Fox News Reports One USCG serviceman among the KIA in Al Basra Oil Terminal attack

FoxNews Channel

[OneLoyalAmerican]

FoxNews reporting that a USCG member was among the KIA in Al Basra Oil Terminal attack.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Prayers for my Coastie bretheran's family.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

ping

[Semper Paratus]

Damn!

[First_Salute]

God Bless

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Acording to DEBKAfile:

To cap the grim day, three al Qaeda-style seaborne bombs driven by suicide killers attempted to destroy Iraq’s main revenue lifeline, Basra’s offshore oil terminals that have been handling up to 21.6 million barrels a day. Two US sailors were killed and five injured intercepting one of the three lethal speedboats. Two more blew up near the oil rig 7 miles out to sea where two tankers were moored. This was a strategic attack in the direst sense.

DEBKAfile’s Gulf sources report that in recent weeks, gunrunners and smugglers have carved out dozens of illegal anchorages on the Iraqi and Iranian banks of the Shatt al Arb that opens out into the Persian Gulf opposite Basra. Our terror experts detect clear al Qaeda fingerprints in the first bombing of Basra’s oil installations, launched no doubt from the Iranian bank, on the pattern of previous al Qaeda waterborne strikes against the USS Cole in October 2000 and the French tanker Limburg two years later in the Gulf of Aden.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Bump!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

May God Welcome him Home and Comfort his family and friends.



OneLoyalAmerican : Senior Chief, Damm!

[SandRat]

[E.G.C.]

Thoughts, prayers and codolences to this man's family.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

According to the BBC:

Two American sailors were killed and five were injured when they tried to board one of the intercepted boats. A third US sailor died of his wounds on Sunday.

It was the first maritime attack on Iraqi oil installations since the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, but onshore oil pipelines have been targeted repeatedly by saboteurs.

One official described the vessels as "suicide speedboats".

The US military says a team of investigators will try to establish the launching point of the attacks.

An eight-man coalition interception team was approaching one of the boats when it exploded, flipping the coalition boat and killing two crew members, said the US navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet.

[Soaring Feather]

Prayers of comfort for his family and friends.

[The Mayor]

Welcome Home

[LibKill]

Semper Paratus (Always Ready).

Hail and Farewell to an American Hero.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

From Commander, Joint Forces Maritime Component
Commander/Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs

MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- Two U.S. Navy Sailors from a coalition boarding team were killed and four other crew members wounded April 24 as a result of three concurrent waterborne attacks on oil terminals located in the northern Arabian Gulf.

At approximately 5 p.m. (local) coalition naval personnel observed an unidentified dhow approaching the Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal (KAAOT) in the northern Arabian Gulf. Standard Maritime Interception Operations (MIO) procedures required the crew to board the dhow for inspection.

As the seven-member boarding team approached the dhow in a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB), the dhow exploded, flipping the RHIB and throwing the crew into the water, killing two and wounding four.

All crew members were recovered by other coalition naval forces in the area, and evacuated to a military hospital in Kuwait.

All names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Approximately 20 minutes after the first dhow explosion, two unidentified small boats were observed approaching the Al Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT). ABOT security forces immediately took action to intercept. Prior to reaching the terminal, the boats exploded.

Initial reports indicate no damage to either terminal.

Coalition forces captured both oil terminals during the first phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom last year in the effort to prevent environmental sabotage of the terminals by Iraqi forces.

Coalition maritime forces are operating under the command of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

For related news, visit the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/ Commander, 5th Fleet Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/cusnc.

I just heard FOX state that 3rd person died today, a USCG

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Sad Ping

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank God for this hero and his loved ones!

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Third U.S. death in raid on oil terminals

A third U.S. service member died after attacks on Iraqi oil terminals in the gulf off Basra, the Navy said Sunday. The Coast Guardsman died of wounds he received in the Saturday night attack, in which two sailors also were killed.
The U.S. Navy said the service members died when they were dispatched to board a suspicious vessel -- a small boat known as a dhow -- that approached the Khawr Al Amaya oil terminal.
Lt. Cmdr. Lisa Brackenbury, a Navy spokeswoman in Bahrain, said the vessel blew up as the boarding party approached.

[XHogPilot]

Is this the first USCG combat death since 1960s?

[Arkinsaw]

I had a feeling that the Coast Guard was going to lose someone in this one. We so often forget that the Coast Guardsmen are in harms way also.

[Arkinsaw]

378 Foot High Endurance USCG Cutter escorting a freighter which is transporting USCG Patrol Boats which along with Coast Guard personnel will be operating in support of US Armed forces in the Iraq.