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A fresh outbreak of violence left at least seven people dead and 27 injured, including three children, in separate attacks in Iraq's restive province of Diyala, police said Tuesday. In Baquba, the capital of Diyala, twin attacks targeting members of tribal police, known as the Awakening Councils, left three of them dead and eight people injured. The Awakening Councils are US-backed Sunni tribal police units formed to fight al-Qaeda militants in Iraq. In the first incident, gunmen attacked a centre of the Awakening Council in al-Abara village, south of Baquba, killing a council member and injuring another, security sources told...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 1/2/08 - Baghdad, Amariyah Volunteers, Baquba, Basra, Bayji, Chagmalai, South Waziristan, Diwaniya, Hadid, Kut, USS Harry S. Truman, Babur, Ghazni, Kabul, Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Dijlah, Babur BREAKING: Baquba - Terrorists taken out - Cache and terrorists taken BREAKING: Basra, Iraq - Weapons cache seized. 5 Terrorists taken. BREAKING: Bayji - Terrorists taken out BREAKING: Chagmalai, South Waziristan - Involvement denied BREAKING: Diwaniya - 126 terrorists and weapons cache taken in three-week operation BREAKING: Hadid - Cache and 12 terrorists taken. Bodies of 17 civilians murdered by terrorists recovered. BREAKING: Kut -...

Soldiers from Company B and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division negotiate their way through a wall during clearing operation Rock Reaper in Hadid, Iraq, just west of Baqubah. The Soldiers clearing the town had to negotiate their way though deep canals and over high walls to reach their objectives. Photo by Pfc. Kirby Rider, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. HADID -- A dim blue light pierced the darkness as someone yelled “one-minute out�, but the voice was drowned out by noise from the rotating blades...

When context is other people’s children As I write these words just a few miles from the graves I saw, the resulting controversy about whether what the man said was true, or whether his words should have been written if the writer couldn’t verify them, seems precious. There is no imaginary line of credulity that al Qaeda might cross should it go from beheading children to baking them. No unnamed Iraqi stringer claimed that al Qaeda had taken over Baqubah. Al Qaeda said this through the press. I sit writing these words in Diyala Province just a short drive from...

US troops fighting al-Qaeda militants in the Iraqi city of Baquba now control about 60% of the city's western side, their commander says. Brig Gen Mick Bednarek said a big challenge for his 10,000 soldiers was securing areas once they were clear. The situation inside the city, 60km (35 miles) north-east of Baghdad, could not be confirmed independently. Earlier, another US military official said al-Qaeda fighters were being "enveloped into a kill sack".

Thousands of US soldiers on the offensive north of Baghdad are up against fierce resistance from hundreds of Al Qaida militants ready to fight to the death. The US has launched one of its biggest operations since the invasion of Iraq targeting Baquba. US military releases video of its operations against Al Qaida militants in and around the Iraqi city of Baquba.

I helicoptered today into Baquba, the centerpiece of the current U.S. offensive in Iraq, with Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno —and then drove via Stryker brigade into the center of the fight for a briefing. It was midday, and the sun was so hot that both sides in the battle seemed to be taking a siesta. Only a few small explosions could be heard in the distance; there was no small arms fire. Odierno—a supertanker of a man with a shaved head who looks like ancient turtle—met with a group of battalion commanders in the ruins of a medical center that...

<p>Your thought, picture, analysis, and corrections are appreciated by all FReepers.</p> <p>Will these pictures be on the MSM tonight, positively showing the Surge?</p>

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, June 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. military said it had launched a huge offensive against al Qaeda north of Baghdad on Tuesday involving 10,000 soldiers, one of the single biggest operations since the end of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The military said in a statement that 22 militants had been killed in the early hours of the offensive, which is taking place around the city of Baquba in Diyala province, an al Qaeda in Iraq stronghold. Attack helicopters and ground forces launched the offensive to "eliminate" al Qaeda in Iraq militants operating in Baquba and...

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Around 10,000 US and Iraqi troops launched a major air and ground assault on Al-Qaeda networks in and around the restive city of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, on Tuesday, the US military said. "Task Force Lightning commenced Operation Arrowhead Ripper today in a large-scale effort to eliminate Al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists operating in Baquba and its surrounding areas," the military said. "Approximately 10,000 soldiers, with a full complement of attack helicopters, close air support, Strykers and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, are taking part in Arrowhead Ripper, which is still in its opening stages."

BAQUBA, Iraq • Iraqi military forces have defeated what they called an attempt to create a breakaway Sunni religious territory in Iraq's eastern Diyala province, an army spokesman said yesterday. "We foiled an attempt to establish an emirate in Diyala," said Brigadier General Shakr Al Kaabi of the Iraqi Army's Fifth Division on the second day of a wide-ranging operation sweeping through the provincial seat of Baquba. He added that according to their intelligence, this "emirate" – a term which can mean an independent state under a religious leader – was to have been announced at the end of Ramadan....

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 7/22/06 - Beirut, Rmeileh, Nabatiyeh, Maarjyounat, Zrariyeh, Chebaa Farms, Haifa, Nahariya, Israel, Avivim, Shlomi, Zaura, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Baquba, Haditha, Kirkuk, Muqdadiyah, Sadr City, Basra, Iraq, Aurora, Colorado Israeli Response to Hamas and Hizb'allah terror using Iranian and Syrian technology BREAKING: Beirut - U.S. Navy sailors and Marines rescue American adults and children out of Lebanon BREAKING: Beirut - southern suburbs of Hizb'Allah pounded BREAKING: Rmeileh, Lebanon - destroyed bridge, attacked by Israeli warplane missiles BREAKING: Nabatiyeh - precision retaliation by Israeli warplanes BREAKING: Maarjyounat - precision retaliation against terror BREAKING: Zrariyeh -...

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. troops battled Shi'ite militiamen in a village northeast of Baghdad on Thursday, and witnesses and police said U.S. helicopters bombed orchards to flush out gunmen hiding in the palm groves. Iraqi security officials said Iranian fighters had been captured in the fighting, in which the commander of an Iraqi quick reaction force and two soldiers were shot dead by a sniper. They did not say how the Iranians had been identified. The U.S. military had no immediate comment. Police said the fighting was still going on at 6 p.m. (1400 GMT) in the...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military, in the spotlight over murder charges against its troops accused of killing Iraqis, said it had killed a "non-combatant" during a raid in which an al Qaeda militant was detained on Wednesday. A statement said U.S.-led forces killed the civilian near the violence-racked city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad, as troops were securing the house of the alleged militant. "While securing the initial target, Coalition forces noticed an individual acting suspiciously at a nearby house. They assessed him as an imminent threat, engaged and killed him. He was later determined...

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces detained a senior al-Qaida in Iraq network member and three suspected terrorists during coordinated raids southwest of Baqouba June 19. The terrorist is reportedly a senior al-Qaida cell leader throughout central Iraq , north of Baghdad . He's known to be involved in facilitating foreign terrorists throughout central Iraq , and is suspected of having ties to previous attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces. Coalition forces secured multiple buildings and detained the known terrorist plus three suspected terrorists without incident. Troops found an AK-47 with several magazines of ammunition and destroyed them all on site....

BAQUBA, Iraq -- Iraqi security forces battled insurgents around Baquba on Friday despite a curfew as rebels launched massive attacks on checkpoints to seize control of the restive city. Baquba police chief Ghassan Bawi said that 25 rebels were killed since Thursday in clashes between Iraqi security forces and insurgents, adding "gunmen carried out attacks on checkpoints today also". Another 43 insurgents were arrested, the military said. Baquba, a mixed Sunni-Shia city 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, has seen a surge in violence since December's national election as rebels exploited a protracted deadlock over the formation of Iraq's...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 3/25/06 - Samarra, Op. Swarmer , Kerbala, Abu Ghraib, al-Dor, Baquba, USS Gonzalez, USS Cape St. George, Taji, Nowruz, Istanbul, Tashkent, Tehran BREAKING: Samarra, Op. Swarmer - 11 caches and 104 terrorists taken BREAKING: Kerbala - terrorist attack Abu Ghraib - Real story: cache taken al-Dor - US-Iraqi patrols root out terrorists Baquba - Cache taken USS Gonzalez, USS Cape St. George - Weapons confiscated from terrorist pirates Taji - Nowruz celebrations Istanbul, Turkey - Nowruz celebrations Uzbek capital Tashkent - Nowruz celebrations Tehran - Nowruz celebrations QFN ==== YE OLDE QUAGMIRE-FREE...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 3/19/06 -Baquba, Operation Swarmer, Samarra, Kabul, Qala Bost Fort, Shahi Kot, Lashkar Gah, Kundalan, Sheberghan BREAKING: Baquba, Operation Swarmer, American and Iraqi military forces take terrorists and weapons BREAKING: Samarra, Operation Swarmer, American and Iraqi military forces take terrorists and weapons BREAKING: Kabul, cockfight Qala Bost Fort, Afghanistan, Shahi Kot Lashkar Gah - Education for all, freed by American Kabul - Afghan women on International Women's Day Kundalan, Sheberghan QFN ==== YE OLDE QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU WILL NEVER SEE IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA ========= Samarra, Iraq ========= Somewhere...

<p>BREAKING: Hibhib village, Iraqi soldiers arrested 20 terrorists.</p> <p>BREAKING: Forward Operating Base Remagen, with Operation Swarmer, American heroes in helicopters.</p> <p>BREAKING: Basra- Market of military equipment, helping terrorist murders Al Anbar province, weapons found Baquba - Iraqi soldiers take terrorists Basra - Brave Brits in security operation Beiji - Operation 'Cordon and Knock' Najaf - Mehdi Army protects terrorist Moqtada Sadr Ramadi - Operation 'Band of Brothers', American and Iraqi heroes after bombings killed 64 people Tikrit - U.S. Army and Iraqi heroes on a 'knock and search' mission Victory base complex - Iraqis at their "hand over ceremony"</p>

BAQUBA, Iraq, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire on a crowd of teenage boys playing soccer in the Iraqi town of Baquba on Sunday, killing two youngsters and wounding five in what a police official said was a sectarian attack. "This destruction was an attempt to spread sectarian tensions," said the official, who asked not to be named. The official said three gunmen in a car drove up to the area where the boys were gathered and opened fire. They were playing soccer in a mixed Shi'ite and Sunni neighbourhood in Baquba, he said. The attack came after the...

Iraq’s Baquba Maternity Hospital Now Delivers Hotel-turned-maternity-hospital, now delivers babies instead of room service. By Polli Barnes Keller Gulf Region North U.S. Army Corps of Engineers MOSUL, Iraq, Jan. 20, 2005 — Baquba Maternity hospital, a hotel-turned-maternity-hospital, now delivers babies instead of room service. The facility houses 229 beds and serves a local population of approximately 350,000. Workers completed the $700,000 transformation in Diyala Province on January 4, 2006. After the Iraqi government requested a change to the building’s function, a local construction company conducted the renovations. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provided quality assurance and over-watch...

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed about 30 people and wounded dozens during a Shi'ite Muslim funeral at Miqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad, on Wednesday, an Iraqi security official said. Mourners took cover in the cemetery, under fire from mortars and automatic weapons. Then a bomber wearing an explosive vest blew up among them, the official said. The death toll was provisional. If confirmed it would be the bloodiest attack since a largely peaceful election on December 15. The funeral was for a victim or victims of an assassination attempt on Tuesday on a...

At least 55 killed and 62 wounded in the attacks against two mosques in Iraq BAQUBA (Iraq) - At least 55 faithful was killed and 62 wounded Friday in attacks against two mosques Shiites perpetrated to the moment of the prayer of midday in a locality to the North-East of Baghdad, declared the chief of the regional council of Diyala, Ibhrahim Hassan Al-Bajellane. "At least 55 killed and 62 wounded were transferred in the hospitals from the locality of Khaneqin", frontier with Iran, located at 170 km in the North-East of Baghdad, added this local person in charge. He...

Baquba was symbol of everything going wrong in Iraq - and its neighborhood of Buhritz was a symbol for everything going wrong in Baquba. ...killing police when they found them and driving the rest into hiding. But today, US commanders are pointing to Baquba as a symbol of what might go right. Every polling place stayed open all day for the Oct. 15 referendum that approved Iraq's new constitution earlier this month. Violence was light, while voter turnout was high. "The Iraqi Army and the Iraqi police have really come along - they can handle most of what comes their...

Helicopter down. Developing...

Iraq: an Imam, encircled by forces of safety, killed by one of its grenades BAQUBA (Iraq) - an Imam of Baquba, in the North-East of Baghdad, whose mosque was encircled by Iraqi and American forces of safety, died in the explosion of its own grenade whereas it tried to be defended, affirmed an Iraqi military source with AFP. "A 14h30 (18h30 GMT), of the police force Iraqi and American soldiers excavated the district of Mafraq and they tried to penetrate in mosque Al-Aqsa of sheik Abdel Razzak", affirmed the General Adel Maoulane. According to him, the Imam sunnite left...

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Guerrillas attacked a U.S.-Iraqi base, a police station and a National Guard post in the town of Khalis north of Baghdad on Saturday but were driven back by U.S. and Iraqi forces, witnesses and the U.S. army said. In a statement, the American 1st Infantry Division said the insurgents attacked before dawn with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. Local police said three people were wounded among the Iraqi police and National Guard. They said some insurgents had been killed during the battle. The deputy governor of Diyala province said two of his bodyguards were killed and three...

Kirkuk - Security forces were on Tuesday focussing their hunt for Iraq's most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, on an area in north-central Iraq after receiving a tip-off, an Iraqi national guard officer said. "We received concrete information from very reliable sources that Zarqawi was transferred today (Tuesday) to Tuz Khormatu and is heading to Baquba," staff brigadier general Anwar Hamad Ameed, the national guard chief in the northern city of Kirkuk, told AFP. He gave no further details. Tuz Khormatu lies about 180km north of Baghdad. The US military believes Zarqawi, who has a $25m bounty on his head,...

US forces have launched air strikes and fought gun battles in the Iraqi town of Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, after rebels stormed police stations there. Two 500lb (225kg) bombs were dropped during the fighting and 20 insurgents were killed, the US military said. The clashes came as a major US assault against the Sunni city of Falluja entered its second week. The US military says it controls Falluja but some pockets of resistance remain, mainly in southern districts. Heavy air and artillery strikes hit insurgent positions on Monday, with war planes attacking an underground bunker and reinforced tunnels, the US...

Baquba - Forty-three unarmed Iraqi army recruits and the five drivers were found dead beside a remote road on Sunday after being killed while returning home from a training course. Iraqi national guard commander Ali al-Kaaki said: "We have found 48 bodies, including five civilians who were drivers. He added that the victims had all personal effects on them, but were missing their shoes. "This was an execution. We found the dead lying face down by the roadside with a single bullet wound to the head," said Kaaki, adding that the recruits were wearing civilian clothing and were unarmed. The...

BAQUBA, Iraq, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The U.S military said on Sunday it arrested the head of the Iraqi National Guard in the city of Baquba, only a week after appointing him, on suspicion of collaborating with insurgents. Lieutenant General Talib al-Lahibi headed the Iraqi National Guard in the violent Diyala province and commanded three battalions before being arrested on Thursday. "Lahibi was detained by Multi-National Forces Sept 23 for having associations with known insurgents," the U.S. military said in a statement. "Talib is currently in Multi-National Forces control." Lahibi had been appointed to his new post only a...

Iraq police arrest four in Baquba with alleged links to Al-Qaeda BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) - Four people with alleged links to suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi were arrested north of Baghdad together with a police officer, the provincial chief said accusing the group of carrying out attacks on police. The men were charged with involvement in a series of attacks on police stations in the town of Baquba in June that killed dozens, said General Walid Abdul Salam. He said a police officer with a rank of major was charged with providing intelligence and tip-offs to the four. Abdul...

SAMARRA, Iraq (AFP) - Seven Iraqis and a US soldier were killed in a fresh bout of violence around the rebel hotbed of Samarra, as a Filipino hostage headed home amid controversy over Manila's decision to quit Iraq to spare his life. The latest bloodshed erupted Wednesday as foreign ministers from countries neighbouring Iraq were meeting in Cairo to discuss the new government's demands for help in restoring security on the borders of the ravaged nation. Fierce fighting flared overnight between US soldiers and insurgents in Samarra, a restive town north of Baghdad that has been the scene of frequent...

BAQUBA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iraqis demonstrated Sunday in support of ousted President Saddam Hussein in the town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, witnesses said. Masked gunmen led the protesters marching through the mixed Sunni-Shi'ite town chanting against Iraq's new Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. They shouted: "We sacrifice our souls and blood for you, Saddam" and "No, no to Allawi." The demonstrators brandished portraits of Saddam and condemned moves by Allawi's interim government to put the deposed dictator on trial for crimes against his people. "Saddam will remain the symbol of Iraq and the Arab nation," one banner read. "We...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Insurgents launched a series of attacks on police stations across Iraq's "Sunni triangle" Thursday, killing at least 18 people and wounding 13, officials said. The attacks began at dawn in the western Iraqi cities of Ramadi and Baquba. Explosions also rocked the eastern side of the restive city of Sunni-Muslim city of Fallujah, witnesses said. The cities are part of the so-called Sunni triangle, which has been the site of frequent clashes between U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces battling insurgents. Authorities have warned that attacks on security forces would increase in the days leading to the...

A blast near a U.S. patrol north of Baghdad on Thursday killed an Iraqi civilian and caused American casualties, a police source said. According to Reuters, another Iraqi civilian was injured in the explosion in the city of Baquba, some 65 kilometers north of Baghdad, the source said. Earlier, the US announced it plans to send tanks and other armoured vehicles to Iraq. It followed the bloodiest month for American occupation forces since Saddam Hussein was toppled. More than 115 American troops were killed in April. (Albawaba.com)

BAQUBA (Reuters) - Fighting erupted in the mixed Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim town of Baquba on Friday, with guerrillas clashing with U.S. troops and targeting buildings, witnesses said. They said smoke was rising from the governorate building housing U.S. forces and from buildings surrounding the police station. The sound of explosions was also heard near the main U.S. base in the town, 40 miles north of Baghdad. The fighting erupted after supporters of radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and sympathizers with Sunni insurgents in Iraq took to the streets to demonstrate after Friday's prayers

A CAR bomb designed to catch a passing British Army patrol exploded in Basra yesterday, killing the driver and four Iraqi civilians and wounding 15 passers-by, while gunmen shot dead three Iraqi journalists and wounded nine employees of a coalition-funded television station in Baquba, north-east of Baghdad. There were no British casualties in the southern city, where police said another man was stabbed and beaten to death by a mob who watched him abandon the vehicle moments before it detonated.

Just breaking now...

Explosion hits Iraqi security patrol north of Baghdad, witnesses say fear many casualties (Reuters)

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. forces arrested a former top officer in Saddam Hussein's once-feared security services suspected of directing anti-American attacks north of Baghdad, U.S. officers said on Monday. The man, a major-general in the former intelligence department, was detained during overnight searches in the town of Baquba, 40 miles north of the capital, they said. Dozens of people were arrested in similar raids on towns in mainly Sunni Muslim central Iraq, the scene of the fiercest armed resistance to U.S. occupation and where Saddam still enjoys wide support. Hundreds of Iraqis suspected of ties to the insurgents have...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi policeman was killed in a bomb blast near Baghdad and gunmen attacked a U.S. Army patrol in the northern city of Mosul Monday, the latest attacks on Iraq's occupiers and those seen as collaborating with them. The policeman, a bomb disposal expert, was killed when a tank round planted on a busy street in the city of Baquba, 40 miles north of Baghdad, was detonated by remote control, a U.S. military commander in the city said. Iraqi police and others seen to be working or cooperating with U.S. and allied authorities are increasingly the target...

Time is GMT + 8 hours Posted: 22 November 2003 2217 hrs Iraq suicide bombers kill at least 18; first missile hit on plane KHAN BANI SAAD, Iraq : At least 18 people were killed in twin suicide attacks on Iraqi police stations, as a civilian cargo aircraft made an emergency landing after the first successful missile strike on a plane in the seven-month-old insurgency. The scale of the carnage from the almost simultaneous car bombings against the two police stations north of Baghdad overwhelmed local hospital staff. Police were forced to fire in the air to disperse anguished residents...

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops hit insurgents on Monday night with air, artillery and mortar bombs around the town of Baquba in central Iraq (news - web sites). "They attacked us during Ramadan when we were willing to give them a chance, so this is our response," said ground commander Lieutenant Colonel Mark Young. "This is the biggest operation we've had in the Baquba area in terms of tonnage and volume (of ordnance)," he said. Young said two U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb earlier on Monday, highlighting the trouble U.S. occupying forces face in the Baquba...

Thu October 23, 2003 12:25 PM ET BAGHDAD (Reuters) - One U.S. soldier was killed and two wounded on Thursday when their convoy was hit by an explosion near Baquba, north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. U.S. Central Command said the soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division had been hit by an improvised explosive device in the latest in a series of attacks on U.S. occupying forces.

BAGHDAD, Sept 26 (Reuters) - A mortar attack on a market in the restive town of Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, killed eight Iraqis, the U.S. military said on Friday. A U.S. Army spokesman said it was not known who mounted the attack on Thursday evening. Baquba lies in the "Sunni triangle" region, a focal point for attacks on U.S. forces and support for ousted leader Saddam Hussein. The spokesman said no U.S. soldiers were hurt in the attack. Since May 1, 79 U.S. soldiers have been killed in guerrilla attacks in Iraq. The mortar bombing was the latest in...