Don't mess with the best!
Posted on 01/28/2007 11:06:07 AM PST by cgk
Edited on 01/28/2007 11:44:41 AM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
| U.S., Iraqi forces kill 250 militants in Najaf Sun Jan 28, 2007 2:16 PM ET
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed 250 gunmen in a fierce battle involving U.S. tanks and helicopters on the outskirts of the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf on Sunday, a senior Iraqi police officer said. The day-long battle was continuing after nightfall, Colonel Ali Nomas told Reuters, as tens of thousands of pilgrims converged on the nearby city of Kerbala for the climax of the Ashura commemorations. A U.S. helicopter was shot down in the fighting, Iraq security sources said. The U.S. military declined comment. A Reuters reporter saw a helicopter come down trailing smoke. Shi'ite political sources said the gunmen appeared to be both Sunni Arabs and Shi'ites loyal to a cleric called Ahmed Hassani. In Baghdad, 13 people were killed in bombings in mainly Shi'ite areas, police said. Twin car bombs targeting ethnic Kurds killed 16 people as night fell in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, whose population is a volatile mix of Kurds, Turkmen and Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have converged on Iraq's other main Shi'ite holy city, Kerbala, for Ashura, marking the 7th century Battle of Kerbala, which helped consolidate the schism between Shi'ite and Sunni Islam. It ends on Monday. It is the first time the 10-day annual ritual has been held since violence erupted last February between Iraq's majority Shi'ites and once-dominant minority Sunnis. Tens of thousands have since been killed in tit-for-tat killings. The governor of Najaf province said Iraqi troops fought a day-long battle with up to 200 Sunni gunmen, including foreign fighters, holed up in orchards on the northern outskirts of the city, seat of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite clerics. Governor Asaad Abu Gilel told Reuters the authorities had uncovered a plot to kill some of the clerics on Monday, to coincide with the climax of Ashura. "There is a conspiracy to kill the clergy on the 10th day of Muharram," Najaf governor Abu Gilel said, referring to the day of the Muslim calendar on Monday. A Reuters reporter about 1.5 km (1 mile) from the fighting said he heard intense gunfire and saw U.S. helicopters rocket groves sheltering militants. He saw smoke trailing from one helicopter before it came down in the midst of the fighting. He was unable to see what had happened to the helicopter, but officers in Iraq's 8th Army Division and policemen said it had crashed and that the two crew members were dead. The U.S. military said it did not comment on operations still taking place. (Additional reporting by Aseel Kami, Sherko Raouf in Sulaimaniya) |
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Moslems hide in ambulances, hospitals, and mosques; or behind women, and children.
You left out schools and folks houses (before or after they kill some of them).
Translation on aisle 2.
Correction: edited out a copied phrase, my apologies.
Literal translation of the heading:
First of al Mahdis, first of the faithful; the promised al Yamani, Mr. Ahmad Hassan, guardian and messenger of Imam al Mahdi.
IOW, cleric al Hassan (al Yamani) gave himself all the above titles. Therefore, no other cleric, as in Sistani, Sadr, etc. is legit!
Half my family is in Afghanistan and Iraq....Dad is now in Spain, which isn't much safer.
President Bush thumbed our collective nose at the so-called World Court.
KEEP the gloves off, while encouraging the Iraqis to keep their gloves off too.
I take crystal for a thousand Alex. Thanks.
Power hungry, ruthless people. It's expected.
Don't mess with the best!
47 killed, dozens wounded in Iraq violence
(DPA)
28 January 2007
BAGHDAD - Ongoing violence in and around Baghdad claimed at least 47 more Iraqi lives on Sunday despite beefed-up security and police raids.
In Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north of Baghdad, a car bomb killed eight Iraqis and wounded 15 others in a district dominated by Shias and Kurds. The bomb was detonated in a busy car market.
Adel Abdel-Mohsen, adviser to the Minister of Industry, was shot down by armed militants in Yarmouk district, western Baghdad. His two daughters and three others were also killed.
Earlier, in the same area, an adviser for the Agriculture Ministry was also killed, reported the Al Iraqia state channel.
The official was accompanying four other Iraqis in a vehicle when they were shot at by armed militants. The official - whose name has not been disclosed - and his escorts died instantly.
Another Iraqi was killed, and seven more wounded, when an explosive device blew up inside a mini-bus in the east of the capital.
Near the Al Nedaa Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad, one person was killed and nine others were wounded when an explosive-laden car, parked on the roadside, blew up. The street was busy with labourers looking for day jobs.
Separately, eyewitnesses told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA that mortar shells had fallen on a school in western Baghdad killing five female students and wounding 20 others.
In Shia-dominated Sadr city in eastern Baghdad, a vehicle exploded, killing at least four people and wounding 32 others.
Meanwhile, armed clashes erupted between Iraqi security forces and ‘terrorist’ group Najaf, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad.
Najaf and neighbouring city Karbala, where more than 25,000 policemen and soldiers were deployed last Tuesday, are currently swarming with Muslim pilgrims who are celebrating the Shia Ashura festival.
In the Zarka area of Kufa, near Najaf, militants belonging to Jund Allah (Soldiers of God) and Iraqi policemen clashed. US military helicopters reportedly provided aid during the raid.
Najaf governor Assad Abu-Kalal told the press that at least 14 militants were killed so far and five Afghani militants were detained during the ongoing clashes.
The governor confirmed that US military helicopters provided cover for the security forces. However, he did not confirm reports of a US helicopter accident, saying only that ‘a foreign object’ had crashed into a nearby river.
The governor refused any further comments.
In Soueira, 45 kilometres south of Baghdad, armed clashes between joint Iraqi army and security forces from one side and militants from another were also reported.
The clashes occurred after the forces cordoned off the village and started house-by-house raids toeing terror suspects.
According to a credible police source, who chose to remain anonymous, at least three Iraqi servicemen were killed and four others wounded. A militant was also accidentally injured.
The village housing the Islamic militants also suffered ‘losses’ that were not fully assessed by the joint forces, according to the police source.
Earlier in the day, the joint Iraqi forces had asked for urgent assistance from the US military, ‘who carried out an air raid on the village,’ causing some damage in the process.
The day before, a police station in the same village was attacked by mortar shells. Reportedly, those responsible for the incident were among those targeted in Sunday’s raid.
Iraq continues to be engulfed by violence as Premiere Nuri Al Maliki continues to promote his new-found Iraq security plan in which forces around Baghdad are expected to be boosted, and better equipped.
On Sunday, a source close to Al Maliki said that the date for the Iraqi plan to take effect remained ‘unknown’ and would not be announced for security reasons.
Shia MP Hassan Al Sanid told Iraqi press that Al Maliki would ‘surprise the militants and the outlaws.’
In another development, the US-led coalition announced Sunday that their forces captured 21 terror suspects around Iraq, including a senior Al Qaeda member, ‘an improvised explosives devices cell leader and a foreign fighter facilitator.’
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/focusoniraq/2007/January/focusoniraq_January193.xml§ion=focusoniraq
Thanks
Indeed. Bloody stupid, but not unexpected.
From DemocraticUnderground.com...
"We have seen these body counts before, only to find out later that most, if not all, of the insurgents" were women and children. Americans' lack of concern about civilian casualties in Iraq is on a par with bin Laden's concern about civilian casualties on 9-11."
As always, Democrats can be counted on to 'support the troops'.
And in a later post on this same topic thread...
"This is the same bullshit they did during Nam, making people think that body counts were all that mattered to winning the war"
This is coming from the same group of people who religiously remind us, 24-7, of every single US casualty in Iraq. If anyone is guilty of a body count it is the Left.
Now THAT'S the type of dogma we've grown to know and...uh...know.
3rd Infantry: Known to iraqis as the "Broken Television" Division for the "test pattern" shoulder patch. HOOAH!
Have I got that?
That's what I figured. Thanks.
BTTT!
I could be wrong, but I don't think this has anything to do with the surge.
It is about time!!!!!
It's about time we started hammering these animals.
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