At least 43 killed in Iraq as bombs shatter Baghdad calm 12 June 2005 0113 hrs
BAGHDAD : At least 43 people, including three US servicemen, were killed in 24 hours as a spate of bomb attacks shattered Baghdad's relative calm since US and Iraqi forces launched a sweep for insurgents three weeks ago.
In the deadliest attack Saturday, police said 11 Iraqi construction workers were killed when gunmen attacked their minibus in an area south of Baghdad dubbed the Triangle of Death for its insurgent violence.
Another 10 people died when a blast tore through Baghdad's mainly Shiite Shula district late Friday, shortly before a night-time curfew came into effect. An eight-months pregnant woman, her unborn child and husband were among the dead.
Coalition troop losses continued to mount, with one US soldier killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad Saturday and two marines dead in a similar attack west of the capital Friday, the US military said.
The deaths brought to 12 the number of US servicemen killed in Iraq since Tuesday and to 1,684 the overall toll since the March 2003 invasion, according to AFP tallies based on Pentagon figures.
In the second blast to strike Baghdad on Saturday, three members of an elite Iraqi commando unit known as the Wolf Brigade were killed when a suicide bomber disguised as a commando walked into their barracks.
Interior Minister Baqer Jabr Solagh told journalists that eight people had been detained in connection with the Shula blast.
He said the commando strike had been carried out by a former brigade member and that the force's chief Major General Mohammed al-Quraishi was the target.
"The terrorists will try to penetrate the security cordon that we have erected around Baghdad and they succeeded in doing that in Shula," he said.
The commando unit had come to the capital as part of Operation Lightning, a major offensive launched amid fanfare in May reportedly involving 40,000 Iraqis forces.
A patriotic song regularly broadcast on Iraqi television says that members of the feared Wolf Brigade "disarm bombs with their teeth".
In the third attack, four Iraqis were wounded when a suicide bomber blew up an empty fuel tanker near the Slovak embassy in the capital's central Jadriyah neighbourhood, an interior ministry official said.
The embassy could not be reached for comment.
Solagh said 1,380 "terrorists" and 219 "suspected terrorists" had been detained in Operation Lightningt, including 11 non-Iraqi Arabs, and that 27 car bombs had been defused.
Another 36 "terrorists" had been killed, along with 37 civilians and four security personnel.
Asked how the "terrorists" had been identified, the minister said: "If we find in their possession hand grenades, certain tapes and medium-calibre weapons, then that tells us they are terrorists. Plus intelligence."
He said 73 of the "suspected terrorists" had since been released.
The minister praised the operation's success and promised it would soon be extended outside Baghdad, without saying when or where.
"Car bombs have gone down from 12 to 0.6 a day," he added.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari's Shiite-led government is eager to demonstrate that it is able to control the security situation and often points to mistakes committed under the US-installed interim government of Iyad Allawi which had a Sunni Arab as interior minister.
A US commander had warned of the likelihood of renewed violence but said it would not last long because of waning public support for the insurgents.
However he said the rebels would resort to more shootings as it became more difficult for them to get car bombs to their intended targets.
The same tactic was used in the attack in which 11 builders were killed.
"Eleven Iraqis were killed and three others wounded when men aboard two cars opened fire on a minibus taking construction workers from Jbala, 70 kilometres (45 miles) south of Baghdad, to the capital," said Captain Said al-Kraimi.
The bullet-riddled corpses of two brothers and a cousin were found on a main road in south Baghdad after they were lured from their homes by men in police uniforms the night before, an interior ministry official said.
Three police commandos were killed in a drive-by shooting, while a US patrol killed two insurgents after they also came under fire from a passing car.
And in the volatile area north of the capital eight people, including a Turkish truck driver, were killed, said Iraqi security sources.
One of the incidents involved the accidental killing by Iraqi forces of Sunni cleric and member of the Committee of Muslim Scholars Wissam al-Duri and his brother, said police captain Ahmed Shaker.
There was no immediate confirmation from the influential committee which has accused Shiite militia and elements within the security forces of hunting down its members.
- AFP /dt
Pilots Appear With Planes at National Air and Space Museum Annex
Saturday June 11, 2005 12:34pm
Dulles, Va. (AP) - Pilots are gathering outside the National Air and Space Museum's annex in northern Virginia to talk about their high-flying adventures in Iraq, Africa and other far-off places.
It's all part of the first "Become a Pilot" Family Day and Aviation Display.
More than two dozen aircraft surround the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center. Museum officials say the day offers visitors a rare chance to get an up-close look at aircraft still in use.
Inside the center, visitors can try hands-on activities such as a briefing on flight safety procedures.
Among the pilots expected to participate Saturday is Gus McLeod. He's the amateur aviator from Maryland who attempted to circumnavigate the globe over the North and South poles in a single-engine airplane.
He'll appear with the "Firefly" - a prototype aircraft made for last year's attempt.