Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
March 2, 2007
Pg. 8
By Alissa J. Rubin
BAGHDAD, March 1 — A car bomb that was apparently aimed at a policeman’s wedding party in Falluja, west of Baghdad, killed seven guests on Thursday and wounded six, the local police said.
The attack appeared to be part of a mounting battle in western Iraq between insurgents with ties to Al Qaeda and other local and tribal groups, local residents said.
The bomb exploded in the late afternoon as the wedding party was gathering at the home of the groom, a policeman. Neither the bride nor the groom was wounded, but those killed were friends and relatives of the couple, said Abu Khalid, a cousin of the groom.
“Extremists are targeting the police, especially after the police increased arrests and pressure on members of armed groups in the last two weeks,” he said, noting that there had been bombings in two nearby towns, including one at a mosque in Habbaniya that killed more than 30 people.
Falluja, in the Sunni-dominated Anbar Province about 35 miles west of Baghdad, has been a violent place since shortly after the American invasion in 2003. In 2004, it became an informal headquarters for the anti-American insurgency. After a lengthy United States military campaign emptied much of the city later that year, it was briefly quiet.
Violence has been increasing there in the past several months, with attacks by insurgents against local residents who want the gunmen to leave the area and counterattacks by local and tribal groups.
A similar fight was under way on Thursday in Amiriyat al Falluja, a community just to the south, where insurgents whom residents described as being allied with Al Qaeda attacked. Two groups that have had ties to insurgents, the Islamic Party Fighters and forces of the 20th Revolution brigade, counterattacked in support of the local residents, apparently having turned against those insurgents because of their links to Al Qaeda.
The United States military also announced that a marine was killed by enemy fire on Wednesday in Anbar Province.
In Baghdad, where a new security plan is in its third week, the daylight hours were relatively quiet, with one civilian killed by an explosive device. Around 9:30 p.m., there was a battery of large explosions and a period of quiet and then more explosions, but there was only sketchy information about their origin.
The Ministry of Defense said that the blasts had come from the area of an American base in southern Baghdad and that they appeared to have been American attacks against insurgent strongholds in a violent Sunni neighborhood called Dora.
The Iraqi government announced Thursday that it had arrested 83 militants and rounded up 55 other suspects in the previous 24 hours. Troops also seized weapons and explosives, the government said.
In Baquba, north of Baghdad, the police found the bodies of nine people, some of whom had been shot. It was not clear how the others had died. In Mahaweel, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, a bomb exploded in a busy market, killing seven people, the local police said.
Before dawn on Thursday, an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, generally used for reconnaissance, was forced to make a hard landing south of Kirkuk, the military said. The two soldiers on board were injured, but the injuries were not life threatening, the military said.
A military spokesman said a preliminary investigation found that the helicopter’s problems were caused by mechanical failure, not hostile fire. In recent weeks, ground fire has downed at least eight helicopters.
Iraqi employees of The New York Times contributed reporting from Falluja, Hilla and Baghdad.
March 2, 2007
Pg. 8
By Alissa J. Rubin
BAGHDAD, March 1 — A car bomb that was apparently aimed at a policeman’s wedding party in Falluja, west of Baghdad, killed seven guests on Thursday and wounded six, the local police said.
The attack appeared to be part of a mounting battle in western Iraq between insurgents with ties to Al Qaeda and other local and tribal groups, local residents said.
The bomb exploded in the late afternoon as the wedding party was gathering at the home of the groom, a policeman. Neither the bride nor the groom was wounded, but those killed were friends and relatives of the couple, said Abu Khalid, a cousin of the groom.
“Extremists are targeting the police, especially after the police increased arrests and pressure on members of armed groups in the last two weeks,” he said, noting that there had been bombings in two nearby towns, including one at a mosque in Habbaniya that killed more than 30 people.
Falluja, in the Sunni-dominated Anbar Province about 35 miles west of Baghdad, has been a violent place since shortly after the American invasion in 2003. In 2004, it became an informal headquarters for the anti-American insurgency. After a lengthy United States military campaign emptied much of the city later that year, it was briefly quiet.
Violence has been increasing there in the past several months, with attacks by insurgents against local residents who want the gunmen to leave the area and counterattacks by local and tribal groups.
A similar fight was under way on Thursday in Amiriyat al Falluja, a community just to the south, where insurgents whom residents described as being allied with Al Qaeda attacked. Two groups that have had ties to insurgents, the Islamic Party Fighters and forces of the 20th Revolution brigade, counterattacked in support of the local residents, apparently having turned against those insurgents because of their links to Al Qaeda.
The United States military also announced that a marine was killed by enemy fire on Wednesday in Anbar Province.
In Baghdad, where a new security plan is in its third week, the daylight hours were relatively quiet, with one civilian killed by an explosive device. Around 9:30 p.m., there was a battery of large explosions and a period of quiet and then more explosions, but there was only sketchy information about their origin.
The Ministry of Defense said that the blasts had come from the area of an American base in southern Baghdad and that they appeared to have been American attacks against insurgent strongholds in a violent Sunni neighborhood called Dora.
The Iraqi government announced Thursday that it had arrested 83 militants and rounded up 55 other suspects in the previous 24 hours. Troops also seized weapons and explosives, the government said.
In Baquba, north of Baghdad, the police found the bodies of nine people, some of whom had been shot. It was not clear how the others had died. In Mahaweel, about 40 miles south of Baghdad, a bomb exploded in a busy market, killing seven people, the local police said.
Before dawn on Thursday, an OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, generally used for reconnaissance, was forced to make a hard landing south of Kirkuk, the military said. The two soldiers on board were injured, but the injuries were not life threatening, the military said.
A military spokesman said a preliminary investigation found that the helicopter’s problems were caused by mechanical failure, not hostile fire. In recent weeks, ground fire has downed at least eight helicopters.
Iraqi employees of The New York Times contributed reporting from Falluja, Hilla and Baghdad.