20 al-Qaeda terrorists killed, US claims

Herald Sun ^ | 8 December 2006

[Aussie Dasher]

FORCES from the US-led coalition in Iraq killed 20 alleged "al-Qaeda terrorists", including two women, in a ground assault and air strike on a target northwest of Baghdad today, the military said.

Troops raiding a cluster of buildings in the Thar Thar area, in Salaheddin province 80km north of Baghdad, came under attack from a machine gun and returned fire, killing two suspects, the statement said.

"Despite efforts to subdue the remaining armed terrorists, Coalition Forces continued to be threatened by enemy fire, causing forces to call in close air support... resulting in 18 more armed terrorists killed," it said.

"During a search of the objective, Coalition Forces found multiple weapons caches consisting of AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests," it said.

Photos showing weapons and explosives accompanied the release.

"Coalition forces also found that two of the terrorists killed were women. Al-Qaeda in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations, unfortunately," it added.

US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said that the women would have been confirmed as combatants in a "battle damage assessment" or inspection of the site following the incident.

[Aussie Dasher]

I LOVE a good news story!!!!

[Jemian]

Ping!

[coon2000]

US Claims.....what is the implication here?

[LibLieSlayer]

The implication is that we (America) lie. I imply that the author of the title can KMA!

LLS

[LibLieSlayer]

#3 was not posted to Aussie Dasher... sri it may have looked that way, but was aimed at the original author of the article.

LLS

[samtheman]

If this was from Al Jeezera it would be treated as fact. But when the US military releases the information it's greeted with automatic skepticism. The MSM is in full traitor mode such that the pro-enemy slant is built into every story, even one with good news for or about our troops. I hate them.

[Aussie Dasher]

This article was written by "correspondents in Baghdad".

BTW, I strongly share your view on this.

[OldYank1]

This article cannot possibly be true. Nancy Pelosi has told us there are no Al Qaeda in Iraq.

[Aussie Dasher]

If our forces keep this up, there won't be!!!! :-)

[PA-RIVER]

Maybe Nancy is correct.

This may have been the last stand for Al Qaeda in Iraq.
(Why fight and die as we telegraph our surrender?)

After the big win they had in the US congress, there packing up and getting tickets for a California Vacation.

We need to start a pool, pick what US city gets hit first.

[Aussie Dasher]

I'm tipping LA will be next.

[fortheDeclaration]

US Claims.....what is the implication here?

The reporter would rather have reported U.S. troops killed.

[PA-RIVER]

LA is a good bet, but they may not want to risk getting the Mexican government involved, opening another front, and alienating their elected representatives. They also need California in 2008.

My bet is New York. It has more dramatic appeal, and New Yorkers will support them even more after they get hit again.

[PA-RIVER]

I should say NY also has strategic appeal. If they can shut down Manhattan permanently they get the biggest bang for their buck.

A NY hit may also get Hildebeast elected, as she will blame Bush, and be on center stage for a year harping about inept Homeland Security.

Philadelphia is a rich target too. They could destroy the birthplace of democracy and freedom.

[TexKat]

Got some! Get some!-----more

Iraqi residents check rubble after a U.S. air strike destroyed two house in Iraqi town of Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, December 8, 2006. Iraqi and U.S. officials gave sharply differing accounts of an overnight raid and air strike on Friday in which up to 20 people were killed, with a town mayor accusing American troops of killing five children. REUTERS/Nuhad Hussin (IRAQ)

Iraqi residents walk through the rubble after a U.S. air strike destroyed two house in the Iraqi town of Ishaqi, 90 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, December 8, 2006. Iraqi and U.S. officials gave sharply differing accounts of an overnight raid and air strike on Friday in which up to20 people were killed, with a town mayor accusing American troops of killing five children. REUTERS/Nuhad Hussin (IRAQ)

[TexKat]

Coalition raids Iraq areas, killing 20

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led coalition forces killed 20 insurgents, including two women, Friday in fighting and airstrikes that targeted al-Qaida in Iraq militants northwest of Baghdad, the military said. The mayor of the area said 19 civilians were killed, including seven women and eight children.

During the coalition raid near Lake Tharthar in Salahuddin province northwest of Baghdad on Friday, ground forces were searching buildings when they were attacked. They returned fire, killing two insurgents, the U.S. military said.

Under continuing fire, the troops called in air support, killing 18 insurgents, including two women, the command said in a brief statement. The military declined to specify which branch of the coalition was involved, but the U.S. provides the bulk of the air support in most of the country.

"Al-Qaida in Iraq has both men and women supporting and facilitating their operations unfortunately," it said.

Searching the area, the coalition forces found and destroyed several weapons caches, including AK-47s, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, anti-personnel mines, explosives, blasting caps and suicide vests, the command said.

The raid was conducted in an area where intelligence reports had indicated that "associates with links to multiple al-Qaida in Iraq networks were operating," U.S. command said.

Amir Fayadh, the mayor of the al-Ishaqi area, east of the lake, and local police said 19 civilians were killed during airstrikes on two houses, and Fayadh said the dead included seven women and eight children.

In Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed an American soldier Thursday during a joint patrol with the Iraqi army, the U.S. command said. The death raised to 33 the number of U.S. forces killed so far in December.

In the south, more than 800 British forces and 200 Danish troops fought Iraqis during a pre-dawn raid in the Hartha area on the outskirts of Basra, coalition officials said.

British Maj. Charlie Burbridge, the spokesman for the coalition in southern Iraq, said five Iraqis were detained and described them as members of "a rogue, breakaway element" of one of the many Shiite militias in the area. He said the suspects were directly involved in several local attacks.

Burbridge called it the largest search and detention operation that coalition forces have conducted in southern Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

The Danish soldiers arrived from the north, and British ones with armored vehicles arriving from the south, Burbridge said. Other British forces reached the area on boats traveling to the junction of the Garmat Ali River and the Shatt al-Arab waterway in an operation that was supported by helicopters and jets, he said.

Two large mosques were near one of the houses that was searched, but the raid ended long before residents began to travel to them on Friday, the day of worship in mostly Muslim Iraq, said Capt. Tane Dunlop, another spokesman for multinational forces in Basra, the city in southern Iraq where most British forces are based.

The arms cache found in one of the houses raided included Katyusha rockets, roadside bombs, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Dunlop said.

The Danish forces are based in Shaiba, a military base south of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Dunlop said.

On Thursday, a series of bombings and shootings killed at least 23 people in Iraq, including a 7-year-old girl and two college professors, police said. Iraqi police also found 35 bullet-riddled bodies that had been bound and blindfolded and left in different parts of the capital.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061208/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_violence

[Jazzman1]

the MOST DESERVING ,if you can phrase it that way, would be San Francisco. We can only hope san fran nan is there and it hits her FIRST! lol

[Towed_Jumper]

"Philadelphia is a rich target too. They could destroy the birthplace of democracy and freedom."

I'm not trying to be contentious but I believe ancient Athens was the birthplace of democracy. Nevertheless, I understand your context...Philadelphia being the birthplace of American liberty. However, just as modern Athens doesn't have much in common with ancient Athens I would suggest (from what I've seen of Philadelphia), that the same would hold true about that city as well. From what I could tell when last there, Philadelphia has more in common with Mogidishu...a place run by lawless thugs riding heard over a third world population.

[Thrownatbirth]

US Claims.....what is the implication here?

The military is covering-up another slaughter of innocent Iraqis.

[roses of sharon]

US Military information = Propaganda.

al-Qaeda terrorists information = Facts on the ground.