*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[laptop]

100,000 civilian deaths, 200,000 including Fallujah, say researchers

New Scientist writeup

... The figure of 100,000 is based on "conservative assumptions", notes Les Roberts at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, US, who led the study.

That estimate excludes Falluja, a hotspot for violence. If the data from this town is included, the study points to about 200,000 excess deaths since the outbreak of war.
...
the interviewers randomly selected towns within governates. They then visited the nearest 30 houses to the GPS point randomly selected.

Families living under one roof were asked about deaths in their household before and after the war. “Confirmation was sought to ensure that a large fraction of the reported deaths were not fabrications,” write the team. The interviewers did ask for death certificates, but only in two cases for each cluster of houses. This was because of concerns that implying the families were lying could trigger violence.

Too right it could...

These findings raise questions for those far removed from Iraq - in the governments of the countries responsible for launching a pre-emptive war.

Paging Dr Horton, we have an understatement award for you...

Thread discussing this.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Updates from 30th onwards.......

Three dead in blast outside Al-Arabiya Baghdad office
At least three people were killed and several wounded when a car bomb ripped through the streets outside Al-Arabiya television's offices in Baghdad, a US military officer at the scene said.

Car Bomb Kills 7, Injures 19 in Baghdad
[A car bomb exploded outside the offices of the Al-Arabiya television station in central Baghdad on Saturday, killing seven people and wounding 19, police said.

Decapitated body found in Baghdad feared that of Japanese hostage
Iraqi officials found the decapitated body of what appears to be a young Asian male in Baghdad on Saturday. Associated Press Television News videotape showed the severed head...

Looters Said to Overrun Iraq Weapons Site
Looters unleashed last year by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq overran a sprawling desert complex where a bunker sealed by U.N. monitors held old chemical weapons, American arms inspectors report.

Suicide car bomber kills U.S. soldier in Iraq
A suicide car bomber killed a U.S. soldier and wounded another near the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, the U.S. military said on Saturday. A spokesman said the attack on a U.S. army convoy occurred at 8 a.m

Army extends Iraq tours for thousands of soldiers
The Pentagon's public affairs office has posted an article on its Web site that says about 65-hundred soldiers will remain in Iraq at least two months longer than planned.

Sudan translator 'seized in Iraq'
Arab television has shown a video tape of a Sudanese interpreter in Iraq who said he had been kidnapped and called on his US employer to leave Iraq.

US marines killed near Falluja
Eight US marines have been killed and nine wounded in action around the militant stronghold of Falluja, the US military has said.

Updates
Eight marines were killed and nine others wounded west of the capital on Saturday when a suicide car bomb rammed into their convoy, military officials said, resulting in the deadliest day for the American forces in half a year. [The Marines later reported a ninth combat death on Saturday, The Associated Press reported, but did not say whether it was in the car bombing or another action. Efforts to contact the Marines for clarification were unsuccessful.]

.......Also on Saturday, Iraqi police officers and National Guardsmen fired wildly at civilians on a road south of Baghdad after insurgents attacked an American convoy, The Associated Press reported. The Iraqi forces shot at and threw grenades at three minibuses and three vans, killing at least 14 people and injuring 10 others, witnesses and a doctor said. Video from Associated Press Television News showed bodies riddled with bullet holes inside buses and on the road near Haswa, a town 25 miles south of the capital. An interior ministry spokesman, Sabah Kadhum, confirmed in an interview that Iraqi forces had fired on six vehicles.

In the heart of Baghdad, insurgents staged their first major assault on a news media organization by detonating a car bomb outside the offices of a popular Arab news network, killing at least 7 people and wounding 19 others, police and hospital officials said. The marines were attacked near Abu Ghraib, the prison 15 miles west of Baghdad used by the Americans to hold detainees, said Capt. Bradley Gordon, a spokesman for the First Marine Division. The military said in a terse statement that those killed were conducting "increased security operations."

 

[Barking_Mad]

..........

Insurgent Attacks Wound Five Iraqis
An improvised explosive device detonated in the northwest portion of the city, wounding three Iraqi civilians in the blast at about 8 p.m. on Oct. 29.

MNF Quell Roadside Ambush
Iraqi Highway Patrol officers successfully negotiated an anti-Iraq forces’ attack Oct. 28, and quickly coordinated a Multi-National Force response near Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad.

Falluja airstrike 'kills 5 Iraqis'
Five Iraqis were killed after U.S. aircraft launched airstrikes in Falluja Friday night, with two insurgent weapons caches among the targets, according to a U.S. military spokesman and hospital sources in the city.

Polish Camp in Karbala Under Mortar Attack
Polish camp in Karbala has suffered a mortar attack at 17,45 local time, spokesperson of the Multinational division under Polish command Center-South in Babylon Artur Domanski said for Focus News Agency

Body Found in Iraq Not That of Japanese Hostage
Japan said a body found in Iraq and flown to Kuwait for identification Saturday was most probably not that of a Japanese hostage, and officials vowed to make every effort for his release.

U.S. Planes Strike Iraq's Falluja Amid Clashes
U.S. warplanes repeatedly attacked targets in Iraq's rebel city of Falluja amid fighting between American troops and insurgents, witnesses said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

News from today (Sunday)

Rockets fired at Black Watch base
Rockets have been fired at the base south of Baghdad used by British troops from the Black Watch battle group

Iraq Detains 167 Militants, 3,000 Baathists-Allawi
Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said on Sunday authorities had arrested 167 suspected Islamist militants in the past few weeks, most of them non-Iraqi Arabs

Two Iraqi Servicemen Killed Near Baghdad
Two servicemen from the Iraqi National Guards were shot near Baghdad after an attack on their car from unknown source, Reuters informed.

Eight Iraqis killed, at least 13 in Ramadi
Eight Iraqis killed, at least 13 people wounded as clashes erupt in Ramadi

Jets Strike Mortar Bunker in Fallujah
Multi-National Forces-Iraq aircraft, supporting a close air support mission to the 1st Marine Division’s Regimental Combat Team-7, destroyed a known enemy mortar bunker on the southeast side of the city at 4:42 p.m. on Oct. 30.

 

[laptop]

UK Military investigator found dead of gunshot in Basra

Staff Sgt Denise Rose, 34, of the Royal Military Police's Special Investigation Branch, was found dead from a gunshot at a Basra military camp on Sunday.

An investigation was under way, but it was not believed to be the result of any hostile action, said the MoD.
...
Staff Sgt Rose joined the Royal Military Police in 1989 and trained as an Special Investigation Branch (SIB) investigator in 1995, conducting investigations into serious incidents within the military in the UK and Cyprus, said the MoD.

The statement added: "She deployed as a volunteer to Iraq on 27 September operating as part of a small team of specialist investigators to provide security for the people of Iraq and assist in the rebuilding of the country through the provision of a well-trained police force."

All sympathy to the family in their loss.

Now they're going to have to deal with speculation over the import of this very carefully worded report. Someone in an intelligence role has died from a gunshot that was not hostile action... and no mention of fellow Military Police looking for anyone...

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraqi pipeline blown up

Saboteurs have blown up an oil pipeline in northern Iraq, in what officials say was a large explosion. It was not immediately known whether exports were affected, an official in the state North Oil Company said. "It was big," the official said, adding that the explosion was in Riyad, southwest of the oil centre of Kirkuk.The Iraq-Turkey export pipeline and other domestic pipelines pass in the area.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Updates for Tuesday

U.S. Soldier Kidnapped in Iraqi City
Insurgents have captured an American soldier in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad, an Iraqi police spokesman said Tuesday. Lt. Col. Mohammed Ahmed of Samarra police told reporters the soldier had been seized Monday night by gunmen in two Opel cars.

Kidnappers Release 2 of 4 Iraqi Guards
Kidnappers have released two of four Iraqi guards abducted along with an American and a Nepalese from the Baghdad compound of a Saudi company, police said Tuesday

Car bomb kills five in Baghdad
A car bomb has brought fresh carnage to the streets of Baghdad, killing at least five people, two of them women, at the Education Ministry.

Spectacular attacks stop Iraq north oil flows
Saboteurs have mounted the most massive attacks yet on Iraq's oil system, blowing up three oil pipelines in the north and halting exports to Turkey

Armed clashes in the center of Baghdad
Armed clashes erupted Tuesday in the center of the capital city as the Iraqi National Guard and Multi-national forces raided hideouts of insurgents on Haifa street...

Fallujah militants say U.S. attack to be bloody
Rebels dressed as Iraqi police manned checkpoints in Fallujah on Monday as U.S. forces continued to mass outside the insurgent-controlled city in preparation for an assault everyone is certain will come soon

Car bomb outside Iraqi ministry
A car bomb exploded early Tuesday near Iraq's Ministry of Education, causing a number of casualties, a ministry spokesman said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Hmmm

Shia tribal leaders threaten pro-insurgent tribes

Healing Iraq - Sheikh Hassan Hatem Al-Ghadhban of the Bani Lam tribes in Kut and Ammara strongly warned tribes west of Baghdad from the consequences of providing aid and refuge to terrorists. He also mentioned that southern Iraqi tribes can easily mobilise an army of tribesmen to overrun Yusifiya, Mahmudiya and Fallujah, and that neither multinational forces nor the interim government can stop them from carrying out this threat. Another Sheikh from Bani Lam said that he can do nothing to prevent his angry tribesmen from taking revenge for their brothers and sons, while a spokesman for the Congregation of Southern Tribes, a Sheikh from the Rubaiy'a tribes in Kut, called on the government to intervene and put an end to these massacres or they would be forced to act by themselves.

 

[Barking_Mad]

CIA used 'romper room' for abusing Iraqi prisoners

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- The CIA interrogated and roughed up Iraqi prisoners in a ''romper room'' where a handcuffed and hooded terror suspect was kicked, slapped and punched shortly before he died last year at the Abu Ghraib prison, a Navy SEAL testified Monday . Blood was visible on the hood worn by the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, as he was led into the interrogation room at Baghdad International Airport in November 2003, the Navy commando said at a military pretrial hearing for another SEAL accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners.

Testifying under a grant of immunity, the witness, identified only by his rank as a hospital corpsman, said he kicked al-Jamadi several times, slapped him in the back of the head and punched him. Five or six other CIA personnel in the room laid their hands on the prisoner, he said, but he did not provide details. Sometime later, Al-Jamadi was found dead in a shower room at Abu Ghraib less than an hour after two CIA personnel brought him into Abu Ghraib as a so-called ''ghost detainee,'' according to Army Maj. Gen. George R. Fay's report on the notorious prison. Such detainees were not listed in the normal roster of military prisoners.

The testimony about the CIA's role came during a hearing for an aviation boatswain's mate who is accused of punching al-Jamadi and posing in humiliating photos with the prisoner. The boatswain's mate allegedly twisted other prisoners' testicles and struck a prisoner in the buttocks with a wooden board. An Article 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury, was held to determine whether the boatswain's mate should be court-martialed. The hearing concluded Monday. An investigating officer will recommend what charges, if any, the boatswain's mate should face.

The accused SEAL, who received the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in Iraq, could get up to 11 years in prison if convicted.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Inaccurate Report of Kidnapped Soldier

1st Infantry Division Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team have verified the accountability of all Soldiers operating in the city of Samarra. Previous reports of a kidnapped Soldier are unfounded.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Reuters say cameraman killed by sniper

.....the US military said a Reuters cameraman who was killed in Ramadi yesterday had died in a gun battle between marines and insurgents. "Marines from the 1st Marine Division of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force engaged several insurgents in a brief small arms firefight that killed an individual who was carrying a video camera earlier Monday morning," it said in a statement.

Reuters said, however, that video footage of the incident showed no fighting and no sounds of shooting before Dhia Najim was killed by a single bullet in the back of the neck. He had filmed heavy clashes between marines and insurgents earlier in the day, but that fighting had subsided, Reuters said. The news agency said Najim's colleagues and family believed he had been shot by a US sniper.

David Schlesinger, Reuters managing editor, said: "We reject the clear implication in the marines' statement that Dhia was part of an insurgent group. "This claim is not supported by the available evidence. I strongly urge the US military to conduct a proper investigation into this tragic event."

 

[Barking_Mad]

More fighting in Fallujah

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. forces are still in action in and around Fallujah with some fierce clashes reported near the rebel stronghold. There's fighting between U.S. troops and insurgents on a highway east of Fallujah and in the southern part of the city. Witnesses also report fresh aerial and artillery bombardment as explosions boomed across the city. Plumes of smoke were seen rising from areas in the east and south of Fallujah as families began to flee the area. Residents report a Humvee was seen burning in the eastern edge of the city.

Today's attacks followed an overnight strike by U.S. jets, blasting what the American command said was a checkpoint operated by the feared terror movement of Jordanian-born extremist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The Fallujah hospital says three people were killed.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Meanwhile, away from the plastic world of the US elections.

Three headless bodies found in Baghdad
Three headless bodies were found in central Baghdad today, an Iraqi police source said. The unidentified bodies were found beneath a suspension bridge that leads across the Tigris river into the Green Zone

Pipeline, oil well in northern Iraq attacked
Saboteurs blew up an oil pipeline and an oil well in northern Iraq in two attacks Tuesday that shut down oil exports from the north, probably for the next 10 days

Hungary to withdraw its troops from Iraq by March 31
Hungary will withdraw its 300 non-combat troops from Iraq by March 31, the country's new prime minister said Wednesday, because staying longer would be an ``impossibility.''

Soldier to face Iraq murder trial
The first member of the British armed forces to be charged with the murder of an Iraqi civilian will stand trial at the Old Bailey in spring 2005.

National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of November 3, 2004
This week, the Army announced an increase in the number of reservists on active duty in support of the partial mobilization ... The net collective result is 3,550 more reservists mobilized than last week.

Bus Explosion Injures Nine in Baghdad
Iraqi hospital officials in Baghdad say a car bomb has exploded on a bus carrying airport employees. They say at least nine people were injured in the attack.

MNF Medically Evacuates Four Wounded Iraqi Children
Four Iraqi children were wounded when anti-Iraqi forces mortar fire struck near a Multi-National Forces base in Balad at about 5:27 p.m. on Nov.2.

Car Bombs Kill At Least 12 Iraqis
Car bombs killed at least a dozen people in Baghdad and another major city Tuesday as pressure mounted on interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi to avert a full-scale U.S. attack on the insurgent stronghold Fallujah.

OIL MINISTRY OFFICIAL KILLED
A top Iraqi oil ministry official, Hussein Ali al Fattal, was killed this morning as he was leaving his home in the Qadissiya neighbourhood in southern Baghdad, an interior ministry spokesman has said

 

[Barking_Mad]

Threat of civil disobedience if Fallujah is attacked

new pressure mounted Tuesday on Allawi, a Shiite Muslim, to forego an assault and to continue negotiating with the hardline Sunni clerics who run the city, which has become a symbol of Iraqi resistance throughout the Arab world.

Mohammed Bashar al-Faidhi, spokesman of the Association of Muslim Scholars, said his clerical group would use “mosques, the media and professional associations” to proclaim a civil disobedience campaign and a boycott of the January elections.

“In the case of an incursion in Fallujah, there will be a call to boycott elections,” al-Faidhi said. “In case of an incursion, more deterrent steps will be taken.”

He said that a boycott call by the influential clerical group “will have a great resonance among the people of Iraq.”

Such a call by Iraqi Sunnis would probably draw little support among the Shiite majority, believed to comprise about 60 percent of Iraq's nearly 26 million people. The country's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has been demanding elections for more than a year, and some Shiite preachers have been telling their followers that failing to vote would be sinful.

However, a boycott call could have resonance among central Iraq's Sunnis, who form the core of the insurgency, and inflame passions between the country's major religious communities. Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, a Sunni, has also spoken out against an attack.

“It's not reasonable to call for elections that are supposed to be democratic and yet a peaceful city gets attacked by weapons, missiles, planes and bombs,” said Nabil Mohammed, a professor at Baghdad University's Center for International Studies. He said an all-out attack would “elicit a very big response and support from Iraqis.”

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. troops tell of watching Iraqis loot ammo dump

Washington -- In the weeks after the fall of Baghdad, Iraqi looters loaded powerful explosives into pickup trucks and drove the material off the Al Qaqaa ammunition site, according to a group of U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen who said they witnessed the looting. The soldiers said about a dozen U.S. troops guarding the sprawling facility could not prevent the theft of the explosives because they were outnumbered by looters. Soldiers from one unit -- the 317th Support Center based in Wiesbaden, Germany -- said they had asked commanders in Baghdad for help to secure the site but received no reply.

The witnesses' accounts of the looting are the first provided by U.S. soldiers, and support claims that the American military failed to safeguard the powerful munitions. Last month, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the interim Iraqi government reported that approximately 380 tons of high- grade explosives had been taken from Al Qaqaa after the fall of Baghdad on April 9, 2003. The explosives are powerful enough to detonate a nuclear weapon.

.....Asked about the soldiers' accounts, Pentagon spokeswoman Rose-Anne Lynch said Wednesday, "We take the report of missing munitions very seriously. And we are looking into the facts and circumstances of this incident." The soldiers, who belong to two different units, described how Iraqis had plundered explosives from unsecured bunkers before driving off in Toyota trucks. There was little the U.S. troops could do to prevent looting from the ammunition site 30 miles south of Baghdad, they said.

"We were running from one side of the compound to the other side, trying to kick people out," said one senior noncommissioned officer who was at the site in late April 2003. "On our last day there, there were at least 100 vehicles waiting at the site for us to leave" so that they could come in and loot munitions.

"It was complete chaos," another officer said.

He and other soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they feared retaliation from the Pentagon. A Minnesota television station last week broadcast an April 18, 2003, video of U.S. troops from the 101st Airborne using tools to cut through wire seals left by the International Atomic Energy Agency at Al Qaqaa, evidence that the high-grade explosives were still inside at least one bunker weeks after the start of the war. After opening bunkers, including one containing the high-grade explosives, U.S. troops left the bunkers unsecured, the Minnesota station reported.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Reports say 3 British troops killed and 8 injured in 'Black Watch' area. Apparently it was an ambush - roadside bomb exploded, mortar attack when assistance came.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Car bomb north of Baghdad kills four

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A car bomb explosion has killed four people and wounded 15 outside the town council building in al-Dujail, north of Baghdad, a councillor says. The councillor, who declined to be named, said on Thursday the car exploded outside the council building in the town, some 50 km (32 miles) from Baghdad, about around 1:45 p.m. (10:45 am British time).

Two of the building's security guards were among the dead.

Insurgents bent on undermining Iraq's American-backed interim government frequently attack public institutions and officials. Six people were killed on Tuesday when a bomb exploded outside the Education Ministry in Baghdad.

 

[slaar]

US Military Seals off Falluja

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3985493.stm

The US military has sealed off the rebel-held Iraqi city of Falluja amid speculation an assault is imminent.
All roads in and out of the mainly Sunni Muslim city have been closed by US troops, Reuters reports.

US and Iraqi officials say they need to flush out insurgents ahead of elections due in January.

Speaking in Brussels, Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the window was closing for a peaceful settlement in Falluja.

"We intend to liberate the people and bring the rule of law," he told a news conference at a European Union summit.

"The insurgents and the terrorists are still operating there. We hope they will come to their senses, otherwise we will have to bring them to face justice."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Updates.......

Morgue ready for Fallujah attack
Iraq Preparations are in place for the dead and wounded expected from a U-S-led assault on Fallujah, Iraq. The combat hospital on the chief U-S base nearby has set up a morgue and doubled medical staff and supplies. A Navy doctor says there are at least 20 casualties on any given day. The doctor says the number could double when things get "serious." The hospital daily work is grim. Patients arrive with devastating wounds. Common procedures include amputations or stabilizing broken bones or torn organs. The surgeons and staff say they cope, knowing the soldiers need them to be steady in the face of shocking carnage. The base hospital is a low concrete building with a sign that says, "Cheaters of Death."

Two US Marines die in Iraq combat
Two US Marines were killed and four hurt during fighting in Anbar province west of Baghdad, the US military says.

One Soldier killed, One Wounded in IED Attack
One 1st Infantry Division Soldier died and one was wounded when their vehicle was struck with an improvised explosive device near Balad at about 10:38 p.m. on Nov. 4.

Four Buses plunge into river, killing 18 Iraqis
Four buses carrying pilgrims to Karbala plunged into a river Friday in central Iraq, killing 18 people

Allies warned against Fallujah assault
UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan has warned the US, Britain and Iraq that an assault on Fallujah could further anger Iraqis and undermine planned January elections. Mr Annan's warning came in letters to US President George W Bush, Tony Blair and Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi sent late last week, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A UN spokesman said the world body would have no comment on the letters. "We have nothing to say about private communications between the secretary-general and heads of state," the spokesman said.

Iraqi translator died hours before his wedding
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi interpreter who died in a suicide attack against British troops had been due to marry just a few hours later, after delaying the ceremony to redeploy with his unit to a dangerous area near Baghdad. "The interpreter has been with the Black Watch since our arrival in Iraq and has become a friend to the soldiers," the Commanding Officer of the Scottish-based regiment said in a statement on Friday, a day after the attack. "He had volunteered to come north with us and had delayed his wedding which was to have taken place on the day of his death," the statement said. The man's name is being withheld for security reasons.

Iraqis Say U.S. Should Talk More, Shoot Less
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Leading Iraqi politicians called on re-elected President Bush on Thursday to rely more on talks and less on the gun to solve Iraq's problems. The United States should stop acting like an occupier, hand more control to Iraqis and stop backing a security apparatus that could start resembling that of Saddam Hussein, they said. "American use of unchecked force will not work. Look at the security forces that have multiplied in the past few months. The result has been less security, not more, said Haidar al-Ubadi," a senior official in the Shi'ite Al-Dawa party, which worked with U.S. and British forces after last year's Iraq war to peacefully stabilize several Iraqi cities. "There cannot be two democratic standards, one for America and one for the Third World," he said. "Bush's policy of relying on the military and allowing former ruling Baath party members back is stifling society."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Some in 'coalition' plan to leave Iraq after elections

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- President Bush's "coalition of the willing" in Iraq isn't quite so willing any more, even though its largest members -- Britain and Italy -- are standing firm. In a blow to U.S. efforts to keep countries from deserting the multinational force, Hungary said this week it won't keep troops there beyond March 31. The Czechs plan to pull out by the end of February, the Dutch soon afterward. And Japan is feeling pressure to withdraw. There could be even more troop pullouts after Iraq holds elections in January and nations feel their obligations have ended. The United States has about 142,000 troops in Iraq.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Four Car Bombs, Attacks Kill 37 in Iraq

SAMARRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Insurgents detonated four car bombs and attacked police stations in the Iraqi city of Samarra on Saturday, killing at least 37 people and wounding 62, police and health officials said.
The fourth blast occurred at 12:30 (0930 GMT) when a suicide bomber rammed a car into a police station, killing 10 Iraqi police officers and wounding five, police said.

A health official said 23 people, including nine policemen, were killed and 40 wounded, among them 17 policemen, in the first three bomb explosions in the Sunni Muslim city. The attacks in Samarra came as U.S. forces prepared for a full-scale offensive against the rebel strongholds of Falluja and Ramadi, in Iraq's central Sunni heartland.....

........"I saw a dead National Guard burning on the ground," said one witness after the first bombings. "I saw people carrying away another corpse."
Witnesses said U.S. troops opened fire amid chaotic scenes in the city center, hitting some cars. Rescue services could not immediately reach them to evacuate any casualties.

Residents said the U.S. military had declared a curfew due to start at midday (0900 GMT).

 

[Barking_Mad]

US warplanes pound Fallujah

US warplanes pounded Fallujah today in what residents called the strongest attacks in months, as more than 10,000 American soldiers and Marines massed for an expected assault on the guerrilla stronghold. Iraq’s prime minister warned the “window is closing” to avert an offensive.

In the early hours before dawn today, US planes dropped five 500-pound bombs at several targets in Fallujah, including a factory as well as suspected weapons caches. Lt. Col. David Staven said two satellite-guided bombs were dropped at about 4am (1am Irish time) on a building in the eastern part of the city. Two more bombs followed in the next hour, hitting two shacks and setting off secondary explosions. Another bomb at dawn hit a factory, he said.

US jets could be heard roaring overheard in central Baghdad. The US military said today the main highway into Fallujah had now been completely sealed off. Residents said the aircraft were striking targets in the central city market that had not been hit since April as well as neighbourhoods in the north, south and east of Fallujah.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Looks like Ramadi is still under US control then

Iraq: U.S. Soldiers Wounded in Ramadi, Attacks Hit Samarra

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military said 20 American soldiers have been wounded Saturday in Iraq in the insurgent stronghold city of Ramadi. A statement by the First Marine Expeditionary Force didn't say how the soldiers were injured or describe their condition, citing security.U.S. troops are conducting security sweeps in the Sunni Triangle city of Ramadi. It's about 70 miles west of Baghdad. Residents reported clashes and explosions throughout the day.

34 Iraqis Killed, Most Police and National Guards, 43 Injured in Seven Iraqi Resistance Attacks in Samarra

U.S. forces poised to assault Falluja bombarded the Iraqi resistance stronghold on Saturday, while Iraqi resistance launched deadly attacks that killed 34 people in Samarra, another city in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland. With a U.S.-led offensive on Falluja apparently imminent, the Iraqi resistance hit back with car bombs and attacks on police stations in Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad. A suicide car bomber rammed into a police station and three car bombs exploded elsewhere in the city. The Iraqi resistance also attacked three other police stations.

Police said the onslaught had killed 34 people, including 19 police, two Iraqi National Guards, two members of an Iraqi Rapid Reaction Force and 11 civilians. They said 43 people had been wounded, 28 of them members of the security forces.

 

[Barking_Mad]

College soldier is killed in Iraq

Private Paul Lowe was trained at Harrogate Army Foundation College
A soldier who was trained at the Army Foundation College in North Yorkshire was among the Black Watch troops killed in Iraq on Thursday.
Private Paul Lowe, aged 19, died when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at a vehicle checkpoint near Falluja.

Pte Lowe attended the Harrogate college in 2002 and went on to complete his training at Catterick Garrison before being deployed with his regiment. His brother Craig, aged 18, said words could not express the family's grief. "My family and all of Paul's friends were shocked and saddened to hear of his death while serving his country with the 1st Battalion The Black Watch in Iraq. "It is a sad time for us all and at this time words cannot express the depth of grief that my mother Helen, brothers Stuart, Shaun, Jordan and myself feel."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Update......

Explosion in western Baghdad wounds three Soldiers

Baghdad, Iraq -- Three Task Force Baghdad Soldiers were wounded Nov. 6 at about 2:40 p.m., when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated on their convoy in western Baghdad.The three injured Soldiers were medically evacuated to a Multi-National Forces medical facility. Initial reports from the scene of the attack indicate one Iraqi bystander was killed by the blast and another seriously wounded. The wounded Iraqi was evacuated to a nearby hospital. The incident is under investigation.

Mortars Hit Camp Babylon

Camp Babylon, Iraq – Camp Babylon came under mortar attack Nov. 5 just before midnight.One explosion was heard in the vicinity of Camp Babylon, and one mortar grenade exploded inside the camp.There were no casualties and no damages. An investigation is ongoing. Anti-Iraqi militants attack Multi-National force personnel in an effort to degrade security in the country and place Iraqi citizens at risk, but the Multi-National Force is committed to the security and stability of Iraq, free of terrorism.

Australian troops shoot man in Baghdad

It has been confirmed that Australian soldiers have shot an Iraqi civilian in central Baghdad early this morning, Australian time. Wire services reported that the man died, but Australian Defence Force spokesman Tim Herne says he has no information on the man's condition. He says preliminary indications are that the Australian troops involved acted according to their rules of engagement. Mr Herne says an Australian foot patrol opened fire when a car approaching them failed to stop, after being signalled to do so. "Instead of stopping, the vehicle increased its speed and continued in an erratic manner towards the patrol," he said. "After failing to respond to continued signals to stop and posing a threat to the patrol, it was engaged by the patrol using small arms fire. It is believed one of the two occupants of the vehicle was injured in the incident."

ONE SOLDIER KILLED, FIVE WOUNDED BY INDERECT FIRE NEAR FALLUJAH
A 13th Corps Support Command Soldier is dead and five are injured as the result of an indirect fire attack on a Multi-National Force military base near Fallujah at about 1:45 p.m. on Nov. 5.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Bit more on the Black Watch soldiers who died. Jesus, those poor kids

....For the family of the third victim of Thursday's ambush - Sergeant Stuart Gray - there was immense sadness. Mary Gray, his mother, hailed her son as "an experienced and professional soldier, a loving husband, father, son and brother, and a proud member of the Black Watch". Although she was "deeply shocked" by his death, she said that her sadness was tinged with pride. Sgt Gray, who was educated at Pitcorthie Primary School and Woodmill High School in Dunfermline, had served for 12 years in the Army. He leaves a wife, Wendy, and children, Kirstin, 12, and Darren, 10.

Kirstin wept uncontrollably yesterday as she laid 10 red roses outside the gates of the current regimental barracks in Warminster, Wiltshire. With them was the message: "To Dad. Love you and miss you, love Kirstin."

 

[laptop]

Iraqi Officer Deserts with U.S. Falluja Battle Plan

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi military commander has deserted U.S. forces hours after he received a full briefing on U.S. military plans to storm the rebel-held city of Falluja, CNN reported on Saturday.
...
"This man has no known ties with Falluja and they (the U.S. military) don't believe in the first instance that he is headed for Falluja. They believe that since the captain is a Kurd, he is more likely headed up north and going home," the report said.

Riiight...

 

[laptop]

those poor kids

Indeed.

'Specially since I have this strong feeling the Army is pushing their grieving mum into the limelight to counter the Other Ranks' families' condemnation of the war...

 

[Barking_Mad]

News breaking that Allawi has declared a state of emergency in Iraq for 60 days (everywhere but the Kurdish north)

 

[Barking_Mad]

Militants massacre 21 Iraq police

Iraqi insurgents have stormed a police station, disarmed 21 officers and shot them dead, police say. The attack at Haditha in the western province of al-Anbar was the latest in a series of violent incidents across the Sunni Triangle area. There are also reports that a senior police officer was killed in an attack in the neighbouring town of Haqlaniya.

The insurgents' offensive is seen as a response to a planned assault by US troops on their stronghold of Falluja. American and Iraqi forces are continuing preparations for the attack, amid reports that more than 100 insurgents have volunteered to drive suicide car bombs into the advancing troops.

Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has told the people of Falluja not to drive on the streets once the fighting begins. Military sources say that to do so risks being fired upon by the coalition forces.