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WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2006 – U.S. and Iraqi soldiers detained two suspected terrorists, killed four terrorists, and seized weapons in several different operations in Iraq today, U.S. military officials in Iraq reported. Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers from 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, detained two suspected terrorists and seized a collection of weapons during a cordon-and-search operation southeast of Baghdad at about 6:30 a.m. The two Iraqi suspects had fake IDs, a grenade, 100 7.62 mm rounds of ammunition, an SKS assault rifle, an AK-47 assault rifle, and terrorist propaganda DVDs in their house....

Animal Rights Group Claims Credit for Botched Arson Attempt- (07/31) The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) web site is claiming responsibility for a failed arson attempt in Los Angeles. On June 30, an incendiary device, intended for the home of a UCLA psychiatry professor, was placed at the wrong address. Fortunately, for the elderly homeowner the device did not detonate and no one was injured. ALF claims that the intended target of the explosive device was keeping monkeys to study "psychological, psychiatric and social problems such as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, substance abuse, criminality and violence." Arson investigators stated that had...

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2006 – Three Iraqi civilians were killed, and nine were injured yesterday when insurgents fired a mortar round at a residential area in Ubaydi, Iraq, U.S. military officials reported. The mortar round landed directly on a home. No coalition personnel were killed or injured in the attack. All nine injured Iraqi civilians were immediately medically evacuated to a nearby U.S. military medical facility. The wounded civilians’ exact condition is unknown, but four were listed as requiring “urgent surgical” medical care, officials said. Marine Corps officials said the attack was intended to strike a nearby coalition forces outpost....

BAGHDAD – Coalition forces killed one targeted terrorist and captured six others during a raid in Baghdad July 27. The targeted terrorists were reported to be associated with an al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist leader who was targeted and killed during a raid July 26. That individual was a known bomb maker and weapons dealer and had significant links to several high level al–Qaida in Iraq leaders. Upon assault, one of the suspected terrorists ignored demands to surrender and Coalition forces assessed him to be a threat to security forces as well as the other Iraqis in the house. The troops...

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2006 – Taliban extremists attacked the governor of Nagarhar, Afghanistan, today, killing eight civilians, and Afghan National Army soldiers killed at least four terrorists and detained six during a morning operation yesterday, U.S. military officials reported. Taliban extremists attacked Nagarhar Gov. Gul Agha Sherazi this morning, detonating a car bomb in a crowd of innocent civilians. Initial reports indicate 16 people were wounded and eight people were killed in the explosion. Sherazi was not injured in the attack. Three of the eight people killed were bodyguards for the governor. The attack occurred near the end of a...

WASHINGTON, July 27, 2006 – Coalition forces killed 10 insurgents in separate operations in Afghanistan July 25 and today, U.S. military officials in Afghanistan reported. Coalition forces killed three extremists today following a failed ambush on a civilian convoy in the Zhari district of Kandahar province. The extremists attacked from a compound as the convoy moved west on Highway 1 near the Zhari District Center at around 8:30 a.m. Intelligence sources confirmed the location of the enemy compound, and coalition forces killed three enemy fighters with artillery fire. "The coalition is working with our Afghan partners to drive Taliban extremists...

PETA asks prosecutor to study fish deaths BY MARIA BARAN News-Democrat EDWARDSVILLE - A national animal-rights organization petitioned the state's attorney Wednesday to criminally investigate the recent death of several fish after the draining of Leclaire Lake. Kristin DeJournett, cruelty caseworker for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said allowing the fish to suffocate from lack of water constitutes a violation of the Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act, which states, "No person or owner may beat, cruelly treat, torment, starve, overwork or otherwise abuse any animal." Madison County State's Attorney William Mudge was out of the office...

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2006 – In separate operations throughout Iraq this week, coalition forces killed seven terrorists and captured 10 suspected terrorists, military officials in Iraq reported. Coalition forces killed two suspected terrorists, two women and one child while conducting a raid northwest of Baqubah today. They also detained four suspects. Twenty-three people were injured in the assault, including several women and children. All of the injured received immediate medical treatment on site by a coalition medical expert, and those needing further treatment were taken to a nearby military facility. The raid was targeting terrorists associated with senior al Qaeda...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Dutch commandos killed 18 enemy fighters who set up positions in rugged hills overlooking a Dutch camp in southern Afghanistan, the country's military chief said Friday. There were no Dutch casualties during a 10-day mission. "If we had not done something then our soldiers could have come under fire and the construction of our camp could have been hindered," Gen. Dick Berlijn, commander of the Dutch armed forces, told reporters in The Hague. Berlijn said the Taliban fighters were massing on terrain on both sides of the Baluchi Valley, about 6 miles north of where Dutch...

SITKA -- About 20 workers at the Greens Creek mine watched this week as a juvenile brown bear was chased around buildings and vehicles at a work area before it was caught, killed and partially eaten by a slightly larger bear. A company official said the kill came after a 30-minute chase Tuesday afternoon through the heart of Greens Creek mining operations 20 miles south of Juneau on northern Admiralty Island. Bill Oelklaus, environmental manager for the Greens Creek Mining Co., said the bears made two passes through a work area adjacent to the underground mine before the larger bear...

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2006 – In several incidents July 16 and 17 and yesterday, Iraqi soldiers, police, and coalition forces killed two terrorists and detained 19, military officials reported. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, captured and detained a suspected terrorist at a checkpoint northwest of Baghdad at about 3 p.m. yesterday. The suspect was traveling with a woman and with four children under the age of 2 in a vehicle carrying multiple mortar systems, three 130 mm rounds and two directional charges. The Iraqi army detained the suspected terrorist. In a separate event, soldiers from...

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2006 – Iraqi forces captured an insurgent cell leader in Baghdad July 13 and killed another insurgent leader in northern Iraq July 14, military officials reported. The Iraqi forces captured an insurgent cell leader, planner and organizer in a southern Baghdad mosque compound during a security operation July 13. The Iraqi forces received small-arms fire almost immediately upon arrival at the mosque compound in the Al Rasheed district of Baghdad. Soon after arriving, they captured the insurgent leader, who is known for purchasing weapons and coordinating attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces, officials said. A coalition force...

WASHINGTON, July 17, 2006 – Coalition forces in Afghanistan had a long string of successes against terrorists during the last two days, military officials reported. They killed four suspected terrorists today, attacked the safe house of a known Taliban commander last night, thwarted a terrorist attack from a hospital yesterday, and confiscated a large weapons cache yesterday. Coalition forces killed four suspected al Qaeda terrorists, detained three suspected al Qaeda terrorists and destroyed a weapons cache during an early morning raid today in Kwost province near the village of Pelan Kheyl. The operation was to capture or kill an al...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2006 – U.S. and Iraqi soldiers killed several terrorists and found an enemy weapons cache during separate operations in Baghdad yesterday, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported. In other news, two U.S. soldiers died yesterday as a result of improvised explosive device attacks. One soldier, with the 49th Military Police Brigade, was killed near Sadr City in northeast Baghdad. The other soldier, assigned to Multinational Division, died in southern Baghdad. Both soldiers' names are being withheld until their families are notified. During operations yesterday, Iraqi army and Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers killed four terrorists, wounded two, and detained...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2006 – Assessments from Helmand Province, Afghanistan, do not conclude that non-combatants were killed as a result of operations against extremists on July 12, according to coalition officials. Extremists likely fabricated reports of civilian deaths as a propaganda ploy to discredit coalition forces and the government of Afghanistan, officials said today. "We take great care to prevent and minimize any damage to property or injury to law-abiding citizens," said Col. Tom Collins, a coalition spokesman for Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. "We will continue in our operations to defeat those who attempt to impose their will upon the...

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2006 – Two Afghan civilians were killed and one was injured July 15 in a drive-by shooting in Zambar in Khowst Province. "This was a senseless attack on Afghan civilians," said Col. Thomas Collins, spokesman for Combined Forces Command Afghanistan. "For extremists to dress like women and kill innocent civilians shows the lengths the extremists will go to to threaten the safety of the Afghan people. The coalition remains committed to putting an end to such senseless violence and those who would commit these atrocities." Three people disguised as women who were wearing burkas and driving in...

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2006 – Three bombs detonated just north of Baghdad's international zone today, killing a reported 15 Iraqi civilians and an Iraqi policeman, U.S. military officials said. Reports indicate two terrorists wearing suicide vests blew themselves up, and a makeshift bomb was detonated. Four local nationals also were wounded. Iraqi soldiers from 5th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and coalition forces responded to the scene. In other news from Iraq, soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division, captured an entire terrorist bomb-making cell during a series of raids in Mosul yesterday. Working on a tip...

WASHINGTON - If current trends hold, tobacco will kill a billion people this century, 10 times the toll it took in the 20th century, public health officials said Monday. Tobacco accounts for one in five cancer deaths, or 1.4 million deaths worldwide each year, according to two new reference guides that chart global tobacco use and cancer. Lung cancer remains the major cancer among the 10.9 million new cases of cancer diagnosed each year, according to the Cancer Atlas. Reducing tobacco use would have the greatest affect on global cancer rates, health officials said. Improving nutrition and reducing infection by...

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2006 – Several Iraqi civilians were killed and injured during two July 7 terrorist attacks, and multiple weapons caches were found last week, military officials in Iraq said. Terrorists fired four mortar rounds at an open field in the northern Baghdad district of Khadimiyah on July 7, killing four Iraqis and wounding 38 children. Iraqi children frequently use the field as a playground, officials said. Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, responded to the scene and assisted in the evacuation of the wounded and dead to a local hospital. In a separate incident,...

WASHINGTON, July 6, 2006 – Coalition forces killed 35 Taliban extremists at a compound in the village of Ghach Zar, Afghanistan, July 4 as part of Operation Mountain Thrust. No injuries to coalition forces or noncombatants were observed during the strike, military officials said. Several of the extremists killed were Taliban leaders who planned and conducted multiple attacks against Afghan government officials and coalition forces, officials said. Operation Mountain Thrust is part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt enemy forces, interdict safe havens, extend the reach of the Afghan government, and facilitate good governance, reconstruction and humanitarian assistance. (From a...