How did this happen? I thought everything was now fine.
- From: Dirty sick Pig <socculturefilipino@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 30 Apr 2007 06:48:06 -0700
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Five U.S. troops were killed in separate attacks in
the capital this weekend, including three in a single roadside
bombing, the military said Monday, pushing the death toll past 100 in
the deadliest month so far this year.
Both attacks occurred in eastern Baghdad, a predominantly Shiite area
where American and Iraqi forces have stepped up their activities as
part of a security crackdown that began on Feb. 14 to quell the
sectarian violence.
In violence Monday, a suicide car bomber apparently targeting an
Interior Ministry convoy struck an Iraqi checkpoint near a busy square
in the predominantly Sunni area of Harthiyah in western Baghdad,
killing four people and wounding 10, police said.
The bomber detonated his payload, causing part of the road to buckle,
as he emerged from an underpass and was heading toward the checkpoint
being manned by Interior Ministry commandos. Those killed included two
commandos and two civilians.
The violence occurred despite stringent security measures during the
security crackdown now in its 11th week.
On Sunday, Iran agreed to join the U.S. and other countries at a
conference on Iraq this week, raising hopes the government in Tehran
would help stabilize its violent neighbor and stem the flow of guns
and bombs over the border.
Senior Iranian envoy Ali Larijani flew to Baghdad on Sunday for talks
with al-Maliki and other senior Iraqi officials ahead of this week's
meetings in Egypt - the highest-ranking Iranian official to visit Iraq
since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.
Earlier this month, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell
said Iranian intelligence operatives have been training Iraqi fighters
inside Iran on how to use and assemble deadly roadside bombs known as
EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators.
He said Iranian support extended to Sunnis as well as Shiites in Iraq,
showing reporters photographs of what he said were Iranian-made mortar
rounds, RPG rounds and rockets that were found recently in a Sunni
neighborhood of Baghdad.
The killings of the Americans came as U.S. troops have been
increasingly deployed on the streets of Baghdad and housed with Iraqi
troops in joint security stations away from their heavily fortified
bases, raising their vulnerability to attacks.
The roadside bomb killed three Multi-National Division-Baghdad
soldiers and wounded another while they were on a combat patrol Sunday
in eastern Baghdad, the military said. An Iraqi interpreter also was
killed in the attack.
Another Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier on a combat patrol was
killed by small arms fire in eastern Baghdad Saturday, the military
said in a separate statement.
A Marine assigned to Multi National Force-West was killed Sunday while
conducting combat operations in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent
stronghold west of Baghdad, the military said.
The deaths raised to at least 104 American troops who have died in
Iraq as April draws to a close, making it the deadliest month since
December, when 112 Americans died. The U.S. monthly death toll has
topped 100 five other times since the Iraq war began in March 2003,
according to an Associated Press count based on military figures.
At least 3,351 members of the U.S. military have died since the war
started, according to the AP count.
President Bush has committed some 30,000 extra American troops to the
security operation in Baghdad, but he also is facing legislation by
the Democratic-led Congress calling for the Americans to begin
withdrawing from Iraq by Oct. 1. Bush has promised to veto the
measure.
It also has been the deadliest month for British forces in Iraq since
the first month of the war. The 11 British troops deaths reported this
month is surpassed only by 27 who died in March 2003, reflecting
increasing violence in southern Iraq where they are based,
particularly among Shiite groups vying for influence as Britain
prepares to reduce its forces.
In the southern city of Basra, some five people were killed in an
explosion Sunday. Iraqi police initially reported that it was a car
bomb, but the British military said it appeared that the blast
accidentally occurred while explosives and weapons were being moved.
The area is mainly Shiite and rarely sees the car bombs usually blamed
on Sunni insurgents, although rival Shiite militias frequently clash
and stage attacks.
The U.S. military said Monday that a joint American-Iraqi raid the day
before was aimed at capturing "high-value individuals" in the north
Baghdad heavily Shiite district of Kazimiyah and left one Iraqi
soldier and eight gunmen dead.
Iraqi police officers in the area said the raid was targeting a local
office of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and that the guards
clashed with the forces.
The military statement said eight individuals were detained and later
turned over to the Iraqi security forces. It added that none of the
targeted individuals were captured as a result of this operation and
all detained individuals were later released.
In northern Iraq, a parked car bomb struck a police patrol in the Raas
al-Jada, a mainly Sunni Arab area in the northern city of Mosul,
killing one policeman and wounding two others, police Brig. Gen.
Mohammed Idan al-Jubouri said.
The attack occurred at 8 a.m., about four hours after some 50 gunmen
attacked a police station in the same area, prompting a firefight and
clashes as police chased the gunmen through the narrow streets. Four
of the gunmen were killed and two others detained, while one policeman
was wounded, police said.
Police also cordoned off the area and blocked five bridges after four
mortar rounds landed on the police command headquarters elsewhere in
Mosul, causing no damages, said Brig. Saeed Ahmed al-Jubouri, the
media director for the provincial police.
.
- Prev by Date: Re: Sniffer dogs Lucky & Flo debut in Manila DVD raid
- Next by Date: Philippines Travel Warning 4/27/07
- Previous by thread: George Tenet why did you say that regarding my idol?!!
- Next by thread: Philippines Travel Warning 4/27/07
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
