Free Republic

BALAD, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces seized a cache of rockets intended for terrorist attacks following a tip from local citizens in Hillah Oct. 26.The recovered weapons consisted of 27 Katyusha rockets and launch equipment, including two firing stations capable of firing 20 rounds each, two digital video devices and electrical firing devices.The cache was recovered by Iraqi Security Forces after local citizens discovered the weapons and contacted local law enforcement.Rockets from this same cache are believed to have been used by terrorists in recent attacks on Iraqi and Coalition Forces. According to intelligence reports, the strong cooperation between local...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. government's office in central Iraq came under mortar fire early Saturday, an attack that touched off a blaze in part of the complex, Iraqi police said. There was no immediate word on damage or casualties. ~ snip ~ The mortar attack was at least the second reported in recent weeks against the U.S. office in Hillah, which oversees government and diplomatic interests in the central Euphrates region, about 60 miles south of Baghdad. Nine of the 10 mortar bombs fired landed inside the complex, police Capt. Muthanna Khalid Ali said. He said U.S....

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, May 5, 2006) – Members of Hillah Special Weapons and Tactics team and a U.S. Special Forces Medic saved the life of a four-year-old Sunni boy during an operation south of Baghdad on April 29. The Hillah SWAT was operating in the Yusafiyah area south of Baghdad as part of a larger operation meant to capture suspect terrorists in the city of Hillah. During a sweep through one of the houses, U.S. Army Special Forces advisers accompanying Hillah SWAT team members noticed a boy who was lethargic and looked ill. Upon seeing the young boy,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2005 – Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari announced a security plan building on the progress his country has already made. Jafari spoke in Baghdad Aug 4 following visits to Iraqi security forces training facilities. The prime minister said through a translator that the security situation in the country is improving. Security forces are increasing in both quantity and quality, he said. "Today I was in Hillah, and I inspected new graduates, 750 newly graduated personnel," he said. "I witnessed their training and their performance, and I'm very content with this level. I am quite content with the...

Iraqi combat capability on the upswing by W. THOMAS SMITH JR. "It's going to be tougher than anything you've ever experienced," a U.S. Marine recruiter warns a young leatherneck hopeful. "You'll face down your fears, overcome terrifying obstacles, and at times function on little food and no sleep." Sounds severe, but everything is relative. Recruits hoping to earn the title, "Marine," expect training to be demanding. They also take for granted the enormous efforts made to ensure their safety during dangerous training, and – despite accidents and the occasional "bad seed" drill-instructor – no one has any malevolent designs on...

Attackers ambushed and killed two American contractors working for Blackwater Security Consulting south of the Iraqi capital, the US Embassy and security officials said today. Embassy spokesman Bob Callahan said the attack occurred yesterday on the main road to Hillah, south of Baghdad. He did not say exactly where. “I can confirm that two American employees of Blackwater Security were killed early yesterday afternoon on the road to Hillah when an IED exploded next to their vehicle, Callahan said. An IED is a military acronym for an improvised explosive devise, or homemade bomb used frequently by insurgents to attack...

HILLA (Iraq) - Thirty-two people were killed and 45 others wounded in the attack with the booby-trapped car made Monday with Hilla, according to the director of the hospital of the city located at 100 km in the south of Baghdad. "the number of killed reached 32 and that of casualties 45", declared with the AFP Doctor Mohammed Dia, director of the principal hospital of the city, chief town of the province of Babylon. "All the rooms of the hospital, even those of the service of cardiology, are full with casualties", it added, specifying that ten of the casualties...

Ten died in an attack with the booby-trapped car with Hilla HILLA (Iraq) - Ten people were killed and 15 others wounded in an attack with the booby-trapped car Monday morning in Hilla, chief town of the province of Babylon, to 100 km in the south of Baghdad, announced the police force. "Ten people were killed and fifteen others wounded when a booby-trapped car exploded in the medium of a crowd of civils servant gathered for medical examinations in a center of care close to the seat of the municipality", indicated the lieutenant of police force Kazem Maamouri.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An explosion rocked the center of the predominantly Shiite Muslim city of Hilla late Saturday, killing 17 people and injuring about 40, U.S. and Polish military authorities said. The blast occurred at about 8:45 p.m. near the former Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) mosque, said Polish Lt. Col. Robert Strzelecki. The city, 60 miles south of the capital, Baghdad, falls under the responsibility of Polish troops serving together with American forces in Iraq (news - web sites). "We know that it was a strong explosion," Strzelecki said. "We know that there are Iraqi civilians killed and...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Explosions that rocked the center of the predominantly Shiite Muslim city of Hillah (search) killed 40 people and injured 22, the military said Sunday. The blasts, which occurred at about 8:45 p.m. Saturday near the former Saddam Hussein mosque, may have been caused by a pair of car bombs, a military official said on condition of anonymity.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Fistfights broke out Friday around Najaf's most sacred shrine, a day after U.S. troops refused to intervene when gunmen loyal to a radical cleric ransacked an Iraqi police station there. Coalition forces came under fire in another Shiite city south of Baghdad. In the capital, a car bomb exploded on a highway in the Sayediya district as a U.S. patrol passed nearby. Two U.S. Humvees were slightly damaged but there was no U.S. confirmation of any casualties. The trouble in Najaf started Friday morning when hundreds of protesters marched toward the Imam Ali Shrine to express support...

Two Defense Department civilians and an Iraqi translator were killed in a March 9 attack in Hillah, Iraq, coalition officials said today. Senior Coalition Provisional Authority spokesman Dan Senor told reporters at a Baghdad news briefing that the FBI is leading an investigation of the incident. He said some details in wire reports of the attack are incorrect, but he declined to specify which ones. "The facts are still coming out," he said, "and we're going to wait on the investigation." He added the coalition will release the names of the dead when their families have been notified, and would...

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq  — At least 11 Iraqi civilians were killed Wednesday morning when a pair of homicide bombers  tried to attack a coalition base where international troops are based, a coalition spokeswoman said.</p> <p>The attack outside Camp Charlie in Hillah  also wounded 44 other Iraqis and 58 coalition troops, including Hungarians, Poles and an American. Polish Gen. Mieczyslaw Bieniek called it a "well coordinated terrorist attack."</p>

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two suicide bombers tried to drive explosives-laden trucks into a Polish-run base south of Baghdad, but coalition forces opened fire, triggering blasts that killed at least 11 Iraqi civilians and wounded dozens, including more than 30 coalition soldiers, officials said. More than 64 people were injured in the blasts, including at least 31 Iraqis, 12 Filipinos, 10 Poles, 10 Hungarians and an American, officials said. Polish Gen. Mieczyslaw Bieniek, commander of the 9,500-strong Polish military contingent, called it a "well coordinated terrorist attack."

Spain stands with the United States in the fight against terrorism, Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar told a joint session of Congress today. Spain has a brigade and a headquarters serving with the Multinational Division Central/South based in Hillah, Iraq. A number of Spanish soldiers have been killed or wounded in the country. Aznar, speaking through a translator, said Spain understands "that we have to face risks and shoulder commitments -- commitments that must be met." He said Spain wants to occupy a position in the first line in defense of democracy and the rule of law alongside friends and...

Units of Navy American took Tuesday a bridge on a channel in the south of the town of Al-Hillah (80 km in the south of Baghdad), afterwards of violent one combat carried out with the support of bombers B-52, indicated American officers on the spot. According to the director of the hospital of Al-Hillah, 33 civil, whose children, were killed and 310 others wounded in a bombardment américano-British Tuesday morning on the city. The troops of the First task force of Navy (1MEF) received a support of artillery and of two heavy bombers B-52 during the engagements, a journalist...