9 April 2005
BAGHDAD - Twenty-nine people were killed and scores wounded in attacks against Iraqi security forces and civilians on Saturday, the second anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
In the most deadly attack, a roadside bomb killed 15 Iraqi soldiers and wounded others on the main highway through Latifiyah, 40 kilometres south of Baghdad, a defense ministry official said.
The bomb exploded at 7:30 am as a convoy of Iraqi troops passed through the town, the official said. No other details were immediately available.
On the same road just outside Latifiyah, five civilians were gunned down by attackers, said Imad Al-Dulaimi, a doctor at a nearby hospital, adding that he had no further details.
The area around Latifiyah, populated by a mix of Sunnis and Shias, is called the “triangle of death” for its high rate of murders and kidnappings.
Also south of Baghdad, four drivers were killed and four wounded in an ambush on a 14-truck trade ministry convoy traveling between Kut and the capital, an interior ministry source said.
Truck drivers have been killed with increasing frequency in recent months as insurgents hit economic targets and the route from Kut, 175 kilometres southeast of the capital, has become a regular target for insurgents.
In Baghdad, a deputy to anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr was killed in the southern Dura district as he drove to an anti-US protest in the capital, a Sadr official said.
Assailants in another car opened fire on Sayed Fadel Al-Shoq, deputy director of Sadr’s office in the city of Karbala, killing him and wounding another Sadr deputy from the nearby city of Al-Hor, the Sadr official said.
Dura has been riven by sectarian strife. A US army officer in the district has described a low-level war in Dura between Sadr’s Mehdi Army militia and Sunni insurgents.
In the northern city of Mosul, a suicide car bomber in an Opel blew himself up, killing a police officer and a civilian and wounding 14 other people, including 11 policemen, medical sources and police told AFP.
Mosul transformed into an urban war zone in November when rebels executed Iraqi security officers and over-ran police stations.
In other violence, an Iraqi soldier and a civilian were killed in a roadside bombing in Mashaada, 30 kilometres north of Baghdad, said army Captain Assad Saddad.
Iraqi army and police killed one insurgent and arrested three suspected insurgents in a morning clash in Balad, 75 kilometres north of Baghdad, police said.
The corpses of an Iraqi contractor and a truck driver were found at 5 am in Dujail, north of the capital. Rebels in the Sunni Muslim heartland north of Baghdad have killed dozens of people suspected of working with the Americans and the new Iraqi government.
Meanwhile in the southern port of Basra, two civilians were wounded around 9:30 am in another roadside bomb targeting an Iraq police convoy in Basra, said Haider Abdul Mahdi, a police spokesman.
Sat Apr 9, 2005 01:54 PM ET
RAMADI, Iraq (Reuters) - Gunmen shot dead the newly appointed police chief in the Iraqi town of Haditha as he left a meeting with U.S. troops on Saturday, Iraqi police said.
They said Ziad al-Joghaithi had been appointed police chief in the town, in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad, earlier this month.
Blackanthem.com, TARMIYA, Iraq, April 9, 2005
An explosion sent shockwaves across the road as an improvised explosive device was detonated in the path of a patrol from 1st Battalion, 13th Armored Regiment, 3rd Brigade 1st Armored Division, shortly before 8 a.m. April 7.
No U.S. troops were injured in the attack.
A white vehicle raced away from the scene of the attack, attracting the attention of Apache helicopters which were dispatched as close air support. U.S. forces tracked the vehicle until Soldiers from 1-13 Armor stopped and searched the car 12 minutes after the detonation.
The Soldiers detained three Iraqi males and found a video camcorder as well as a remote detonating device.
The video contained footage of the alleged terrorists manufacturing an IED and scouting locations to attack U.S. convoys.
“This is a unit patrol…over there is a bomb,” said one of the men on the tape. “By the help of God, we will execute them.”
The video shows the suspects watching U.S. convoys and planting the IED.
“There is a hummer over there,” one man said. “The one before the last one, no, no, no.”
Then the tape went blank, presumably when the IED was detonated.
Task Force Baghdad officials say this type of apprehension is significant because a complete IED team has been taken out of action.
“It’s rare that you get evidence this good,” said Maj. Andy Boston. “Usually, you have to work a lot harder to catch the ‘trigger man.’”
The terror suspects were detained and now await legal review and incarceration if convicted.
The road leading to Tarmiya is historically a hotbed of IED activity, however, local leadership is working with U.S. forces to encourage stability in the region.
“The Tarmiya Sheik Council is working with us to stabilize and promote growth and political participation in their region,” said Boston.
This type of cooperation allows the Sunni tribal leaders in this area to participate in the process of increasing security in Iraq.
Another example of international cooperation came April 7 when two local Tarmiya sheiks worked in conjunction with coalition forces to have rendered into their control Arkan Mukhlif al-Batawi’s sister and mother who were detained for questioning as terror suspects April 2 during a cordon and search of their house in the Taji area.
The sheiks offered to take responsibility for the women so they would not be required to remain in coalition custody.
The women described the U.S. forces as very polite. “The Soldiers treated us better than we would even expect a brother to treat us,” they said.
“We hope there is a new bond between our people and the coalition forces” said one of the Mushadani tribal leaders.
By Sgt. Kevin Bromley 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division PAO