*IRAQ: latest news and developments

[Barking_Mad]

Guess the US excuse: I lay good money on them saying that the houses were full of militants/foreign terrorists and that nobody in the house was a civilian or that any civilian loss of life is 'regretable'.

Chances on them admitting it was a fuck up? Somewhere between none and fuck all.

 

[Barking_Mad]

And right on cue.....

US defends deadly Iraq air raid

A US air strike on the city of Falluja targeted a safe house used by militants headed by an al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the US military says.
At least 20 Iraqis were killed in the missile strike on Saturday, residents and hospital staff said. TV pictures from Falluja - where hundreds died in heavy US bombardments in April - showed extensive damage. The US said it had "significant intelligence" that members of Zarqawi's network were in the targeted house.

It is not clear how many of the victims were militants or if Zarqawi himself - blamed for several bomb attacks in Iraq - was present. Zarqawi has been blamed by the US occupation forces in Iraq for the beheading of the American contractor, Nick Berg, whose death was filmed and broadcast on the internet. Hospital sources say women and children were among the victims.

 

[jeff_leigh]

Top Iraqi security officials in the city of Falluja have dismissed US claims that a house destroyed by a deadly American air strike was used by al-Qaida fighters.

Brigadier Nuri Abudi, a member of the Falluja Brigade entrusted by the US occupation with imposing security in the city, said evidence showed the destroyed building was the home of an extended Iraqi family.

"We inspected the damage, we looked through the bodies of the women and children and elderly. This was a family," he said on Sunday.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EA2EC375-43E7-43B7-80E9-3C1E2CDFE1A2.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Four U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq

RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers have been killed in an attack by Iraqi insurgents west of Baghdad, witnesses say. It was unclear when the soldiers, found in a building site in the town of Ramadi, had been killed. Their bloodied bodies were sprawled on the ground, surrounded by scattered equipment. The U.S. military had no immediate comment on Monday.

 

[Barking_Mad]

CNN: Israeli Agents Operate in Iraq

20 June 2004 | 20:18 | CNN

Israeli secret services' agents operate in North Iraq, New Yorker Magazine’s journalist Seamore Hursh said in CNN Late Edition.
Hursh claims that Israeli secret services officers, supported by “their friends – the Kurds” gather intelligence information and act against the interests of Iran and Syria, which are considered as “strategic enemies of Israel”. Hursh also said that the present Prime Minister of Iraq Iyad Allawi is a “butcher” who has shouldered his way to BAAS’s leadership by ruthlessly eliminating his political opponents.

According to Hursh, Allawi was one of the closest councilors of Saddam Husein in the period 1968-75, but after that “something happened” and he was expelled from Iraq.

 

[Barking_Mad]

5 American soldiers dead, 7 wounded in Iraq attacks

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents killed four U.S. Marines west of Baghdad yesterday, and South Korea said it would go ahead with plans to send thousands more troops to Iraq despite a threat by Iraqi kidnappers to behead a South Korean seen pleading for his life on a videotape.
A U.S. soldier was killed and seven were wounded yesterday in a mortar attack in north-central Baghdad, the U.S. command said. The casualties indicated no let-up in attacks against Americans as the June 30 transfer of sovereignty draws near. A videotape delivered to Associated Press Television News showed four Marines in uniform lying dead in what appeared to be a walled compound in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold 60 miles west of Baghdad. One of the Americans was slumped in the corner of a wall.

The bodies had no flak vests - mandatory for U.S. troops in contested areas - and at least one was missing a boot. A field pack was left open next to a body as if the attackers had looted the dead before fleeing. U.S. officials had been concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Ramadi, located along a belt of Sunni Muslim militancy running westward from Baghdad along the Euphrates River. Last week, seven Iraqi Civil Defense Corps members were arrested for planting a roadside bomb that killed a policeman and wounded seven civilians in Ramadi.

On Saturday, a U.S. airstrike destroyed a house in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, that the United States said was a hideout for the al-Zarqawi group. Kimmitt said the attack killed "key personnel in the Zarqawi network," but he would not confirm that any foreign fighters were among the dead.

Iraqi officials in Fallujah, long one of the centers of anti-American militancy, say the attack killed only Iraqi civilians. The Iraqi Health Ministry said at least 17 people died.

Chanting anti-U.S. slogans, hundreds of Iraqis rallied yesterday in Fallujah to protest the airstrike. Demonstrators accused Americans of falsely claiming that al-Zarqawi had sought refuge in Fallujah to create an excuse to attack the city.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Auditors criticize US management of 20-billion dollar Iraq fund

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Auditors working for the United Nations (news - web sites) have strongly criticised the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority for its management of the 20 billion dollar fund from oil sales, which it said is "open to fraudulent acts," the Financial Times said. KPMG International experts also "encountered resistance from CPA staff" in its attempts to oversee the fund's spending, according to an interim KPMG report obtained by the financial daily. "The CPA does not have effective controls over the ministries' spending of their individually allocated budgets, whether the funds are direct from the CPA or via the ministry of finance," the report said.

The Development Fund for Iraq (news - web sites), which channels oil revenues to reconstruction projects, is "open to fraudulent acts," the report added. The report was specially critical of the State Organization for Marketing Oil in charge of the sale of Iraqi oil, which has topped 10 billion dollars since the Iraq war ended and which goes to the US-controlled Defense Fund, the daily said. The Development Fund has taken in 20.2 billion dolllars since May and has disbursed 11.3 billion, with 4.6 billion left in outstanding commitments, the daily said quoting the CPA.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Experts cast doubts on al-Qaida, Iraq ties

WASHINGTON — Defenders of President Bush's charges that Saddam Hussein worked with al-Qaida have been citing what they say is new evidence that could help substantiate one of the administration's main justifications for invading Iraq. They say the evidence is the name of a paramilitary officer in captured documents that appears identical to that of an Iraqi who met two Sept. 11 hijackers in Malaysia nearly two years before the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.

But U.S. officials told the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau on Monday that U.S. intelligence experts were highly skeptical that the Iraqi officer had any connection to al-Qaida. On Sunday, John F. Lehman, a Republican member of the independent commission that's probing the attacks, cited the documents as "new intelligence" on Iraq's links with al-Qaida.

"We are in the process of getting this latest intelligence," Lehman, a Republican, said on NBC. "Some of these documents indicate that there is at least one officer of Saddam's Fedayeen, a lieutenant colonel, who was a very prominent member of al-Qaida. This still has to be confirmed."

The U.S. officials said the lieutenant colonel's name is different from that of the man who met the hijackers in Malaysia, the man who met the hijackers wasn't in Iraq at the time the documents were dated and he's never been implicated in the Sept. 11 plot by any top al-Qaida operatives in American custody. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the documents remain classified.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Dutch troops unscathed as explosion rocks Iraqi city

21 June 2004

AMSTERDAM — An explosion and gunfire were heard in the Iraqi city As Samawah shortly after 1am on Monday, but an army spokesman confirmed there were no casualties reported among the Dutch peacekeeping troops stationed in the city. The explosion took place near the provincial government building in the southern Iraqi city, but it remains unclear if anyone was injured or killed in the blast. Gunfire was heard soon after the explosion.

Fire also broke out, but local firefighters quickly had the blaze under control. Several police cars rushed to the scene of the explosion and helicopters were patrolling the skies above, RTL News reported. The cause of the blast is not yet known. There have been sporadic incidents of violence and unrest in the region in recent months as both the Dutch base and the headquarters for Japanese troops were targeted in motor attacks.

Attackers strike Iraqi troops near Baghdad's airport

June 21, 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Attackers lying in wait for Iraqi troops detonated a roadside bomb on the dangerous road leading to Baghdad's airport yesterday, killing two Iraqi soldiers and wounding 11. American troops took the wounded Iraqis to a U.S. aid station and waited while they were treated. Iraqi soldiers wept and hugged the U.S. troops. Elsewhere, U.S. forces clashed with insurgents in Samarra, striking back with helicopter gunships after guerrillas fired mortar shells into a residential neighborhood. Maj. Neal O'Brien, a 1st Infantry Division spokesman, said at least four insurgents were killed. Also yesterday, Al-Jazeera aired a videotape purportedly from al-Qaida-linked militants showing a South Korean hostage begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Turkish Man Killed By U.S. Army Fire: Witness

ANKARA (AFP) -- A Turkish man was killed and a second Turk and an Iraqi national were wounded when U.S. soldiers opened fire on them at a road checkpoint near Baghdad, the wounded Turkish man, Ali Musluoglu, said Sunday. Musluoglu, the owner of a Turkish company transporting prefabricated houses for U.S. soldiers, told the NTV news channel that the attack took place as a Turkish driver was taking him and an Iraqi interpreter from the flashpoint town of Fallujah to the Iraqi capital. "Three or four U.S. soldiers were standing in the middle of the road with no obvious sign that they had set up a checkpoint. They told us to stop and we did," Musluoglu said.Musluoglu said that the soldiers opened fire without warning as soon as he and the others stepped out of their vehicle. The driver, Faysal Demir, died on the spot, while Musluoglu and the Iraqi interpreter were wounded.

Two Guard Members Injured In Iraq

Baghdad, Iraq - June 20, 2004

Two members of the Vermont National Guard are being treated for injuries they suffered in Iraq.Officials say Specialist Ross Holsapple and Sgt. Michael Dubie were part of a convoy just outside of Baghdad that was hit by a roadside bomb.They suffered shrapnel wounds, but the injuries are not life-threatening. Holsapple was transferred to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. for surgery, while Dubie has been treated in Germany.

 

[Barking_Mad]

So far in June 256 US troops have been injured in action, whilst 30 have died. The drop in US dead has fallen back to around the levels of before the 'uprising' by Sadr. The total of US dead now stands at 846 and the total of all troops deaths now stands at 963.

At the current rate the 1,000 US troops deaths would probably come around October, just a month before the US election. Incidentally, when I worked this out previously (back in January) the figure I arrived at given the current rate back then was around 700 by the time of the US election. I dare say 1000 dead would be a political point should it appear.

http://www.icasualties.org/oif/

 

[Barking_Mad]

U.S. Stuck In Iraq

Eight days before U.S. caretakers are scheduled to turn over control of Iraq to an interim government, Pentagon officials told Congress that American soldiers are likely to remain there for years. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, one of the Bush administration's strongest advocates for the invasion, told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that it would be inadvisable to set a deadline for the departure of American troops, who make up the vast majority of a U.N.-sanctioned multinational force. Wolfowitz also said a continued U.S. presence in Iraq is likely to cost taxpayers as much as $60 billion through the end of next year, twice what Congress has approved.

"From your description, Mr. Secretary, I don't see an end in sight," said Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo. "We're stuck."

"We're not stuck, Mr. Skelton," Wolfowitz said.

"Tell us what your measurement is for success," Skelton countered. "People ask me this. I have no answer."

"When it becomes an Iraqi fight, and the Iraqis are prepared to take on the fight, they're prepared to join their security forces. We are prepared to arm and equip them to do it," Wolfowitz responded. "I can't tell you how long that's going to take."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Two more Iraqis dead in roadside bomb attack

A roadside bomb explosion near a Baghdad hospital killed a woman and a small boy and wounded the woman's husband on Wednesday. The wounded man, a taxi driver whose car was caught in the blast, kept asking hospital staff to call his wife, unaware she was dead. The couple had been married 15 days.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Rebels Launch Attacks in Four Iraq Cities, 23 Dead

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Rebels launched coordinated assaults on Iraqi police that turned several mainly Sunni Muslim cities into battle zones Thursday and at least 23 people were killed, including three U.S. soldiers. The simultaneous violence in Baquba, Falluja, Ramadi and Mosul intensified a bloody campaign by Iraqi insurgents and foreign militants to sabotage the formal handover from U.S.-led occupation to an interim government in six days' time.

In Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, at least four car bombs exploded near police buildings, sending thick smoke into the air and setting cars ablaze. Police said there had been heavy casualties, but had no details. Three more blasts shook the city later, and local television ordered residents to stay at home. Police blocked off all major roads, and announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew. The U.S. military said an American soldier had been killed and three wounded in the blasts. It said a security guard was killed when gunmen attacked a private security company, but did not give the guard's nationality.

Gunfire rattled across Mosul as insurgents fought running battles with U.S. troops and Iraqi police. Black-clad gunmen, some claiming loyalty to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, attacked a police station in Baquba, 60 km (40 miles) northwest of Baghdad. Nine policemen and four civilians were killed and 22 people were wounded, hospital officials said. Witnesses said scores of gunmen took control of the town's main intersection after the dawn assault on the police station, attacking any Iraqi police or U.S. troops they encountered. A U.S. military spokesman said two American soldiers had been killed. U.S. forces had responded with air strikes after gunmen captured the civic center and attacked another government building. Two insurgents were killed.

Many of the fighters wore yellow headbands bearing the name of a Muslim militant group "Saraya al-Tawhid and Jihad" (Battalions of Unification and Holy War). They handed out leaflets warning Iraqis not to "collaborate" with Americans. "The flesh of collaborators is tastier than that of Americans," the leaflets said. Arabic television channel Al Jazeera showed hooded fighters brandishing their weapons in Baquba and saying they were followers of Zarqawi. Bodies lay in the streets nearby........

.........Fierce fighting broke out between U.S. Marines and rebels in Falluja. U.S. warplanes and helicopter gunships swooped low over the city as gunfire and rocket-propelled grenade explosions echoed through the streets, witnesses said. The clashes raged for two hours and U.S. planes dropped 500-pound bombs on guerrilla positions, a Reuters photographer with the Marines near Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, said. There was no word on casualties. A U.S. Cobra helicopter was shot down during the Falluja fighting but the crew walked away unhurt, Marines said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Jesus, what have the Iraqi people done to deserve this?

50 dead, 170 hurt in Iraq blasts

A series of car bombings in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul killed at least 50 people and injured 170, hospital officials said.Khalid Mohammed, an official at the al-Jumhuri hospital, said dozens had been brought to the hospital, which itself was subjected to attack.

At least 50 died and 170 were injured, he said. Three simultaneous car bomb explosions rocked the Iraqi Police Academy, the al-Wakas Iraqi police substation and hospital, killing one Task Force Olympia soldier and wounding three others. Another attack on the Sheik Fatih Iraqi police station occurred about an hour later.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Zarqawi rebels statement

Zarqawi's group, Tawhid wa al-Jihad, launched a pre-dawn assault on a US military patrol and a police station in Baquba, according to the 1st Infantry."The days are coming for attacks against the forces of the occupation and those collaborators with them," Zarqawi's faction said in a statement circulated around the city."Any resistance to these orders will be exposed to death and to the destruction of their homes."

The US military said on Wednesday that it believed it had killed 20 foreign fighters in an air strike on a suspected Zarqawi safehouse in Fallujah the previous day.But according to the local hospital and witnesses, the strike killed three people - a local garage owner and his two sons - and wounded 10 others.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fighting in Fallujah forces residents to flee

Fierce battles have broken out in the city of Falluja between resistance fighters and US occupation soldiers after explosions rocked the area. US jet fighters and helicopter gunships swooped low over Falluja, which has consistently resisted the occupation, and opened fire at various intersections on Thursday.

Aljazeera's correspondent said US armoured vehicles were moving into parts of the city, backed by air support. The US military also confirmed that one of its Cobra helicopters was brought down outside of Falluja but they claimed there were no casualties. Resistance fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s at occupation forces patrolling the main routes into the city centre.

Residents of this city, which witnessed a crippling siege in April, are beginning to flee, reported witnesses.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq rebel attacks kill 67

Rebels have wreaked havoc in five Iraqi cities with coordinated car bombings and assaults on local security forces in which at least 67 people, including three U.S. soldiers, have been killed.

Iraqi police officers stand near a crater caused by a car bomb explosion, which went off in front of a police station in Iraq's northern city of Mosul, June 24, 2004. A series of car bomb attacks on police stations in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday killed at least 40 people and wounded 60, Iraqi police said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Some more detailed information about the fighting in Iraq from the Independent. Once again there appear to be confirmation of reports of the police actually being the insurgents and in other cases openly chatting to them.

Insurgents launch series of attacks in Iraq

US aircraft dropped three 500-pound bombs against an insurgent position near the Baqouba soccer stadium, said Maj. Neal E. O'Brien, a US 1st Infantry Division spokesman. Insurgents roamed the city with rocket launchers and automatic weapons, seized two police stations and destroyed the home of the police chief of the surrounding Diyala province.

Attackers also targeted police stations in Ramadi, Mahaweel, and the northern city of Mosul, where car bombs rocked the Iraqi Police Academy, two police stations and the al-Jumhuri hospital. Most of the deaths appeared to have been in Mosul, where hospital officials spoke of dozens of dead. One of the Mosul dead was an American soldier, US officials said. In Mosul, Iraqi police lost control of the Sheikh Fatih police station after the initial car bomb attack. American forces recaptured the station after subduing insurgents firing from a nearby mosque. In other attacks, a man dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonated a car bomb near a checkpoint manned by Iraqi and American soldiers in the southern Baghdad district of Dora, killing four Iraqi soldiers. Three US soldiers tended a wounded American soldier as he lay on the road, his helmet nearby. Black smoke and flames shot up from a burning pickup truck.

A statement quoted today by a Saudi website claimed responsibility for the Baqouba attacks in the name of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who said the insurgents belong to his Tawhid and Jihad movement. He called residents to "comply with the instructions of resistance."The statement appealed to residents to remain in their homes "because these days are going to witness campaigns and attacks against the occupation troops and those who stand beside them."

At the main hospital in Baqouba, doctors received injured. Corridors were spattered with blood. Civilian cars raced to the door bringing people with gunshot and shrapnel wounds. "May God destroy America and all those who cooperate with it!" screamed one man in the corridor.In Baghdad, US officials projected calm. They had been predicting an upsurge in attacks to try to derail next week's transfer of sovereignty, which marks the formal end of the American-run occupation. "Coalition forces feel confident with the situation," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, coalition deputy operations chief.

To the west of the capital, explosions and shelling shook Fallujah, believed to be the nexus of the Sunni Muslim rebellion. Armed men ran through the streets and Iraqi police and insurgents appeared to be working together, witnesses said. US forces clashed sporadically with insurgents at the edges of the city but did not try to enter the centre. US forces manning a checkpoint opened fire on a local government convoy that included Fallujah's mayor and police chief, who were trying to meet the Americans to discuss the violence, said an Iraqi police lieutenant, speaking on condition of anonymity. The convoy turned back, and no injuries were reported. A motorist who drove through Fallujah this morning said Iraqi police and insurgents were cooperating, chatting amicably along the streets, and seemed to be working together.....

......And in Mahaweel, gunmen stormed the police station and killed an undetermined number of policemen, 40 miles from Baghdad. The gunmen blew up the police station before leaving, witnesses said.

 

[Gumbert]

i think al jazeera headline is telling the warmongers something ahead of the handover from the americans to the americans..

Iraqi cities ablaze ahead of US 'handover'

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/77105564-3B94-439B-BA1B-35B17BB5FAA8.htm

 

[Barking_Mad]

Colin Powell - 'Insurgency is a serious problem'

In a BBC interview, Mr Powell said those who carried out the attacks were trying to torpedo the handover. "I think we underestimated the nature of the insurgency that we might face during this period," he said. "The insurgency that we're looking at now has become a serious problem for us, but it's a problem that we will deal with." But he said he hoped violence would tail off after the handover - once Iraqis saw that they had their own people in charge.

"I'm absolutely sure that the world is a safer place with Saddam Hussein and that regime gone," he said. "Now, does that mean that everything has become peaceful and nice? No. "We have a difficult situation in Iraq. And we will deal with that difficult situation. We will get security under control."

Late on Thursday, the Shia militia loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr declared a unilateral truce in the Sadr City slum quarter of Baghdad - the final area where it was still opposing US-led coalition forces. "For the sake of the public interest and considering the sensitive situation the oppressed Iraqi people are under, the Central Mehdi Army Command announces a halt to military operations within Sadr City," the militia said in a statement.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Iraq war a mistake: new US poll

June 25, 2004

FOR the first time since the Iraq war, a majority of Americans believe it was a mistake sending US troops into Iraq. The poll carried out for CNN/USA also revealed an overwhelming majority believe the Iraq conflict has not made the US any safer from terrorism. The proportion of US citizens who believe the Iraq war was a mistake jumped from 41 percent in early June to 54 percent when the latest poll was taken June 21-23. Fifty-five percent do not believe their country is safer from terrorism, according to the poll released yesterday evening.

But the negative feelings over Iraq have not helped Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry - he came out tied in the poll with President George W. Bush on the issue of who would better handle the situation in Iraq; 47 percent said Bush, 46 percent said Kerry. The poll consulted 1,005 Americans, including 521 likely voters, and had a margin of error of 3.0 to 4.5 percent.

Kerry and Bush also tied when the people surveyed were asked who they would vote for if the November 2 presidential election were held today - Bush got 49 percent, Kerry 48 percent. When Independent candidate Ralph Nader was thrown in the race, Bush and Kerry dropped one point each. Kerry, however, got a higher favourable rating than Bush - 58 percent to 53 percent - and was also seen as a better manager of the US economy - 53 percent chose him over Bush, who got 40 percent support.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Powell: Martial Law Will not Help Iraq Security

25 Jun 2004, 11:40 UTC

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the U.S.-led coalition's task in Iraq will become harder if the new interim government decides to impose martial law after it takes over next week.Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has suggested he might impose martial law to curb escalating militant attacks. In an interview with a German newspaper Die Welt, Mr. Powell explained that implementing martial law is more a policing problem than a military one.

Mr. Powell said it now seems that Iraq's security situation would have been better, if Iraqi security forces had been set up earlier. He said the coalition recruited a large number of men, but they were not trained and equipped fast enough. Mr. Powell also said the United States might maintain a military presence in Iraq for, what he called "a fairly long time."

 

[Barking_Mad]

Slightly off-topic.......

Expert says terrorism is expanding

"Terrorism is expanding........In the short term, we have to address that through military and police action, but in the long term, it's education." Alexander said that from his point of view, one of the U.S. government's biggest mistakes was the 1983 removal of troops from a Marine base in Lebanon after a Hezbollah attack.

"That to me was a bipartisan bankruptcy of policy," he said. "The indication of weakness invites more violence." And increased violence is just what has happened in Iraq, recent reports have shown. Alexander said he's seen generations — grandfathers, fathers and children — get swept up in terrorist ideals, and education is the only thing that's going to stop the progression.

"There must be education to defuse the exploitation of religion," he said. "Islam is not about terrorism, and we must be careful not to discount a whole religion. "There's common ground of peace in Islam, Judaism and Christianity, and they must be educated about this, not the hijacking of religion that Osama bin Laden is doing."And, he said, the young generations in Iraq, as the United States helps rebuild, are not getting that education.
The institute was trying to educate people on those concepts nearly three decades ago, he said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Fallujans deny al-Zarqawi in their midst

Iraqi fighters in Falluja, their faces hidden behind chequered cloths, have denied in a taped message that al-Qaida-linked Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was holed up in their city. "The American invader forces claim that al-Zarqawi, and with him a group of Arab fighters, are in our city," a masked man read from a piece of paper on Friday.

"We know that this talk about al-Zarqawi and the fighters is a game the American invader forces are playing to strike Islam and Muslims in the city of mosques, steadfast Falluja." The United States believes al-Zarqawi, accused of leading a bloody campaign of bombings and of decapitating an American and a South Korean hostage, has played a significant role in the violence gripping Iraq. On the tape, five men holding a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and machinegun said local fighters were defending their home town - sometimes known as the "city of mosques".

 

[Barking_Mad]

Many casualties in Iraq bombing

At least 17 people have been killed and 40 hurt in a car bomb in the Iraqi town of Hilla, coalition officials said. The explosion happened on a busy street in the centre of the mainly Shia Muslim town about 100km (60 miles) south of the capital, Baghdad. The blast comes amid an upsurge of violence in the final days before the US-led coalition transfers sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.

On Thursday, more than 100 people died in a series of attacks across Iraq. The BBC's Caroline Hawley in Baghdad says Saturday's bomb in Hilla went off after dark in a town that had until now been relatively calm, but this is a country braced for trouble at critical political juncture.

"We know that it was a strong explosion," said Lt Col Robert Strzelecki, spokesman for the Polish-led force that patrols the area. "We know that there are Iraqi civilians killed and wounded." Earlier, one person was killed and 18 people, including the culture minister of the pro-American Kurdistan Democratic Party, were injured when a car bomb exploded in the Kurdish town of Irbil in the north.

Edit: The total number of dead in this bombing has been revised to 23.

 

[Barking_Mad]

UK soldier killed in Basra 'bomb'

One British soldier has been killed and two injured in an incident in Basra, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. A spokeswoman said it was believed to have been a roadside bomb attack on a British convoy on Monday morning. She said: "We can confirm there have been two casualties and one dead. We do not know the extent of the injuries."

The news came shortly after the Iraqi foreign minister said the handover of power in Iraq was brought forward from 30 June to Monday. A statement on the MoD website said: "A British soldier was killed, and two were wounded, in an improvised explosive device attack on British vehicles in Basra on the morning of 28 June 2004. Next of kin are being informed."

US marine 'taken hostage' in Iraq

Islamic militants claim to have taken a US marine hostage in Iraq and are threatening to behead him, al-Jazeera television has reported. Footage aired on the channel showed a blindfolded man dressed in camouflage and holding a US marine ID card. The card said the man's name was Wassef Ali Hassoun and he was on active duty. The US military has confirmed that a marine by that name has been missing in Iraq since 21 June, but it is not clear if it is the same man as in the tape.

US hands over sovereignty in Iraq

The US has formally handed over power in Iraq, two days ahead of schedule. At a low-key ceremony in Baghdad, US administrator Paul Bremer gave legal documents to an Iraqi judge at 1026 local time (0626 GMT). Iraq's interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, who also took part in the ceremony in the heavily-guarded Green Zone, said it was "a historic day".

But the BBC's Dan Damon in Baghdad says the handover will mean little to ordinary Iraqis. Our correspondent says it is not clear how real the transfer of power will seem to the many Iraqis whose backing is needed to defeat insurgents. During the ceremony, Mr Bremer, describing himself as "ex-administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority", said the US-led coalition had come to liberate Iraq - as anyone who saw the mass graves left by Saddam Hussein could attest.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Turks 'face beheading' in Iraq

Suspected supporters of an al-Qaeda leader are threatening to behead three Turks taken hostage in Iraq, according to a report on al-Jazeera TV. Video footage aired by the Qatar-based station showed the three men surrounded by masked militants claiming to be linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In an accompanying message they said Turkish firms must withdraw from Iraq within 72 hours or the men will die. They also urged Turks to protest during the Nato summit in Istanbul.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Updates from yesterday and part of today. The full articles are linked here

06/28/04 CENTCOM: US Marine Killed on 26th
One Marine assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action June 26 in the Al Anbar Province while conducting security and stability operations.

06/28/04 icWales: Welsh SAS sergeant among Iraq body count
A WELSH SAS officer was killed when the convoy he was travelling in was attacked by a mob in Baghdad.

06/28/04 Kurdmedia: Five Iraqi Kurdish fighters wounded in attack
Five Kurdish peshmerga fighters were seriously wounded Sunday in a roadside bomb attack near the main northern Iraqi city of Mosul, said police.

06/28/04 AP: Two children killed in Baghdad
A rocket and mortar attack in the heart of Baghdad has left two children dead.

06/28/04 BBC: Six guards killed in Iraq attack
Six members of the Iraqi National Guard have been killed in an attack on a checkpoint north-east of Baghdad.

06/28/04 Reuters: One British Soldier Killed in Basra Bomb Attack
One British soldier was killed and two others injured in a bomb attack against British vehicles around the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the Ministry of Defense said on Monday.

06/27/04 Reuters: U.S. launches Fallujah strike
The U.S. military launched its third airstrike in a week today in Fallujah, using precision weapons to destroy a suspected safehouse for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network. U.S. officials estimated there were 20-25 Iraqi casualties.

06/27/04 Reuters: U.S. Military Says Marine Missing in Iraq
The U.S. military said on Monday a Marine of Lebanese descent was missing in Iraq but a spokesman could not confirm he had been taken hostage.

06/27/04 cdapress: Captors Say Marine, Pakistani Held in Iraq
Arab television broadcast videotape Sunday of two hostages said to be of Pakistani origin, one of them a blindfolded U.S. Marine militants claimed to have lured from his base and taken captive. Insurgents threatened to behead them both.

06/27/04 DoD: Soldier Aboard C-130 Killed, Another Dies in Rocket Attack
Two U.S. soldiers were killed today in Iraq, coalition military officials in Baghdad announced.

06/27/04 AP: Mortar strike kills 5 Iraqis
Five Iraqis wading in the Tigris River were killed late on Sunday in a mortar strike near the Sheraton Hotel, which is popular with western media and businessmen.

06/27/04 AP: U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq Rocket Attack
A U.S. soldier was killed Sunday in a rocket attack on the outskirts of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

06/27/04 AP: U.S. Transport Plane Hit in Iraq; 1 Dead
A U.S. Air Force C-130 transport plane was hit by small arms fire after taking off Sunday from Baghdad, killing at least one person and forcing the plane to return to the airport, U.S. officials said.

 

[Barking_Mad]

Strong Explosions Rock Central Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least four strong explosions shook the heart of the Iraqi capital early Tuesday, hours after the U.S.-run coalition transferred sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government. Three strong blasts reverberated through the city about 12:35 a.m. The cause of the blasts was unknown but it appeared the explosions occurred on the western side of the Tigris river where the U.S.-controlled Green Zone is located.

 

[Barking_Mad]

US forces will stay in Iraq as long as needed: Bush

Mon Jun 28,12:08 PM ET

US forces will remain in Iraq (news - web sites) as long as needed to bring the country to stability, US President George W. Bush said as he called the handover of power in Baghdad a "proud moment" for the country. "Coalition forces will remain under coalition command," he told reporters after the end of the main session of a NATO (news - web sites) summit here Monday.

"They will stay as long as stability of Iraq requires," he said. Bush was speaking at told a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites), his closest ally in last year's invasion to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).