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Iraq

Iraq police seize 200 explosive belts on Syrian border

2007-07-11

Iraqi security forces seized 200 explosive belts Wednesday along the Syrian border, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said. The belts were found during a search of a truck that had crossed into Iraq from Syria at the Waleed border station. Khalaf said the driver was detained but he would not give his name or nationality.

U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner told reporters that 60 to 80 foreign fighters enter Iraq "in any given month" 70 percent of them through Syria. He said up to 90 percent of the suicide attacks in Iraq were carried out by "foreign-born al-Qaida terrorists." He cited the July 1 suicide attack that collapsed part of a major bridge across the Euphrates River north of Ramadi. A second bomber was supposed to have attacked the bridge but backed out and was captured, Bergner said.

The surviving attacker told interrogators he had been recruited by al-Qaida in his home country, flown to Syria and smuggled across the border to Ramadi, where he stayed for about 10 days before the attack. Bergner would not give the would-be attacker's nationality, but other military officials said he was a Saudi. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

A number of private security analysts have questioned the U.S. military's emphasis on al-Qaida in Iraq, but Bergner insisted that al-Qaida in Iraq and its allies were the main focus because they were the "main accelerant in sectarian violence and the greatest source of these spectacular" suicide attacks "that are killing Iraqis in such large numbers."

U.S. officials say that violence in Anbar province, long the focal point of the Sunni insurgency, dropped by 50 percent after local Sunni tribes joined U.S. and Iraqi forces in fighting al-Qaida last year. That has led to a series of reprisal attacks by al-Qaida against Sunnis in Anbar and elsewhere who have abandoned the insurgency. On Wednesday, insurgents drove to a house in the Anbar town of Karmah, locked the occupants inside, and blew up the house, Iraqi police and U.S. military officials said. Eleven people were killed. The house was owned by a member of the Provincial Security Forces organized to protect towns and villages against extremists, the U.S. military said.
Iraqis betting their lives, their fortunes, and their entire families -- never mind their sacred honour -- that we will stand with them.

Posted by:trailing wife

#17 Well, if you're going to screw up, you might as well go for the record, I say.

As far as the belts are concerned, can't they just be returned to the senders? Maybe the truck with the belts can be delivered from 20,000 feet to the Presidential Palace in Damascus, just to let them know we care. Anything else would be a waste of good explosives.

Posted by: Snorong Bonaparte3451 2007-07-11 23:02

#16 Forgive my obvious oversight. A TEN point repost. My Boggle crashed amidst such bombardment.

Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-11 22:52

#15 A nine point repeat post. I do believe that this sets a heretofore unprecedented all time Rantburg Record.

Posted by: Zenster 2007-07-11 22:49

#14 It's true I wanted to emphasize a point, but I think what showed more was my inexperience with the Internet control settings. Sorry for the waste of good bandwidth, but I have it fixed now. Now we return you back to the ass-kicking channel.

Posted by: Snorong Bonaparte3451 2007-07-11 22:46

#13 You sure about that, SB? ;-p

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-07-11 22:37

#12 Well you've certainly made your point.

Posted by: jds 2007-07-11 22:34

#11 The main problem is that there are way too many candidates well deserving of an ass-kicking, and not enough determined and dedicated ass-kickers available.

Posted by: Snorong Bonaparte3451 2007-07-11 22:30

#10 The main problem is that there are way too many candidates well deserving of an ass-kicking, and not enough determined and dedicated ass-kickers available.