*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Two Iraqis killed in Tikrit

18-07-2004, 12:00
Two car bombs targeting police detonated in the city of Tikrit on Sunday morning, killing two police officers and wounding five others, Iraqi authorities said. One car bomb exploded near Tikrit's Albu-Ajil police station, killing two police and injuring two others, according to Iraqi police Lt. Nabil Abdel-Hamid. Another car bomb went off near a police training center, injuring three officers, according to Iraqi police Capt. Louai Qahtan.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Poland to Reduce Troop Levels in Iraq

18 Jul 2004, 12:51 UTC

Poland's prime minister Marek Belka has announced the country's military presence in Iraq will be reduced at the beginning of next year.
Mr. Belka made his comments Sunday during a visit to Polish troops at Camp Babylon in south-central Iraq.

While Poland will continue to have a presence through the end of 2005, Mr. Belka said it will be much smaller than the current 2,500 troops. The Associated Press reports troops levels may drop by one half to levels between 1,000 and 1,500.

Poland is required by United Nations resolution to remain in Iraq through 2005. The nation leads a multinational force of at least 6,500 troops that patrols part of the country south of Baghdad.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Suicide bomb blasts police station

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A fuel tanker rigged as a massive bomb hurtled toward a Baghdad police station and exploded Monday, killing nine people, wounding 60 and leveling a huge section of an industrial neighborhood. The suicide bombing was the fourth in a string of deadly attacks on police and government facilities in the last five days. Since the new government took power June 28, at least 75 people have been killed in militant attacks. Monday's blast collapsed the roofs of auto repair shops, destroyed electrical workshops and crushed cars under con- crete and bricks. It tore open a 32-foot-wide crater and damaged buildings hundreds of yards away.

Basra's acting governor, two guards assassinated - police officer?

BASRA, July 20 (KUNA) -- Unknown assailants have assassinated the acting govenor of Iraq's southern basra region, Hazim AL-Anchi and two of his ?bodyguards Tuesday morning, a police spokesman confirmed. Basra police deputy intelligence chief First Lieutenant, Abbas Hadi told Kuna in a telephone conversation that at least four assailants in police uniform opened a hail of gunfire at AL-Anchi's automobile at an illegal checkpoint which they had set up in Basra's AL-Jibailiya areas. A medical source in Basra's educational hospital said the bodies of the three victims were bullet-ridden when brought to hospital, while AL-Anchi's car driver is being treated for critical wounds.

Filipino Hostage Freed In Baghdad

BAGHDAD (CBS) A Filipino hostage who was threatened with death if his country did not pull its troops out of Iraq was freed Tuesday morning nearly two weeks after being captured and a day after the Philippines said it had met the kidnappers' demand. The release of truck driver Angelo dela Cruz, initially reported by a spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress, was later confirmed Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who said he is healthy and well.

In other recent developments:

An Iraqi council member running for governor in the southern port city of Basra was shot to death as he left for work Tuesday morning, along with his driver and bodyguard. A third person was injured, according to an Iraqi official who blames the attack on opposition to a gubernatorial election which was planned for Tuesday - now delayed because of the shooting.

An Egyptian truck driver who had been held hostage was freed Monday evening and taken to his country's embassy. Alsayeid Mohammed Alsayeid Algarabawi was abducted from a truck he had driven from Saudi Arabia into Iraq. His kidnappers never threatened to kill him but did ask his employer, Al-Jarie Transport, to both pay a $1 million ransom and pull out of Iraq. The company denies paying the ransom but it has ended all of its business in Iraq.

The body of Lt. Col. Nafi al-Kubaisi, the police chief of the town of Heet, was discovered Monday at a market in nearby Fallujah. Al-Kubaisi had been kidnapped Saturday from his police station.

Monday, a fuel tanker rigged as a massive bomb hurtled toward a Baghdad police station and exploded, killing nine people, wounding 60, and leveling a huge section of an industrial neighborhood. The suicide bombing was the fourth in a string of deadly attacks on police and government facilities in the last five days. Since the new government took power June 28, at least 75 people have been killed in attacks by rebel forces.

In the holy city of Najaf, Iraqi police discovered a weapons cache Monday, including 230 rockets and 200 mortar shells.

In Bahr al Najaf, 31 miles west of Najaf, police arrested suspected oil smugglers breaching an oil pipeline that connects the southern and northern oil fields. Three oil tankers were confiscated.

Sunday, the head of the Iraqi military's supply department, Essam al-Dijaili, and his bodyguard, Mishal al-Sarraf, were both shot to death. Al-Dijali was bringing home dinner at the time.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Army Reserve soldiers encounter pay problems, study says

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Ninety-five percent of soldiers at eight Army Reserve units sent to Iraq and other Middle East bases experienced significant problems getting paid, creating stress and concern about the financial well-being of their families back home.

The soldiers were overpaid or underpaid or paid late, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office, and the problems in some instances persisted for more than a year.

Soldiers involved in the investigation said the pay issues hurt morale and the Army Reserve's rate of retention. "You never want to mess with a soldier's money. That's a cardinal rule," said Army Capt. Orlando Amaro. "When a soldier has financial issues, the morale just goes through the floor."

Amaro was a platoon leader for the 443d Military Police Company from Owings Mills, Md., when the unit was in Baghdad from May through December 2003. Virtually all of the 121 soldiers in his company had pay problems. "Most of the problems stemmed from soldiers not getting additional allotments, such as family separation pay and combat-zone allotments," said Amaro, a native Philadelphian who is an officer in the Washington, D.C., police department.

Pay issues were so pressing, Amaro said in an interview, that he and another officer with a background in finances flew to Kuwait roughly every two weeks for five months to try to resolve these problems and prevent new mistakes from occurring.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Explosion kills at least four Iraqis near Baqouba

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) A bomb attack on an Iraqi minibus killed four civilians Tuesday and injured two others, hospital officials said. The attack occurred Tuesday near the city of Baqouba, north of Baghdad. Emad Kamil Rahim, a local hospital official, said four people were killed and two injured when a roadside bomb struck their minibus.

The U.S. military said six civilians were killed and two injured, but its figures have not been as accurate in reporting Iraqi deaths as those of local officials. Master Sgt. Rob Bell, of the 1st Infantry Division, said U.S. and Iraqi forces secured the area after the blast, which occurred about 11:40 a.m. Bell said the bomb was on the bus when it exploded.

 

[Barking_Mad]

10,000 US wounded - I presume this includes people not injured by just fighting...

US casualty rate high since handover - Long guerrilla war is feared in Iraq

WASHINGTON -- Nearly as many US soldiers lost their lives in Iraq in the first half of July as in all of June, even as Iraqi insurgents seem to have shifted focus from attacking US targets to aiming instead at Iraqi security forces and government officials. The relatively high rate of US military casualties has dimmed hope that the handover of power to the Iraqi government would help stabilize the country and reduce pressure on US soldiers.

June was substantially less violent for US and coalition troops than the two preceding months, fueling hopes that US casualties were on the downswing. However, military officials and defense specialists are increasingly concerned that the guerrilla war could last for years and the number of dead could climb into the thousands.

Since the June 28 handover of power, the 160,000 coalition forces have averaged more than two deaths a day, among the highest rate of losses since the war began 15 months ago. By Saturday, 36 US soldiers had died this month, compared with 42 last month, according to a Globe analysis of official statistics.

But this month marks an upsurge in the pace and sophistication of the attacks against US and coalition troops, even as more Iraqi security forces, government ministers, and civilians have also become targets. By Friday, more than 10,000 coalition soldiers had been wounded. In all, 893 Americans have died since the war began in March 2003, most of them in hostile action.

"We are going to see more casualties," said retired Army General George Joulwan, who commanded NATO forces during the war in Bosnia. "The insurgents are using some very sophisticated tactics, particularly targeting Americans. You are seeing a much more sophisticated enemy. They are demonstrating coordination and a strategy that is effective."

Iraqi security forces, government officials, and civilians are also paying a heavy toll. Last week, another senior official in the nascent Iraqi government, the governor of Mosul, was assassinated, the latest in a series of violent attacks directed at the interim governing authorities.

 

[Barking_Mad]

MARINE KILLED IN ACTION IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE

FALLUJAH, Iraq - A Marine assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action today in the Al Anbar Province while conducting security and stability operations. The name of the deceased is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

That's 39 US soldiers dead this month and 42 'coalition soldiers' in total.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Update from an earlier story......

Senior Basra official, guards shot dead

A member of the regional council of Basra city has been shot dead along with two bodyguards, a council spokesman said. Hazim Tawfiq al-Ainachi was assassinated at a checkpoint in the southern Iraqi city on Tuesday, he said.

At the checkpoint, there were some people wearing police uniforms who asked the driver to stop. Then they opened fire," the spokesman said, adding that another man in the car was wounded. Al-Ainachi's son, Isam, said: "My father was killed as he was leaving home at about 8am (0400 GMT) when unknown armed men fired at him from near a checkpoint that is 100m from our place."

 

[pbman]

The war is over barking mad, i'll send you a pm when we start the next one.

And yoru hit count has gone to nothing in this thread, why do you bother?

122 pages of dead links, and future dead links.

 

[Barking_Mad]

'Two killed' in Samarra clashes

At least two Iraqis have been killed in clashes between US forces and Iraqi insurgents in the town of Samarra, according to hospital sources.
The fighting near Samarra, a hotbed of unrest 60 miles (100km) north of Baghdad, began on Tuesday evening.

A US military official said American troops backed by a warplane had returned fire after insurgents attacked them with mortars and small arms fire. Two houses in the town were destroyed, he added.

Doctor Sabri Abdul Hamid at Samarra's main hospital told AFP news agency: "We have received two dead people and seven injured, including a child." Reports quoting other hospital officials said at least four Iraqis had been killed.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Only a troll would come on here and say the war is over when US troops are still dying.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Nearly 900 American soldiers died in Iraq since 2003

FALLUJAH, Iraq (AP) - The death toll of American soliders in Iraq nears 900 as a Marine was killed in action Tuesday in Anbar Province, a Sunni-dominated area west of Baghdad, the military said.

The Marine was conducting "security and stability operations" in the province, the military said.

As of Tuesday, 891 U.S. service members have died since the beginning of military operations in Iraq in March 2003, according to the U.S. Defense Department.

 

[citydreams]

i'll send you a pm when we start the next one.

typical... i wonder why americans have a bad name

if there's no war, why are people fighting?

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq bomb attack kills U.S. soldier

Wed 21 July, 2004 09:10

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier has been killed and six wounded after a roadside bomb destroyed their Bradley fighting vehicle during a patrol in Iraq, a U.S. military spokesman says.

The spokesman from the 1st Infantry Division said the attack occurred at Duluiya, a town about 40 miles north of Baghdad, on Wednesday.

The deaths bring to at least 660 the number of U.S. troops killed in action in Iraq since the invasion last March to oust Saddam Hussein.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US casualties = 20 injured per day in July

From the 30th June - 20th July, 409 US soldiers have been treated for injuries sustained in Iraq.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Group Warns Bulgaria, Poland of Attacks Over Iraq

DUBAI (Reuters) - A group claiming to be the European wing of al Qaeda Wednesday threatened Bulgaria and Poland with attacks if they do not pull troops out of Iraq (news - web sites).

The claim from the previously unheard-of group, which was posted on a Web site not normally used by militants, said both countries would face attacks similar to those in Madrid this year and the Sept. 11 attacks in U.S. cities.

"We are waiting for information from other partner countries and have no confirmation that the terrorists are planning any concrete actions on Polish territory," Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Janusz Zemke said in response. "This threat comes from an unknown group and is very general," Zemke told private television TVN24.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Five Iraqis Killed During U.S. Attack

Wednesday July 21, 2004 4:31 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Clashes Wednesday between U.S. forces and insurgents in a residential area near the city of Ramadi killed five Iraqis and wounded 17 others, a hospital official said.

"We received 17 wounded and five dead due to clashes and bombing by American forces,'' Dr. Mohammed Ali, from Ramadi emergency hospital, told The Associated Press. Ali said some of the occurred when a U.S. military helicopter attacked a building in the area, near Ramadi 70 miles, west of Baghdad.

The U.S. military had no immediate comment.

It was not immediately clear if those who were killed and wounded were civilians or insurgents involved in the clashes.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq group threatens to kill 6 hostages

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iraqi group has threatened in a video tape aired to kill six hostages from India, Kenya and Egypt if the Kuwaiti company they work for does not pull out from Iraq, Al Arabiya television has reported.

The Dubai-based television aired the tape on Wednesday of what it said were the masked captors and their hostages as they demanded that the company leave Iraq. They also demanded that India, Kenya and Egypt withdraw their personnel from Iraq.

"We announce we have captured two Kenyans, three Indians and one Egyptian. We tell the company to withdraw and close its offices in Iraq," said one masked man from the hitherto unknown group calling itself the "Black Banners".

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. Helicopter Shot Down in Iraq - Police

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Guerrillas shot down a U.S. helicopter Wednesday during fierce clashes in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi and three on board were killed, an Iraqi police officer in the city said.
Several witnesses also said a helicopter was shot down.

The police officer said the aircraft came down near the eastern entrance of the city and burst into flames. He said the area had been sealed off by U.S. troops. A U.S. military spokeswoman said she did not have any information on the report.

At least five Iraqis were killed in the clashes in the city, Iyad Mohammed, a doctor at Ramadi's hospital, said. He said they included three brothers who were killed in their car by a roadside bomb planted to target U.S. patrols.

US Helicopter Shot Down

Guerrillas have shot down a U.S. helicopter during fierce clashes in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi and three on board have been killed, says an Iraqi police officer. Several witnesses also said a helicopter was shot down on Wednesday. At least five Iraqis were killed in the clashes, a doctor at Ramadi’s hospital said.

US denies chopper shot down

July 22, 2004

THE US military said today a report from Iraqi police that an American helicopter was shot down near the city of Ramadi was false. "We have not had any casualties in the past 24 hours and no downed helicopters," a spokesman for the US Marine Corps in western Iraq said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Marines' fierce firefight in Iraq

US troops say they killed 25 insurgents and captured 25 others in battles in the Iraqi city of Ramadi on Wednesday. Fourteen marines were injured in the fierce fighting in the Sunni city, known for its strong anti-US feeling. The clashes followed an ambush on a marine convoy at about 1500 (1100 GMT), a US marines statement said.

A roadside bomb exploded and about 10 insurgents fired at the convoy, leading to a much larger engagement between marines and up to 100 other fighters. The fighting continued for several hours, the US statement said, with ground forces receiving support from the air. Arab TV reports from Ramadi speak of eight dead in clashes since Wednesday, most of them apparently civilians.

A correspondent in the city for the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya station said most of the casualties were civilians. He was unable to confirm the US military report that 25 insurgents were killed. None of the marines' injuries is said to be life threatening and most of them are reported to have returned to their duties. In Baghdad, Iraqi police have raided premises in Haifa Street, the scene of earlier clashes between insurgents and US forces. The Interior Ministry said 200 suspects and a large quantity of weapons were seized in the raid.

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S.: Iraq Security Trained, Lack Weapons

Thursday July 22, 2004 1:16 PM

Just short of two-thirds of the new Iraqi police and security troops have completed some form of training, although many of them lack weapons, vehicles and other equipment necessary to do their job, Pentagon figures show. In addition, about half of the troops in the country's reconstituted military are trained, but many of those units also face equipment shortages, the Pentagon says. The Pentagon projects that both the security services and military will be fully trained and equipped by spring 2005, with certain units being fully capable sooner, according to the figures, which were posted on a Pentagon public relations Web site.

Military officials pointed to the figures as a sign of progress that Iraqis are growing more capable of managing their own security, although they acknowledge the job is far from finished. The more Iraqi forces are capable of fighting insurgents on their own, the fewer American and allied troops will ultimately be needed in the country, they say. Pentagon officials blamed the difficulties on getting equipment to Iraqis on the red tape that goes with U.S. government contracting. But they expect that to change and say money is now flowing to buy body armor, weapons, radios and vehicles. So far, the new Iraqi security and police forces have a mixed record in facing insurgents. In April 2004, when U.S. forces faced concurrent uprisings in two parts of Iraq, some Iraqi units refused to fight, and a few deserted to the insurgents. U.S. officials say this has hastened efforts to create a wholly Iraqi chain-of-command.

In some cases, the insurgents have been better armed than the Iraqi security forces, and the insurgents repeatedly have targeted police and local officials, viewing them as collaborators with U.S. forces. But defense officials point to other operations as a sign that well-equipped Iraqi units are up to the job. In recent months, Iraqi security forces defended a northern governor's office during an insurgent raid, and they have conducted successful large-scale sweeps for insurgents in Baghdad.

Reports of any progress are coming far too late, according to Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has reviewed the Pentagon's figures. Cordesman, a former Defense Department intelligence official, said in a paper that the U.S. military should have trained and equipped Iraqi security forces to this point far sooner. "The U.S. wasted precious time waiting for its own forces to defeat a threat that it treated as the product of a small number of former regime loyalists and foreign volunteers, and felt it could solve without creating effective Iraqi forces,'' Cordesman writes.

Pentagon officials disputed Cordesman's assertions, saying they have made progress in the areas he cites as lagging: training and equipping security forces, cooperation between U.S. and Iraqi forces, and intelligence collection. Iraqi internal security forces fall into three categories: police, border patrol and facilities protection. Of the 188,851 needed, more than 180,000 have been hired. Of those, 121,943 - about 64 percent - have finished some form of training.

Pentagon data on Iraq: http://www.defendamerica.mil/downloads/Iraq-WeeklyUpdate-20040720a.pdf

Anthony Cordesman report: http://www.csis.org/features/iraq-inexcusablefailure.pdf

 

[Barking_Mad]

Army to Call Up Recruits Earlier

WASHINGTON, July 21 - In what critics say is another sign of increasing stress on the military, the Army has been forced to bring more new recruits immediately into the ranks to meet recruiting goals for 2004, instead of allowing them to defer entry until the next accounting year, which starts in October. As a result, recruiters will enter the new year without the usual cushion of incoming soldiers, making it that much harder to make their quotas for 2005. Instead of knowing the names of nearly half the coming year's expected arrivals in October, as the Army did last year, or even the names of around one in three, as is the normal goal, this October the recruiting command will have identified only about one of five of the boot camp class of 2005 in advance.

Army officials say that they have been unable to defer as many enlistments as in the past because 4,500 more recruits were needed at midyear to help meet a temporary increase of 30,000 soldiers in the active duty force, which is to grow to 512,000 by 2006. The increases are largely driven by the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. In an interview on Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, the Army's top personnel officer, said that the Army would use incentives like cash bonuses, educational benefits and choice base assignments to help meet its overall recruiting and re-enlistment goals next year, as it has in almost every year when it started with so few advance recruits. But he acknowledged that factors including the American casualties in Iraq and the improving job market made filling the ranks a challenge.

"I worry about this every single day - recruiting and retention," said General Hagenbeck, who commanded forces in Afghanistan in his previous assignment. "We are recruiting a volunteer force during a time of war. We've never done that before."

 

[Barking_Mad]

This came up a while ago (on a different thread) but its cropped up again. Lots of money to be made form bullets and armoured vests etc....

Military running low on bullets

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military has assembled the most sophisticated fighting arsenal in the world with satellite-guided weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles that shoot Hellfire missiles. But as billions of dollars have poured into the technology for futuristic warfare, the government has fallen behind on more mundane needs -- such as bullets. The protracted conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and heightened combat training with live ammunition have left the military short of small caliber bullets. To offset the squeeze, the Army is taking unusual stopgap measures such as buying ammunition from Britain and Israel. It is also scrambling to ramp up domestic production.

..........

The military had only one maker of body armor two years ago. When shortages appeared during the Iraq war, the government accelerated production and now has seven factories turning out the gear. Only one factory produces armor for Humvees but output has risen sharply. The Army has about 3,000 armored Humvees in Iraq and expects to boost that number to more than 4,000 by October. The Army estimates that it consumes about 5.5 million rounds of ammunition in Iraq and Afghanistan each month. About 72 million rounds have been used in Iraq. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks the military began requiring that soldiers conduct live-fire training twice a year, instead of once, consuming about a 100 million rounds a month. The other services, Navy and Air Force, use about 200 million to 250 million rounds a year.

Alliant Techsystems Inc., based in Edina, Minn., has tripled the workforce at the Lake City bullet plant in the last four years to 1,950 workers from about 650 and is still hiring. The company pulled machines out of storage and spent millions updating the technology to reach production of 1.2 billion rounds a year, up from 350 million in 2000, company spokesman D. Bryce Hallowell said.

Alliant's 10-year contract to run the facility was expected to generate $100 million a year but has leapt to more than $300 million, Hallowell said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US launches air strike on Falluja & two more US dead

US forces have launched an air strike on suspected insurgents in the Iraqi city of Falluja, the US military says. The military said it targeted militants linked to suspected al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom it blames for a string of attacks in Iraq.

A hospital source said five people were injured in the attack early on Friday morning, including children. In other violence, two US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in the northern city of Samarra. In recent weeks US forces have carried out a series of air strikes on targets in Falluja, west of Baghdad.

The military said it carried out the attack at on between 10 and 12 suspects who were in the courtyard of a house in the city.

"The anti-Iraqi forces were struck while in the courtyard of a house; the house was left intact," the statement said. The US has offered $25m for the capture of Mr Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born militant it accuses of masterminding a number of massive suicide bombings in Iraq.

He is also said to have been involved in the beheading of two hostages, American Nick Berg and South Korean Kim Sun-il. Militants linked to Mr Zarqawi have offered a $285,000 reward for the killing of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Kenya citizens 'must leave Iraq'

The Kenyan government has urged all its citizens to leave Iraq immediately.
The announcement by government spokesman Alfred Mutua came a day after three Kenyan lorry drivers were taken hostage by an Iraqi militant group.

The group, calling itself The Holders of the Black Banners, also seized three Indians and an Egyptian. The group said it would behead one of its hostages every 72 hours if the Kuwaiti company employing the men did not leave Iraq.

"We urge all Kenyans in Iraq to leave at once and all those in neighbouring countries, such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, to register with the Kenyan mission in Kuwait," Mr Mutua told a news conference in the capital, Nairobi.

He said that "Kenya has no intent of interfering with the lives of the Iraqi people and that we are discouraging our citizens from participating in work that takes them to Iraq".

 

[Barking_Mad]

Tank accident in Baghdad kills nine

Baghdad — A van carrying Iraqi civilians collided with a U.S. tank in northern Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 10 others, the U.S. military said Friday. The accident occurred about 10 p.m. Thursday night, said Specialist Justin McCue, a press official of the U.S.-led military coalition.

"The van was attempting to pass another vehicle when it collided with the tank," Mr. McCue said. "All the injured were taken to a medical facility." There were no U.S. or coalition casualties, Mr. McCue said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Trouble's brewing in Kirkuk

KIRKUK, Iraq -- With its jumble of ethnic groups, this northern city is one of the pressure points where the new Iraq could blow apart. And if Kirkuk didn't have enough problems already, it now has to worry about what the U.S. military calls "VBEDs." The acronym stands for "vehicle-borne explosive devices," or in common parlance, suicide car bombs. They're the latest tactical innovation used by the insurgents in Iraq, and they're making the country's streets and highways even more dangerous for the U.S.-led coalition and its Iraqi allies.

The menace of these mobile bombs was clear here last Friday, as Maj. Jim Hanson was leading a convoy of armored Humvees through the center of Kirkuk. The convoy had just visited a local Iraqi security headquarters when Hanson received an intelligence report over the radio that a roving car bomber might be in the area, driving a black BMW and looking for a target of opportunity. Suddenly, every black sedan cruising down the road looked like a potential killer. Hanson coolly directed the convoy safely back to a U.S. military base here, and the reported BMW bomber -- if he existed at all -- never attacked.

The car bomb report in Kirkuk is a small example of the insecurity that plagues Iraq today. In Baghdad, these four-wheeled rovers have become a potent assassination weapon: one killed Izzedin Salim, acting president of the Iraqi Governing Council, in May, and another almost killed Iraqi Justice Minister Malik Douhan Hasan last Saturday. On Monday a bomber driving a fuel truck blew himself up at an Iraqi police station, killing at least nine and wounding 50.

The insurgents have turned to these mobile bombs just as the U.S.-led coalition is finding technology that can remotely disarm the fixed "improvised explosive devices," or roadside bombs, that have killed so many Americans and Iraqis. The insurgents' new tactic is to send car bombers out cruising for high-value targets. The aim is to sow fear, and it's working. The sense of vulnerability in Iraq these days is pervasive: it threatens U.S. and Iraqi security forces, frightens Iraqi civilians and intimidates foreign workers. In this deadly environment, rebuilding Iraq has proved very difficult.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi General Assassinated by Gunmen in Mosul

MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Gunmen assassinated a senior member of Iraq's fledgling armed forces as he traveled to Friday prayers in the northern city of Mosul, police said. Brigadier General Salim Blaish and one of his neighbors who was traveling with him were killed by gunmen in a drive-by shooting. Guerrillas in Iraq have repeatedly targeted senior officials and members of Iraq's police and armed forces.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Two Fort Hood soldiers killed in apparent murder-suicide

KILLEEN, Texas - Two Fort Hood soldiers, husband and wife, were found dead in what appeared to be a murder-suicide, authorities said Saturday. Authorities found Sgt. Erin E. Edwards' body on the front porch of her home early Thursday. She had been shot in the head, Capt. Jackie Dunn said. The body of Edwards' estranged husband, Sgt. William M. Edwards, was discovered in a parking lot across the street. Police said he suffered what appeared to be a self-inflicted wound.

The soldiers, both 24, had served with the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq before returning to Fort Hood in recent months. The couple's two young children were not home at the time of the shootings, and were believed to be with their mother's family in Pennsylvania, officials said. In June, William Edwards was arraigned on an assault charge for allegedly hurting his wife. A protection order was issued against him in the past week. Neighbors told the Killeen Daily Herald police were frequently at the couple's residence because of domestic problems.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi Firm Director Kidnapped By Rebels - Companies, Countries Try to Negotiate Releases After Wave of Abductions

Sunday, July 25, 2004

BAGHDAD, July 24 -- In the second brazen daylight abduction in as many days, kidnappers seized the director of an Iraqi state construction firm Saturday, blocking his car with two vehicles as he drove through an affluent neighborhood, officials said.

The abduction followed the kidnapping of a senior Egyptian diplomat as he emerged from a mosque in the capital on Friday. That victim, Mohamed Mamdouh Helmi Qutb, was the first foreign diplomat among more than 70 people who have been kidnapped in Iraq since April.