KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - A roadside bomb killed a Canadian soldier Saturday as he rode inside a Nyala armoured truck, a blast-resistant monster hailed by soldiers and brass alike as the ultimate protection against such attacks.
Trooper Mark Andrew Wilson, of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, based in Petawawa, Ont., was the 40th to die in Afghanistan since 2002, matching the number of British soldiers killed in the country since the Taliban were overthrown. Only the United States has suffered more deaths, with 341.
Posted by: john ||
10/08/2006 08:58 ||
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#1
Wrong john. One of these days I will get around to changing my nym.
Posted by: john ||
10/08/2006 9:02 Comments ||
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#2
You could go with johnh. Or John. Or India John (for your expertise on the subject), or... When there got to be so many steves that they formed an army, one became SteveS, one went to SuperHose, and one found it necessary to highlight his words in what he now admits is salmon-pink. ;-)
A quad bike bounces across battle-ravaged desert, the remains of three dead British soldiers lashed to its back, while a Chinook buzzes overhead.
Exhausted squaddies exchange desultory small-arms fire with an invisible enemy. An infantry unit nervously patrols a burning village.
These are the images that reveal the gritty, deadly reality of the British engagement in Afghanistan. And they have been released to the world by the angry and beleaguered troops themselves.
The pictures were captured on digital cameras over recent months by infantrymen belonging to the Battlegroup of the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment. For the most part, they have been sent back to Britain by e-mail, sidestepping the Government's attempts to keep the true nature of the conflict away from the public gaze.
This is a deployment that Ministers, safe in their plush Whitehall offices, have characterised as a peacekeeping mission. John Reid, now Home Secretary, notoriously predicted that the British would serve their tour of duty without a shot being fired. Visits to troops by news teams have been discouraged or stage-managed.
But these unique pictures, backed up by commentary in the e-mails, tell the truth - of savage and bloodthirsty firefights, of unremitting skirmishes with the Taliban and of shortages of ammunition and even rations.
Posted by: john ||
10/08/2006 08:11 ||
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#1
I had actually read this one on antiwar/"anti-NWO" websites, but didn't want to post it because it felt too negative (call it self-censorship, I guess).
One of the Afghan survivors said the French had been tied up then gutted alive by the Taliban. It was one of the most shocking things I had ever heard."
This bit was in fact circulated by various french "islamophobic" websites, to notice the stunning silence of the french msm about this atrocity and war crime against french soldiers. There's a lack of recognition of the french involvement in Afghanistan which is quite surprizing, except for the occasional and predictable hit piece about the Quagmire. And, yet, Afghanistan is supposed to be the "good" US war.
#2
These reports are worrying.
Combat is gritty.. something the censors in previous wars understood.. and the reality of combat will destroy morale at home.
These media reports will create a buildup of public pressure to bring the troops home, giving victory to the jihadists.
Posted by: john ||
10/08/2006 8:49 Comments ||
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#3
Combat is gritty.. something the censors in previous wars understood.. and the reality of combat will destroy morale at home.
#4
The US military really has made a major jump in censoring graphic war imagery, based on a single consideration: there is absolutely, positively, no way of showing such photography that puts the US military and its personnel in a good light.
In other words, no matter who shoots the picture, it becomes enemy propaganda.
Civilians back home don't and can't understand it. They have no context. But universally they are repelled by it, and the only direction that repulsion can take is against the US military.
As an example, a picture of three dead men. Even if it is labeled "Three heavily armed terrorists killed while attacking an elementary school full of children", the response by civilians who see it will be inappropriate.
"Why did you have to kill them? Couldn't you have arrested them instead?"
"What was the US military doing that made the insurgents attack that elementary school?"
"The military shouldn't fire weapons like it did on school grounds. It could have hurt the children."
"It would have been better to talk to the fighters before they had attacked. Maybe they could have been bargained with."
Again, just utter inanity, and all based on a single photograph. And singularly, ALL resulting in (self-)criticism of the US military. Never, ever, criticism or revulsion against the enemy.
#5
So will the new movie by Clint Eastwood - Flags of Our Fathers - have a positive impact, or a negative one?
I've read the book, and it's touching. I saw courage and honor and self-sacrifice in it; you could just as easily find futility and horror, and miss all the other positive emotions.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/08/2006 9:20 Comments ||
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#6
I gotta hand it to the Brits and the Canucks. They're really taking it to the enemy. On the strength of these reports, I would say that the ABCA (America, Britain, Canada and Australia) nations are not only tied by blood and history, they continue to be bound together by deeds on the battlefield.
#7
The US military really has made a major jump in censoring graphic war imagery, based on a single consideration: there is absolutely, positively, no way of showing such photography that puts the US military and its personnel in a good light.
Interesting point.
Other militaries are only beginning to catch up on this. The Indian army commander JJ Singh has ordered that trophy photos of dead terrorists with troops be stopped.
They still have difficulty with the new media. This was seen in the Kargil war, called the first Indian media war, where nonstop cable coverage, complete with funerals of the dead threatened to create a public pressure to halt the war. There were reports from Gurka areas in Nepal and India, questioning the policy of recruitment.
Some Indian officers have written worryingly about this problem, where the media will exert so much political pressure that the army's ability to take casualties, something the IA has traditionally had, will be severely eroded.
Posted by: john ||
10/08/2006 9:45 Comments ||
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When you are fighting with an enemy that seems to glofify death, with matryrs celebrated without the details of the suffering they underwent - no coverage of talibs crapping themselves, crying for their mothers as they die slowly, but with your casualties paraded in the media, you're setting up the conditions for withdrawal .. something the iSI is banking on.
Posted by: john ||
10/08/2006 9:50 Comments ||
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#9
One said: "You see the Taliban cutting around on dirt bikes, their weapons in one hand, their kids in the other. They think we will not shoot them. There have been some terrible incidents. It is horrible to kill a kid, nothing could prepare you for it."
If you return fire on someone who has purposefully carried a child into combat, the death of the child is not your fault. The fault lies with the animal who brought the child in the first place.
If this practice isn't reported, it's because someone doesn't want to reveal who and what we're fighting. Probably because it's "unsophisticated" to "dehumanize" the enemy.
But can you dehumanize someone who has abandoned humanity?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
10/08/2006 10:06 Comments ||
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One worrisome thing in the troops' comments is the lack of supplies. That shouldn't be happening; makes me wonder how good the non-US supply train is.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2006 10:40 Comments ||
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In an interview on British Armed Forces Radio yesterday, the Prime Minister said: "If commanders on the ground want more equipment armoured vehicles for example, more helicopters that will be provided. Whatever package they want, we will do." And in an article for The Sun, Mr Blair went further, stating: "[British forces] will get, I promise, whatever front-line commanders tell us they need to complete their job." But defence sources said that what commanders needed most desperately was more troops on the ground something Mr Blair notably failed to mention.
Lip service from a Government which has repeatedly cut the armed services and spent tens of times more than it's saved on pointless new civil servants and pursuing the cultural apartheid of multiculturalism. A Government which, in a cost-cutting exercise of mind-blowing stupidity, shaved £2m, IIRC, from the £90m gun-budget for the Eurofighter Typhoon, installing a gun which deliberately would never function. Which pisses ever more money up the wall of a failing NHS.
If things deteriorate in British areas of Afghanistan (and Iraq) it will be entirely the Government's fault for demanding the the dwindling British Army works miracles on a shoestring whilst it wastes countless billions of taxpayers' money on its political crusades back home.
#13
One worrisome thing in the troops' comments is the lack of supplies.
From the little I understand, all european armies (western ones, at least) are underfunded, especially when it comes to supplies, and are basically scrounging as they go, just to keep on functioning. And keep in mind that the british and the french armies are the most funded in Western Europe.
#14
a5089, I think the French authorities are keeping their contribution out of the limelight because A)any involvement against Muslims will be cause for another carbeque at home, B)they've taught the peepul to view as evil anything that the Americans do, "good war" or not, C)they've taught the peepul to view warfare as always bad, except perhaps when it involves former colonies. Better to keep it all under the radar, even the heroics and the evil done by the enemy. But your men do have our appreciation, no matter how some may trash talk.
#15
From the little I understand, all european armies (western ones, at least) are underfunded, especially when it comes to supplies, and are basically scrounging as they go, just to keep on functioning. And keep in mind that the british and the french armies are the most funded in Western Europe.
And yet since WW2 these same European worthies have mocked the US for crushing our enemies in an avalanche of logistics.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/08/2006 12:22 Comments ||
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I have it on good authority -- from the defense minister of Belgium no less!! -- that the US military is unprofessional and ineffective.
There's not much one can say when confronted with that damning indictment ....
#17
Brits and Canadians along with French troops will continue to hammer the Taliban and Al-Qaeda into the dirt. The problem here is the fecklessness of these soldiers' respective civilian leaders and populations.
They are anti-military, anti-western, brainwashed multiculti idiots fraught with guilt over Europe's alleged misdeeds (yeah, okay, okay, the Belgians were astoundingly brutal in the Congo, but when how long was that?) that they cannot summon the will to sustain casualties in this twightlight struggle between civilization (that's us, you Euro-trash morons) and the Islamo-Fascist barabrians.
#18
Ugh!!! Being distracted by this Giants-Redskins game:
They are anti-military, anti-western, brainwashed multiculti idiots fraught with guilt over Europe's alleged misdeeds (yeah, okay, okay, the Belgians were astoundingly brutal in the Congo, but *how long ago was that?*) that they cannot summon the will to sustain casualties in this *twilight* struggle between civilization (that's us, you Euro-trash morons) and the Islamo-Fascist *barbarians*.
#19
"The British Vietnam"? How I wish! Where's the napalm? Where are the ARCLIGHT strikes against enemy "safe areas" like Quetta and the NWFP? Where is Spooky?
Most Vietnam Veterans said "never again" in 1975, when Congress refused to stand up to its commitment to the Vietnam people. Yet we're doing the same crap again in Afghanistan. The taliban show us brutality of the most horrible kind, yet we still try to fight a European-type war. It's long past time to give this death cult what it wants, in spades.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/08/2006 17:12 Comments ||
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#20
That's right, OP. For you younger 'Bergers. I believe South Vietnam was a member of SEATO and was also defended by troops from Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
We defaulted on a treaty obligation.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/08/2006 17:26 Comments ||
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#21
Just to imagine "the Taliban cutting around on dirt bikes, their weapons in one hand, their kids in the other" is dehumanizing to a civilized human being. Fighting such demonic forces is hard on everyone.
#23
Just to imagine "the Taliban cutting around on dirt bikes, their weapons in one hand, their kids in the other" is dehumanizing to a civilized human being.
Really? How?
Reading about it doesn't make me want to pick up a motorbike, a rifle, and a toddler to head off to war. It doesn't make me any less human, or humane.
It makes me realize there's plenty of evil in the world, and plenty of people who indulge themselves in it. Their victims are their fault, not mine, or our soldiers.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
10/08/2006 20:25 Comments ||
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#24
I stand by my earlier post. The "image" is dehumanizing, in the same way as watching someone else be tortured is dehumanizing. Think about it.
#25
I take it you are saying that being in the presence (real or recreated from a true telling) of that sort of callous and evil disregard for the Talibani's own child wears on the soul of any decent person.
I think you're right. It does. Some respond with despair, some by ranting, some by becoming stone cold determined to put an end to such scum.
THE British general commanding Nato troops in Afghanistan is to confront Pakistans president over his countrys support for the Taliban. Among the evidence amassed is the address of the Talibans leader in a Pakistani city.
Lieutenant-General David Richards will fly to Islamabad tomorrow to try to persuade Pervez Musharraf to rein in his military intelligence service, which Richards believes is training Taliban fighters to attack British troops. He will request that key Taliban leaders living in Pakistan be arrested.
The evidence compiled by American, Nato and Afghan intelligence includes satellite pictures and videos of training camps for Taliban soldiers and suicide bombers inside Pakistan. Captured Taliban fighters and failed suicide bombers have confirmed that they were trained by the Pakistani intelligence service, known as the ISI. The information includes an address in Quetta where Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, is said to live.
Musharraf had publicly acknowledged a Taliban problem on the Pakistan side of the border, said Richards. Undoubtedly something has got to happen, he added. Weve got to accept that the Pakistan government is not omnipotent and it isnt easy but it has to be done and were working very hard on it. Im very confident that the Pakistan governments intent is clear and they will be delivering on it.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Perv's Cleavon Little impersonation is wearing mighty thin.
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
10/08/2006 0:26 Comments ||
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no action? Next stop - JDAM takeout in Quetta
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/08/2006 7:44 Comments ||
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Either Perv is two faced and can do nothing about terrorist support, or doesn't want to do anything, or this external pressure is designed to give him an opportunity to take action. At some point soon, either he takes down the ISI or India and NATO will do it for him.
Posted by: john ||
10/08/2006 8:56 Comments ||
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#8
Shipman, without a "robust" US logistics package, the Falcons can go straight to poles in front of madrassas. The F-16 doesn't fly for long without spare parts. Weapon systems like the F-16 sink deep hooks in the recipient.
#9
My understanding is the Pak F-16s will need US codes to enable a lot of the electronic warfare modes. Unless Pakistan is fighting off an attack, those codes won't be released.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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#10
That's good to know RWV.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/08/2006 15:03 Comments ||
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Ed, the export F-16 doesn't come with a standard ECM package. Principal self-protection ECM for US F-16s is the ALQ-131 jammer, a pod. Don't know what the Paks are getting, but I doubt if they are getting ALQ-131s or even the less capable ALQ-184s. Even if they were to get US ECM systems, as you said, most of them are software controlled and come in flavors. The export flavor is always several generations behind our best.
KABUL - Two German journalists were killed in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed on Saturday. According to the ISAF spokesman Dominic White, the two - a man and a woman - had been working in connection with ISAF until last Wednesday, when they went travelling on their own.
The Pakistani news agency AIP reported that both journalists were found murdered in a tent around 150 kilometres south of the northern provincial capital Baghlan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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MOGADISHU - Somalias powerful Islamist movement ordered the partial closure of the countrys border with Ethiopia on Saturday, after accusing Ethiopian troops of invading, mining and shelling Somali territory.
Islamic court officials closed down border crossings in the central Hiran region for national security reasons, claiming that Ethiopian troops had occupied a village well inside Somalia and were conducting operations there. The border with Ethiopia is closed in the Hiran region for national security reasons, said Sheikh Hussein Mohamud Gagale, the deputy security officer for the region.
Ethiopian soldiers are conducting military manoeuvers around Sarirale village which is inside Somali territory, he told Mogadishus Simba radio, noting that Sarirale is about 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the border. They also planted landmines around the border areas, Gagale said. The mines could kill our fighters people and animals so we have taken the decision to block the border.
These are false allegations, Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Solomon Abebe told AFP in Addis Ababa. The extremists try to use Ethiopia as a cover to hide the real motives behind the curtain.
The international community should give attention to what the extremists are doing, because it is an act of aggression against Ethiopia, he said, repeating denials of any Ethiopian troops in or near Beledweyne.
Beledweyne is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Ethiopian border and 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Mogadishu, which the Islamists seized from warlords in June and have used as base for rapid expansion.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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Police arrested four Egyptians early Saturday as they attempted to illegally cross the Egypt-Gaza border through an underground tunnel, police said. The four men were arrested at dawn and were transferred to the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya for military prosecution, police officer Mohammed Badr said. No weapons or drugs were seized in the arrest. It is not immediately clear why the four were trying to cross into the Gaza Strip.
Earlier Staurday, IDF troops on duty in an outpost in northern Samaria shot at two Palestinians who approached the security fence, wounding one. A sweep of the area after the shooting revealed two bombs, one containing 25 kg. of explosives, which sappers proceeded to neutralize.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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THE Australian and English cricket teams were to be killed with sarin gas by some of those responsible for the July 7 attacks in London, a friend of a terrorist claims.
The man, known as Ahmed Hafiz, has told The Sunday Times newspaper in Britain that two of the suicide bombers involved in last July's attacks were to have been part of an al-Qaeda plot to kill the two cricket sides, News Limited papers have reported.
Hafiz claims the men, Mohammed Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, were instructed in 2004 to get jobs as stewards at Edgbaston, the venue for the second Ashes Test on August 4 last year. They were then to pump sarin - a highly toxic nerve gas - into the two teams' dressing rooms during the game.
Mr Hafiz said cricket lover Tanweer objected to the attack, causing a fight between the two men. Tanweer had (Khan) in a headlock, and the fight had to be broken up by the chaperone, he said.
Hafiz said that even after the July 7 attacks were planned, the plot to poison the players at Edgbaston was still being considered as a back-up. He claims to have learnt about the plans from members of his extended family who are involved in running a terrorist training camp in Kashmir.
#2
Nerve gas pumped into dressing rooms.
Life is looking like a bad 60's post-James Bond movies plot a little more every day. I think I saw that one in a rerun of the "Men from UNCLE".
#3
Mr Hafiz said cricket lover Tanweer objected to the attack, causing a fight between the two men.
Of course the piece of shit had no problem with people using buses and trains, did he?
I can't think of many other things that would enrage the Australians more - they take their cricket and sport in general rather more seriously than we do.
Keep tweaking the tail...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/08/2006 10:13 Comments ||
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#4
read the article "Australia a Muslim Country" in today's Rantburg.
ORAKZAI: Three more people were killed and two others were critically injured in a rocket attack on Saturday, the sixth day of sectarian clashes between the Sunnis and Shias in the agency. The Ahl-e-Tashai, a local Shia organisation, blamed local Taliban and foreign militants for the sectarian violence in the agency.
The shrine, which originally belonged to the Shia, was handed over to the Sunni community during British rule. Later, through an agreement between the two sects, the Shia were allowed to visit the shrine and ensure its maintenance. The local Taliban in 2000 declared the agreement un-Islamic and warned the Shia community to stop coming to the shrine...
These are Taliban and Al Qaeda men who have pressured the Sunni leaders and the political administration to dishonour the agreement reached in 2000 between the Sunni and Shia leaders and the political administration regarding the maintenance and reconstruction of the shrine of Hazrat Mir Anwar Shah, Syed Hamayun and Nazir Khan, members of the Ahl-e-Tashai, told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday.
The organisation demanded the NWFP governor and the federal government bring the Taliban to justice. Hamayun accused the government and political administration of giving a free hand to the Taliban against the Shia. They urged the government to give control of the shrine to the Shias and stop the local Taliban from conducting raids. They claimed that the shrine, which originally belonged to the Shia, was handed over to the Sunni community during British rule. Later, through an agreement between the two sects, the Shia were allowed to visit the shrine and ensure its maintenance, they said. The local Taliban in 2000 declared the agreement un-Islamic and warned the Shia community to stop coming to the shrine, they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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Two live rockets were found near the head office of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) on Saturday, just two days after rockets were discovered near Army House.
The rockets found on Saturday in the green area alongside Kashmir Highway were of the same kind as the two Russian-made 107mm rockets that were found two days ago. Police sources told Daily Times that CDA officials spotted the rockets and informed the police. The rockets were not connected to any electronic device. The Pakistan Army's and city police's bomb disposal squads jointly defused the rockets, which have been sent to a laboratory for examination.
The Islamabad police IG initially stated that the police had planted dead rockets in Shkarparian in a mock exercise, but a police spokesman later clarified that the rockets were live and had been "transported to the city for terrorist purposes".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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Police acting on a tip raided several militant hide-outs in southwestern Pakistan and arrested 48 suspected Taliban, who had arrived in small groups from Afghanistan, police said Saturday. The arrests were made during the past 24 hours in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, said Wazir Khan, the city police chief. However, he said apparently no important Taliban figure was included among the detainees, who were in their custody and being questioned by officers to determine the purpose of their presence in Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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Gunmen shot and killed a Shiite Muslim tribal elder in volatile northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, police said. Syed Maqbool Shah, 45, was standing on a street in the town of Tank - about 335 kilometers (210 miles) southwest of Islamabad - when unidentified assailants opened fire, killing him on the scene before fleeing, said Amir Abdullah, an area police official. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Abdullah said police were investigating.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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HUNDREDS of Iraqi police officers have fallen violently ill from poisoning after eating a meal at a base in southern Iraq where food is provided by an Australian company, a report has said.
The Associated Press has reported some of the officers began bleeding from the ears and nose. Hundreds have been rushed to nearby hospitals. One officials has said 11 policemen have died after the poisoning, but the regional governor has denied that. He has said an investigation is underway to determine whether the poisoning was intentional.
He is reported as saying food and water at the base near Numaniyah, 80km south of Baghdad, is provided by an Australian contractor. He would not name the company.
"Hundreds of soldiers were poisoned after taking food and water in the iftar," Wasit Governor Hamad al-Latif has said, referring to the meal eaten just after sunset that breaks the day's fast during Ramadan.
He has said some of the officers are in a critical condition. He has said samples of food and water are being tested "to determine the substance in them". Other samples will be sent to Baghdad for further testing.
Between 600 and 700 officers have been affected, an Environment Ministry official is reported as saying. He has said some collapsed immediately after the meal, while others "one after the other" as they headed out into a yard.
US military ambulances and Iraqi ambulances have taken the sick to hospitals in nearby Kut as well as in Numaniyah.
The affected officers were part of the Karrar division of the Iraqi police, Associated Press has reported. The division is normally based in Baghdad and is made up mainly of Shiites. To fast for food poisoning. I'd say deliberate poisoning is highly likely, hence put in WOT Operations.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/08/2006 21:06 Comments ||
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#2
Agree it certainly seems intentional. It wasn't the Ozzie Co - it was one or more of the locals who work for them. Same old blind Izzoid sectarian insanity.
DIWANIYAH, Iraq (AFP) - US and Iraqi forces has killed 30 Tater Tots Shiite militiamen during a fierce street battle in the southern city of Diwaniyah in which a US main battle tank was severely damaged.
The fighting erupted amid attacks around the country, which is in the grip of a bloody sectarian conflict that kills around 100 people daily, and one day after police found the corpses of 51 murder victims in Baghdad.
Gunbattles broke out in Diwaniyah after a joint Iraqi and US force tried to arrest a local Shiite militia leader accused of slaughtering Iraqi soldiers during a previous clash in August, Iraqi officials said Sunday.
A US tank was disabled by a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) during the clashes, but the snatch squad returned and seized their suspect, identified by Iraqi sources as a local commander of the Mahdi Army militia.
"Iraqi army and Multi-National Division Baghdad (MND-B) soldiers killed approximately 30 terrorists and detained a high-value target after a terrorist attack today in Diwaniyah, south of Baghdad," a military statement said.
An Iraqi defence official named the suspect as Kifah al-Greiti, a commander in the Mahdi Army of Shiite radical leader Moqtada al-Sadr.
In August, Mahdi Army fighters killed more than 20 Iraqi soldiers in Diwaniyah, officials said at the time, accusing the militia of murdering in cold blood a dozen troops who ran out of ammunition during a gunbattle.
The attempt to arrest Greiti provoked a fierce response.
"An M1A2 Abrams tank was struck by multiple RPG rounds and was severely damaged. Iraqi army and MND-B soldiers engaged the enemy forces and killed approximately 30 of the terrorists," the US statement said.
"Reportedly, up to 10 enemy RPG teams attacked the combined forces, of which six teams were destroyed. MND-B and IA soldiers immediately secured the area so the damaged vehicle could be recovered," it said.
Eventually, the Iraqi soldiers captured their suspect, the military said, adding that thus far there were no reports of US or Iraqi troop casualties.
Medics at Diwaniyah's main hospital reported that seven Mahdi Army Terrorists civilians had been wounded during the battle, one of them critically, while sporadic firing continued around the city into Sunday afternoon.
Later, US and Iraqi forces sealed off and entered the hospital, apparently hunting for wounded militiamen.
The ferocity of the fighting was a stark reminder that Iraqi and US forces still face a difficult political and military challenge if they are to master the powerful Shiite militias which control large parts of the country......
#2
If RPGs were used exclusively, The kill of the M1 tank (probably) is called an M-kill, or mission kill. The core hull and systems were most likely not seriously damaged. But if you break one or both tracks, damage the sighting optics, etc. you can take a tank out of that fight. It will be repaired later, but it is still out of that particular fight.
Where were the supporting infantry to pick off the RPG gunners?
Posted by: N guard ||
10/08/2006 14:00 Comments ||
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#3
Rendered temporarily immobile and destroyed/dead - they're the same thing, right?
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/08/2006 15:07 Comments ||
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#4
Nope not the same thing, rendered immobile or mission kill usually means it can be repaired, destroyed is totally different, it cannot be recovered period or is not worth salvaging. In this case if an M1 was taken out they could have also used IEDs like the last time, in thise case we're talking about multiple 155mm shells under the tank. To give you an idea of how much explosives we're talking about here a single 155mm arty shell can pack up to 30-40 kilos of explosive, with 2 or more you could blow a tank into the air.
#5
Bleh thats what I get for not reading the whole article or using preview, what I meant to say was that IF they had decided to use IEDs in this case we'd not be seeing a tank worth salvaging likely.
#6
They are using the latest Russian RPG's, the double warhead model. The first explosion opens the armor shield. The second detonation is interior of the hull. This would result in total loss. This is what Hezbs did in Leb against Merkavas. Source ? Directly from Uncle Putie. Latest & greatest & obviously very effective. It seems they have an unending supply. Still think Russians are our allies in WOT ?
Fourteen people were killed in a suicide bombing northwest of Baghdad on Saturday. The bomber hit a checkpoint at 8:45 a.m. (0545 GMT) in the northern city of Tal Afar, 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, said police Brig. Sabah al-Maamari. The explosion killed four soldiers and 10 civilians - some of whom died when parts of their homes nearby crumbled with the concussion from the blast, he said. Four soldiers and nine civilians were also wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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Eight people were killed early Saturday in northern Iraq when a suicide car bomber hit an Iraqi army checkpoint. The suicide bomber hit the checkpoint at 8:45 a.m. (0545 GMT) in the northern city of Tal Afar, 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, said Mosul police Col. Abdel-Karim al-Jubouri. Four soldiers and four civilians were killed in the attack, and another six people were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Two Al-Qaeda operatives had been killed and 14 were arrested in the Diyala province, north eastern Baghdad, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesperson, Mohammad Al-Askari, announced Saturday. Al-Askari told reporters, the arrests came during a rapid response operation. He added, 40 militants were arrested in the Al-Hadeed and Beldruz towns in Diyali in other raids by Iraqi forces.
Iraqi authorities announced yesterday that 11 Al-Qaeda operatives have been killed and around 250 detained in rapid response operations in Diyala. The Multi-National Forces (MNF) and Iraqi troops have been cracking down on Al-Qaeda militants and other insurgents nationwide.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Four Iraqi citizens including a woman were killed Saturday in separate attacks at Mosul province north of Iraq, said a police source. Colonel Dhaqil Qasem told the press that masked gunmen attacked road workers at a highway near the borders with Syria. The attack resulted in the death and injury of four workers, the Iraqi police official added. He pointed out that two Iraqi citizens were also killed in two separate incidents in Mosul city.
Violence was still occurring in the country despite numerous security plans conducted by the Iraqi government during Ramadan which includes imposing curfews in several Iraqi cities.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The Iraqi police announced on Saturday that it found five unidentified dead bodies east of here. An Iraqi police source told reporters that the dead bodies were found in Sadr City, noting that they were shot to death.
Meanwhile, the US Army announced that it arrested 28 gunmen in raids that targeted nine locations in the area of Diyala Bridge, east of Baghdad. A US Army press release said that three of the detainees were important catches for the US Army, noting that two of them were on the wanted list. The forces did not give further details on the detainees or who they work for.
In a separate incident, the Iraqi police said that unknown gunmen attacked a bakery in the Mansour area in western Baghdad, killing two workers and wounding another before fleeing the site.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The Iraqi police announced on Saturday that the death and injury toll of Tel Afer suicide bombing has risen to 30 and 150 suspects were arrested within the framework of the joint operations carried out by Iraqi and multi-national forces. An Iraqi police source told KUNA that 17 people were killed and 13 others wounded including members of the Iraqi army when a suicide bomber driving a truck blew himself up in Al-Salam suburb in central Tel Afer west of Mosul. The source added that 150 suspected terrorists were arrested in addition to confiscation of 240 automatic rifles and light weaponry.
On the other hand, Amir of the Islamic group in Iraq Kurdistan Ali Babir urged the government and the Kurdistan coalition in particular to exert more efforts to arrest the killer of a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament in order to stand a fair trail. Babir said it was not yet known who the killer was.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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The IDF denied reports that it had killed an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades operative, identified by Palestinians as Osama Saleh, in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus on Sunday. Palestinians had earlier claimed that the operative was shot and killed by IDF paratroopers after Palestinians threw a bomb at troops conducting arrests in the area. The IDF said that it had no involvement in the incident and that seemingly, the man was killed as a result of clashes between rival Palestinian factions.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 20:43 ||
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More Than 300 Bodies Have Been Found in the River Since 2005, Many of Them Young People
Most of the corpses are young people who have been shot and then hacked to pieces, according to the head of the Swaira police force, who asked that his name not be printed.
#1
And if we delve into that river's thousands upon thousands of years of history, I'm sure there are millions of bones with plenty of sordid stories to tell.
#2
So who are they? Sunnis, Shiites, or what? Here in Manhattan, the people whose bodies turn up in the East River are generally people whose absence make the world a better place. While I don't advocate or condone murder, I do wonder whether the people being killed here are fine upstanding citizens, or local hoodlums who met vigilante justice. Or something in between.
#3
Today, it's mostly Sunnis kidnapped by the the Sadrists as the Shiite cops look the other way, tortured, killed and dumped. The Sunnis are killing mostly with explosives.
Posted by: ed ||
10/08/2006 14:42 Comments ||
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#4
Why not use a bunch of drones to patrol the dumping grounds with quick reaction forces to corner the dumpers?
Our military and Washington sources read as preparatory justification the Syrian ruler Bashar Asads statement Saturday, Oct. 7, that he expects an Israeli attack.
He was speaking in an interview to Kuwaiti paper al-Anba.
Asads Iranian-backed war plan would serve the purpose of forcing the Americans to divide their military assets between a strike against Iran and the defense of their allies in the Persia Gulf, Israel and US forces in Iraq. Both are seriously looking at a Syrian attack on the Golan which would escalate into a full-blown Syrian-Israeli war and a second Hizballah assault from Lebanon.
Asads remark that during the Lebanon hostilities, he was under pressure from the Syrian population to go to war against Israel and liberate the Golan is the most direct threat of belligerency of all his four Golan statements in the last month. He is implying that he stood up to the pressure once but may not do so again.
And for the benefit of the Americans, the Europeans, the Saudis and the Egyptians - all of whom are pretty fed up with him Asad is posing as the picture of self-restraint; anyone else in his place, he implies, would have taken advantage of the Lebanon war and made a grab for the Golan. Therefore, he is saying, he deserves to be treated with the respect due to a strategic asset by Western and moderate Arab powers instead of being targeted for an ouster.
The Syrian ruler would not threaten war without guarantees from Iran. According to DEBKAfiles sources, Asad and Irans supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are prompted by the following motives:
1. Tehran is not prepared to wait passively for the Americans to build up their assault force in the Gulf and strike its nuclear facilities. A pre-emptive attack would suit them better.
2. Tehran and Damascus have not missed the debilitating crisis in which Israels political and military leadership are sunk since the Lebanon war. They do not propose to wait until the IDF pulls itself together enough to handle fresh aggression.
3. Both accept Israels deputy prime minister Shimon Peres assessment that Israels cities are not prepared for missile attack. Iran and Syria take it for granted that Israeli leaders understand they cannot afford to launch missiles against either one of them for fear of reprisal in kind.
4. Syria believes that if Hizballah could stand up to the Israeli army in Lebanon, its commandoes can capture sections of the Golan and walk off with an easy victory.
5. Tehran figures that the Bush administration is coming to the end of its patience in Iraq and preparing for a major review of its position there. The influential U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman, John Warner, said Friday that Iraq's government had 60 to 90 days to control the violence that threatens civil war or the United States would have to reconsider its options. This gives the Maliki government in Baghdad up to December or January to de-escalate if not halt the sectarian war engulfing the country.
Iran, Syria and Hizballah would not be averse to disrupting the American Iraq timeline by attacking Israel and putting the Bush administration on the spot, forced to address three warfronts simultaneously. Golly.
#2
hmmmmm - how many bombers and fighters are based in the airbases in western Iraq?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/08/2006 11:59 Comments ||
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#3
Stealth bombers out of Whiteman could be there in what, 10 - 12 hours?
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
10/08/2006 12:16 Comments ||
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#4
Both are seriously looking at a Syrian attack on the Golan which would escalate into a full-blown Syrian-Israeli war and a second Hizballah assault from Lebanon.
Someone had better tell the UNFIL soldiers and those Russian platoons that things might get a little hot in no time at all. Should Syria's little stunt come to pass, Israel had better find the gumption to start blowing away huge chunks of Lebanon and Syria. Any failure of resolve could prove deadly instead of just crippling, as it did last time. When push actually comes to shove, underestimating America's determination is often a fatal error and we had best be ready to drive this point home to Damascus and Tehran.
Iran, Syria and Hizballah would not be averse to disrupting the American Iraq timeline by attacking Israel and putting the Bush administration on the spot, forced to address three warfronts simultaneously.
Our military must finally evolve away from ground based conflict and get used to the notion of merely dropping in to break a whole lot of shit without any infantry backup. If they can just get over this fixation, we would have no problem blowing Iran and Syria straight to hell for their collective misdeeds.
Today's WaPo has an interesting piece on how the Hezbo leadership misjudged Israel's reaction to the unprovoked murder and kidnapping incident that sparked the recent war.
Very clear that not only the Hezbos miscalculated, but so too did the Israelis, who failed to push quickly to secure border towns that were inadequately defended by Hezbo fighters in the first week of hostilities.
Hopefully, if Syria and Iran actually attempt to carry out such madness, Israel (and the US) will go for broke and leave these two miscreant nations in shattered ruins.
"In speeches and iconography, Hezbollah has cast the war as a "divine victory." But a reconstruction of the period before and soon after the seizure of the soldiers reveals a series of miscalculations on the part of the 24-year-old movement that defies its carefully cultivated reputation for planning and caution. Hezbollah's leadership sometimes waited days to evacuate the poor, densely populated neighborhood in southern Beirut that is its stronghold. Only as Israeli warplanes began reducing the headquarters to rubble did they realize the scope of what the Israeli military intended. Hezbollah fighters were still planning to train in Iran the very month that the soldiers were seized; Hezbollah leaders in Beirut had assured Lebanese officials of a relatively uneventful summer.
In addition, Lebanese analysts say Israeli hesitation in the early part of the war allowed Hezbollah, caught off guard, time to prepare its defenses. By the time Israeli troops entered in force, more than a week later, Hezbollah's men were in place in villages like Aita al-Shaab. "--Inside Hezbollah, Big Miscalculations
Militia Leaders Caught Off Guard By Scope of Israel's Response in War
By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, October 8, 2006; Page A01
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/08/2006 13:35 Comments ||
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#8
The situation near the Israelian, Lebanese border has become very difficult now. As "Kofi da Comedian" has deployed his mulinational force in that area. The peace loving hizbollah protecting UN forces will be caught right in the middle. Maybe Syia's commando's will have to wear blue helmets during their operations.
#9
There is no scenario in which an attack on Israel by Iran and Syria, would be met with conventional weapons. Sunnis are all but begging the US to neutralize the Shiite threat. Crushing the Baathist and Ayatollah tyrannies is not worth the loss of a single US or Israeli soldier. We cheapen our own lives by valuing the lives of terrorists.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/08/2006 15:10 Comments ||
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#12
There is no scenario in which an attack on Israel by Iran and Syria, would be met with conventional weapons.
Bullshit. We do not need to deploy nuclear weapons against Iran and their use against Syria would be hunting rabbits with a Howitzer. Israel most certainly will not make any first use of nuclear weapons.
Sunnis are all but begging the US to neutralize the Shiite threat. Crushing the Baathist and Ayatollah tyrannies is not worth the loss of a single US or Israeli soldier.
And your point is?
For the umpteenth time, we don't need to occupy these two-bit Muslim shitholes with troops. We can dismantle them from the air with JDAMs or use a wave of cruise missiles to completely devastate either foe.
#13
I will remind people of the article within the past 3 weeks that commented on the fact that the Israelis were using expensive air transport to bring all the JDAMs and other precision munitions straight into Israel from the depots in the US. The Israelis got permission because of the Hib'allah war to buy a LOT more of those weapons, and the US sold those to them from on-hand stores.
They also got permission to get a whole lot more of the nasty ole cluster bombs for aircraft, and the cluster rockets for the MLRS units. The pros in the Israeli military and intelligence have been working around Olmert to defend their homeland from what is being seen as an inevitable mass Arab assault utilizing troops from Syria, Hizb'allah, and Hamas in a three prong/three front war : the Golan Heights, Southern Lebanon, and the Gaza/West Bank zones. The Iranians need the West to blink or pullback so they can get their "A-Bomb for Allah" completed, and they seem to be spending the money, the time, the equipment, and the political capital to set up this war as a diversion or even a Tet-style propoganda victory.
#15
Does anyone think any move by Asshat or the Mullahs is not well known in advance by the Russians ? Why did they bring a company of Muslim Chechneyans into Lebanon ? They could well lead the Hezb attack, no ? The French ? Probably frog legs for dinner.
A Palestinian news photographer was shot and seriously wounded Saturday night by a stray bullet from local protesters as he stood at the window of his home in downtown Ramallah, Palestinian security officials said. The officials named the man as freelance photographer Osama Awwad, 29, and said he was hit when activists of the Fatah movement had gun sex fired their weapons in the air during a street protest against the rival Hamas group.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Where's the screamer headline; "Osama Shot and Seriously Wounded!"?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/08/2006 10:18 Comments ||
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#6
I used to live in a loft in a bad part of town. There was a "social club" that was "for members only" just across the narrow street. Teenagers drinking beer and playing on old, worn out pool tables... there was a driveby on every other weekend on average. My roommate and I knew instinctively not to stand in the windows and look, cause that is how you get shot.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
10/08/2006 10:47 Comments ||
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#7
Ahh, but Mark E. you are forgetting one very, very obvious thing, you know about cause and effect - this photographer is a Paleo..
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/08/2006 10:49 Comments ||
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Palestinians fired a Kassam rocket into the town of Sderot, just missing mayor Eli Moyal's house on Saturday evening. No casualties were reported, but several building received damage from the explosion.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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IDF troops at a checkpoint west of Jenin arrested on Saturday a Palestinian in possession of a loaded gun and two ammunition clips. The weapon was confiscated and the suspect handed over for interrogation by security forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Sri Lankan security forces Saturday claimed to have killed over 50 Tamil rebels as fighting in the island nation's eastern areas continued for the second day today. "Bodies of 12 Tamil rebels, shot down when they attempted to infiltrate the forward defence lines in Eastern Sri Lanka, were handed over to the local hospital for onward transfer to the Red Cross," Sri Lankan defence ministry said in a statement Saturday at capital Colombo, news agency Press Trust of India reported. "However, troops have observed 40 to 45 bodies of Tamil rebels lying ahead of the forward defence lines," the statement added.
The Tamil rebels Saturday claimed that they recovered 13 dead bodies of government troops and captured a soldier alive, but the military said only two soldiers were killed and eight wounded, according to the news agency. There was no independent verification of the claims made by both sides. Both sides have also blamed each other for starting the latest fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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A senior Shia Muslim cleric who has challenged Iran's clerical rulers has been arrested after his supporters clashed with police in Tehran. Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi was detained with several of his followers, Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted Abdollah Rowshan, the deputy governor of Tehran, as saying.
Etemad-e Melli newspaper said an estimated 200 protesters formed a cordon around Boroujerdi's house to call for the release of several of Boroujerdi's followers. Police used teargas to disperse the crowd in southern Tehran, newspapers said on Sunday. Seday-e Edalat reported that the crowd lit fires to stop police from approaching the house.
A picture showed police in riot gear lined up near a crowd of people in the street. "All the people, including Boroujerdi, who ... caused this issue, were arrested," Rowshan, who is in charge of security and political affairs, was quoted as saying. Police arrested some of the protesters for carrying knives and guns, the Tehran governor's office said in a statement.
The Iranian authorities are wary of challenges, particularly from senior clerics, to the system of clerical rule that was established after the 1979 Islamic revolution by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 20:59 ||
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Three people were killed and three others injured due to the explosion caused by an unknown object. Speaking to IRNA, Abbassali Mir-Hosseini, deputy governor for political and social affairs of Gonbad-e Kavous, added that the explosion took place around Saturday noon near the area called Chirqoymeh where armed forces stage wargames. After the blast, police officers arrived at the site of the accident and collected the remains of the exploded material, which will be given to experts for further analysis, he said. Chirqoymeh, about 30 km north of Gonbad-e Kavoos, is the area for holding military drills of the armed forces of Golestan and Mazandaran provinces. Gonbad-e Kavous has a population of 303,000 and is situated east of Golestan province.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/08/2006 8:46 Comments ||
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#8
An Iranian supply sergeant probably mixed up some of the real thing along with the blanks & sent the botched batch out to be used at the site. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity, especially in the dar-al-Islam.
#9
I'm searching really hard to find that nano-violin....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/08/2006 18:17 Comments ||
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#10
conjecture: a muslim soldier, unknown to his superiors, harbored grudges against the imperial activities of the state and killing of other muslims by their agents, deciding to frag his command....oh, wait....nevermind
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/08/2006 19:02 Comments ||
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#11
I'm searching really hard to find that nano-violin....
(KUNA) -- Unknown gunmen shot dead a member of Osbat Al-ansar group inside Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in Southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese and Palestinian security sources Saturday. They sources told KUNA Belal Ali Salloum, 39, was killed inside the Palestinian refugee camp at 3:00 a.m. Salloum was arrested by the Lebanese authorities for three years for carrying out bomb attacks in Sidon. He was released some four years ago.
Around 70,000 people live in Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, the largest among the 12 camps in Lebanon. Ein el-Hilweh is famous with confrontations between Palestinian factions loyal to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and opposition groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Salloum was arrested by the Lebanese authorities for three years
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CP) - A roadside bomb killed a Canadian soldier Saturday as he rode inside a Nyala armoured truck, a blast-resistant monster hailed by soldiers and brass alike as the ultimate protection against such attacks.
THE British general commanding Nato troops in Afghanistan is to confront Pakistans president over his countrys support for the Taliban. Among the evidence amassed is the address of the Talibans leader in a Pakistani city. 
MOGADISHU - Somalias powerful Islamist movement ordered the partial closure of the countrys border with Ethiopia on Saturday, after accusing Ethiopian troops of invading, mining and shelling Somali territory.
Police arrested four Egyptians early Saturday as they attempted to illegally cross the Egypt-Gaza border through an underground tunnel, police said. The four men were arrested at dawn and were transferred to the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya for military prosecution, police officer Mohammed Badr said. No weapons or drugs were seized in the arrest. It is not immediately clear why the four were trying to cross into the Gaza Strip. 
ORAKZAI: Three more people were killed and two others were critically injured in a rocket attack on Saturday, the sixth day of sectarian clashes between the Sunnis and Shias in the agency. The Ahl-e-Tashai, a local Shia organisation, blamed local Taliban and foreign militants for the sectarian violence in the agency. 
Two live rockets were found near the head office of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) on Saturday, just two days after rockets were discovered near Army House.
Police acting on a tip raided several militant hide-outs in southwestern Pakistan and arrested 48 suspected Taliban, who had arrived in small groups from Afghanistan, police said Saturday. The arrests were made during the past 24 hours in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, said Wazir Khan, the city police chief. However, he said apparently no important Taliban figure was included among the detainees, who were in their custody and being questioned by officers to determine the purpose of their presence in Pakistan.
Gunmen shot and killed a Shiite Muslim tribal elder in volatile northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, police said. Syed Maqbool Shah, 45, was standing on a street in the town of Tank - about 335 kilometers (210 miles) southwest of Islamabad - when unidentified assailants opened fire, killing him on the scene before fleeing, said Amir Abdullah, an area police official. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Abdullah said police were investigating.
The fighting erupted amid attacks around the country, which is in the grip of a bloody sectarian conflict that kills around 100 people daily, and one day after police found the corpses of 51 murder victims in Baghdad.
Fourteen people were killed in a suicide bombing northwest of Baghdad on Saturday. The bomber hit a checkpoint at 8:45 a.m. (0545 GMT) in the northern city of Tal Afar, 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, said police Brig. Sabah al-Maamari. The explosion killed four soldiers and 10 civilians - some of whom died when parts of their homes nearby crumbled with the concussion from the blast, he said. Four soldiers and nine civilians were also wounded.
(KUNA) -- Two Al-Qaeda operatives had been killed and 14 were arrested in the Diyala province, north eastern Baghdad, Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesperson, Mohammad Al-Askari, announced Saturday. Al-Askari told reporters, the arrests came during a rapid response operation. He added, 40 militants were arrested in the Al-Hadeed and Beldruz towns in Diyali in other raids by Iraqi forces.
(KUNA) -- Four Iraqi citizens including a woman were killed Saturday in separate attacks at Mosul province north of Iraq, said a police source. Colonel Dhaqil Qasem told the press that masked gunmen attacked road workers at a highway near the borders with Syria. The attack resulted in the death and injury of four workers, the Iraqi police official added. He pointed out that two Iraqi citizens were also killed in two separate incidents in Mosul city.
(KUNA) -- The Iraqi police announced on Saturday that it found five unidentified dead bodies east of here. An Iraqi police source told reporters that the dead bodies were found in Sadr City, noting that they were shot to death.
(KUNA) -- The Iraqi police announced on Saturday that the death and injury toll of Tel Afer suicide bombing has risen to 30 and 150 suspects were arrested within the framework of the joint operations carried out by Iraqi and multi-national forces. An Iraqi police source told KUNA that 17 people were killed and 13 others wounded including members of the Iraqi army when a suicide bomber driving a truck blew himself up in Al-Salam suburb in central Tel Afer west of Mosul. The source added that 150 suspected terrorists were arrested in addition to confiscation of 240 automatic rifles and light weaponry.
The IDF denied reports that it had killed an 
(KUNA) -- Sri Lankan security forces Saturday claimed to have killed over 50 Tamil rebels as fighting in the island nation's eastern areas continued for the second day today. "Bodies of 12 Tamil rebels, shot down when they attempted to infiltrate the forward defence lines in Eastern Sri Lanka, were handed over to the local hospital for onward transfer to the Red Cross," Sri Lankan defence ministry said in a statement Saturday at capital Colombo, news agency Press Trust of India reported. "However, troops have observed 40 to 45 bodies of Tamil rebels lying ahead of the forward defence lines," the statement added.
A senior Shia Muslim cleric who has challenged Iran's clerical rulers has been arrested after his supporters clashed with police in Tehran. Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi was detained with several of his followers, Iran's student news agency ISNA quoted Abdollah Rowshan, the deputy governor of Tehran, as saying.
(KUNA) -- Unknown gunmen shot dead a member of Osbat Al-ansar group inside Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in Southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese and Palestinian security sources Saturday. They sources told KUNA Belal Ali Salloum, 39, was killed inside the Palestinian refugee camp at 3:00 a.m. Salloum was arrested by the Lebanese authorities for three years for carrying out bomb attacks in Sidon. He was released some four years ago.
