicle suffered a broken arm, while the other escaped unhurt. After emergency treatment at base camp, Pte Clowes had to be airlifted to the UK for treatment to shattered bones in his lower body, cheek and jaw. He spent 14 weeks in the military-managed ward of Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham with his jaw wired and a tube in his throat to help him breathe, before being transferred to Headley Court - the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, near Epsom, Surrey.
Within a month, he was able to walk with the aid of crutches but as his right side healed during ten months of gruelling treatment, he was told he was going to lose his left leg below the knee.

War News for Monday, May 19, 2008

2008-05-19T04:50:00.000-07:00

The Chicago Tribune is reporting the death of a soldier, Staff Sgt. James P. Snyder was wounded in a roadside bombing, in Baghdad in January, 2008. He died Sunday, May 10th at Fort Benning Georgia six surgeries in three weeks. No other details were released.

Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: Iraq’s oil exports in April dropped by more than two million barrels mainly because of the ongoing violence in the country, said Oil ministry in a statement. The ministry says that oil exports stood at 57.06 million barrels for April, down from 59.4 million the month before.

#2: U.S. soldiers killed three militants after coming under attack on Sunday in Sadr City, in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

#3: Three bodies were found in various districts of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

#4: A roadside bomb wounded three people in Doura district in southern Baghdad, police said.

#5: One Katyusha rocket wounded five people near Hurriya district in northwestern Baghdad, police said.

Five civilians were wounded when a Katusha rocket hit Adan intersection in Kadhemiyah neighborhood in north Baghdad around 12:00 p.m.

#6: U.S. soldiers killed an attacker placing a roadside bomb north of Baghdad and seized munitions in others districts on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

#7: Police found three unidentified bodies throughout Baghdad (1 body on Rasheed camp road, 1 body in Mansour and 1 body Shurta the 4th).

Suwayra:
#1: Iraqi police recovered two bodies with gunshot wounds and signs of torture from the Tigris river in Suwayra, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said. They said one of the bodies was beheaded.

Nasiriyah:
#1: Monday's bombing killed Lt. Col. Farhan Qassim, chief of police in Suq al-Shiyoukh, an area outside Nasiriyah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad. The blast went off inside Qassim's office as he entered it in the morning, police in Nasiriyah said. The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared becoming targets themselves.

Basra:
#1: Gunmen killed two policemen in a drive-by shooting on a police patrol on Sunday in central Basra, 420 km (260 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

#2: Iraqi solders and police launched pre-dawn raids in four neighborhoods of Basra, including two Shiite militia enclaves, arresting several suspects, Basra's operations command Maj. Gen. Mohammed Jawad Huwaidi said, without giving a precise number of arrests. The sweep was targeting gunmen believed to be behind Sunday's attack on a police checkpoint in the center of the city that killed a policeman and wounded three others, Huwaidi said.

Tikrit:
#1: A car bomb killed one person and wounded six others in central Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

Ninevah Prv:
#1: Iraqi security forces arrested 56 wanted men during operations in in Nineveh province in northern Iraq, Interior Ministry spokesman Major-General Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.

Sulaimaniya Prv:
#1: Iranian artillery shells were fired at the border area of Iraq's Sulaimaniya province. There were no casualities, a local government official said.

Al Anbar Prv:
Ratba:
#1: Two dead bodies were found with gunshot wounds and signs of torture in a deserted area near Rutba, 360 km (220 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

Fallujah:
#1: A man was killed with his wife while she was wearing an explosive vest. The incident took place in al Mukhtar area north Falluja city west of Baghdad. Police said that they got intelligence information that the man has an explosive vest. The man gave the vest to his wife when the house was raided by the security forces. After police left the house, the explosive vest detonated killing the woman and casing serious wounds to the man who dies later, police said.

Afghanistan:
#1: An official says a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan has wounded four Afghan troops and a civilian translator. A provincial government spokesman Ghamai Mohammadyar said the bomber struck the troops on patrol in Bermel district of Paktika province on Monday. He said four Afghan soldiers and a civilian translator working with the U.S.-led coalition troops were wounded. The bomber died in the blast.

#2: A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police convoy in southern Afghanistan Sunday, killing four civilians and wounding eight other people, an official said. The suicide bomber was targeting the district police chief in Musa Qala in Helmand province, but instead killed four civilians, said provincial police Chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal. Eight other people, including five policemen were wounded, he said. The bomber also died. Several shops were damaged in the blast. The police chief was not harmed, Andiwal said.

#3: A U.S.-coalition member and another civilian died in a separate roadside blast, also in the south. Also Sunday, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. military vehicle in the southern Zabul province, killing one coalition service member and an Afghani. A statement from the U.S.-led coalition said another service member was seriously injured in the attack. It did not give any further details about the casualties, or say if the civilian killed was a bystander or working with the coalition.

#4: In eastern Nangarhar province, suspected Taliban militants shot and killed two police officers Sunday in Khogyani district, said Mohammad Hashim Ghamsharik, spokesman for the provincial governor.

#5: The attack came a day after insurgents hit a NATO helicopter carrying the Helmand's Gov. Ghulab Mangal into the volatile town. The helicopter was damaged in the rocket-propelled grenade attack, but no one was injured.

#6: The Australian military on Monday said it had launched a "major push" to clear out extremist Taleban fighters from their heartland in southern Afghanistan. A series of operations would be carried out north of the soldiers' base near Tarin Kowt to clear out insurgents, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) said. "Australian soldiers have begun a major push into the Taleban heartland of Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan with the intent of pushing out the Taleban, restoring vital infrastructure and creating a safe environment for the Afghan people," the ADF said in a statement. The push would be spearheaded by engineers, infantry, cavalry and support troops, it said. Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Yeaman, commanding officer of the 4th Reconstruction Task Force, said the Australians had moved into the Baluchi region as part of joint operations with the Dutch.

#7: One Indian and one Nepalese kidnapped by a criminal gang have been released in western Afghan province of Herat after 27 days in captivity, Indian embassy in Afghanistan said Sunday. "We are pleased to inform that Mr. Sarang Mohammed Naeem, an Indian national, along with his Nepalese colleague, K.B. Gurung, abducted by a criminal gang on 21st April, have been released late last night (May 17, 2008)," the Indian embassy said in a statement.

#8: A suicide bomber killed 10 people on Sunday after attacking a bakery on a Pakistan army base near the northwestern city of Peshawar, according to police and the Pakistani military. Nineteen others were wounded in the suicide attack in Mardan, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, according to a Pakistani military news release. The bomber also died in the attack, which happened between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. local time (1500-1600 GMT, 1000-1100 ET), police said. Four Pakistani security personnel were among those killed, and four others were among the injured, the military said.

#9: AN Australian soldier seriously hurt in a roadside bomb attack in southern Iraq is to be transferred to Germany for specialist treatment. The soldier suffered shrapnel wounds to his arms, neck and face when the bomb exploded near his Bushmaster vehicle outside the city of An Nasiriyah on Saturday. No other soldier was injured in the attack and the Bushmaster vehicle, although damaged, was driven from the scene.

#10: A convoy of 79 commercial trucks loaded with WFP food left southern Afghan city of Kandahar for western Herat and Nimroz provinces on May 17, Aleem Siddique, a UNAMA spokesman told a weekly press briefing here. "The convoy, which was escorted by the Afghan National Police, was attacked by anti-government elements using small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades on the main ring road in Maiwand district of Kandahar province," he said. In the attack, he added, two trucks loaded with WFP food were hit by rocket-propelled grenades and burned down, which resulted in the loss of 84 tons of wheat for 10,500 people. "Thankfully, no human casualties have been reported," the UNAMAspokesman further said.

#11: In a separate incident on May 8, a commercial truck with 48 tons of WFP wheat for 6,000 people went missing on the way from Kandahar to Herat, he added.

Casualty Reports:

Marine Sgt. Jake Knospler has endured 22 surgeries since a grenade tore through his face during the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq in 2004. He has many more operations to go.

News of the Day for Sunday, May 18, 2008

2008-05-18T05:42:00.000-07:00

Nadim Jabbar sits by the body of his two-year-old son Abbas, who was killed in a mortar attack the night before, at their home in northeast Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, May 18, 2008. Sadr City hospital officials said four other children died when at least three mortars landed in the area.
(AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

UPDATE: U.S. announces a soldier killed by a bomb in Salah ad Din province. No further details.

Accounts of the fighting in Sadr City continue to be contradictory and unclear. This report has dueling accounts by Iraqi Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta, and Sadrist spokesman Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi. Neither of them refers to a mortar strike. Atta claims "outlaw groups" attacked army checkpoints, provoking retaliatory fire; Obeidi claims Iraqi army opened fire on civilians without provocation. Obeidi says the cease fire nevertheless remains in effect.

Reported Security Incidents

Baghdad

Reports on the violence overnight in Sadr City are sketchy. Reuters merely reports that "Four people were killed and 38 others wounded in clashes between security forces and Shi'ite militiamen in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, police and hospital sources said. However, Israel News says specifically that "Mortar shells slammed into a residential area north of Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding 30, most children playing outside, officials said Sunday." The AP photo caption above says that 5 children were killed in a mortar strike in Sadr City, which is not "north of Baghdad," but rather in the northeastern part of Baghdad. Whether these reports all refer to the same incident, and how many total casualties there were, is not clear at this time. The AP has numerous other photos of children with severe injuries in the hospital. Xinhua now reports a total of six dead in Sadr City. If the situation becomes clearer, I'll post an update later in the day. -- C

Reuters also reports:

A mortar bomb wounded four people in Iskan district in western Baghdad, police said.
Five bodies were found in various districts of Baghdad on Saturday, police said.
U.S. forces killed two militants who tried to attack them in northwestern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

A fire erupted in al-Amil neighborhood souk (market), southwestern Baghdad, on Sunday after U.S. forces detonated an improvised explosive device (IED), gutting a number of stores in the area, an Iraqi police source said. The U.S. had no comment on the matter.

Two soldiers were killed and four others wounded when a roadside car bomb went off near an Iraqi army patrol on al-Rubaie street, eastern Baghdad, on Sunday, an Iraqi police source said. KUNA reports three dead.

Four katyusha rockets strike Green Zone, no casualties reported.

Roadside bomb targeting a U.S. convoy in central Baghdad injures three civilians.

Bomb in a minibus injures two

At least one civilian was killed and another wounded on Saturday evening when a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army vehicle patrol in northern Baghdad, a police source said. This was reported too late to make yesterday's post.

Khan Bani Saad (south of Baquba)

A senior officer from the Iraqi army was killed on Saturday during clashes with armed groups in Diala province, central Iraq, a security source said. The deceased held the rank of colonel. Two other soldiers were injured. Again, this was reported too late for yesterday's post.

U.S. forces killed six militants and destroyed a weapons cache in an airstrike in the town of Khan Bani Saad, near Baquba, the U.S. military said. Presumably supporting the Iraqi army action in that town which resulted in the casualties yesterday.

al-Rashad, Kirkuk area

Iraqi troops arrest police chief on charges of collaborating with "armed groups." No explanation is given, but it's a fair bet this has something to do with the Arab-Kurdish territorial dispute. -- C

Basra

Iraqi police say they have carried out raids and confiscated mortar rounds and automatic rifles. Actually the list of confiscated weapons doesn't sound very impressive -- 88 mortar shells and 40 rifles. -- C

Notable by its absence: any news from Mosul. The big operation there apparently turned out to be a wet firecracker. We'll see what happens in the days ahead.

Other News of the Day

A U.S. Army staff sergeant in Radhwaniya writes "Fuck yeah" inside a Koran, draws a target on the cover, uses it for target practice, and leaves it for Iraqis to find. It's too soon to tell what the wider reaction will be. CNN's Michael Ware describes the apology by Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, which appears to have been accepted by the local Shawa, at least for now. Excerpt:

A former college quarterback, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, stood facing the angry crowd. His face was grim and fixed as tribal sheikhs swirled around him.

"I am a man of honor, I am a man of character. You have my word, this will never happen again," the general told the angry crowd through loudspeakers, pounding the makeshift podium three times with his fist.

"In the most humble manner, I look in to your eyes today and I say, please forgive me and my soldiers." The act of his sniper was criminal, he said. "I've come to this land to protect you, to support you...this soldier has lost the honor to serve the United States Army and the people of Iraq here in Baghdad."

Martin stood before the crowd next, opening his address with an Islamic blessing. He announced the sergeant had been relieved of duty with prejudice; reprimanded by the commanding general with a memorandum of record attached to his military record; dismissed from the regiment and redeployed from the brigade.

Holding a new Quran in his hands, he turned to the crowd. "I hope that you'll accept this humble gift." Martin kissed the Quran and touched it to his forehead as he handed it to the tribal elders. The crowd's voice rose, "Yes, yes, to the Quran. No, no, to the devil."

But would it be enough to appease the mood in Radhwaniya? A local sheikh came to the microphone. "In the name of all the sheikhs," he said, "we declare we accept the apology that was submitted."

This news has just broken, so I have found very little commentary about it. No doubt there will be further discussion as the day goes on. This Muslim American blogger expects serious repercussions.

Iraqi military spokesman announces intention to restore basic services to Sadr City. We'll see.

Iraqi oil exports fell by nearly 3 million barrels in April, ostensibly because of the fighting in Basra.

Nancy Pelosi leaves Iraq, with minimal public comment.

Quote of the Day

[J]ump to September 11, 2001 and its aftermath -- and you know the Tai Chi version of history from there. Think of it as a grim cosmic joke -- that the 9/11 attacks, as apocalyptic as they looked, were anything but. The true disasters followed and the wounds were largely self-inflicted, as the most militarily powerful nation on the planet used its own force to disable itself.

Tom Engelhardt