Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
June 10, 2008 Air strike targets suspected house of foreign fighters
By Robert H. Reid, Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- American soldiers called in an air strike yesterday during an attack on a house believed used by foreign fighters, killing five militants and capturing more than a dozen others, the US military said.
The firefight broke out early yesterday when American soldiers, acting on information from an Iraqi prisoner, came under heavy gunfire as they approached the suspected hideout in a remote area of northwestern Iraq, the military said in a statement.
Soldiers called in an air strike, which destroyed the house, triggering secondary explosions from the weapons and explosives stored inside, the statement said.
Five men were confirmed dead, and multiple suicide vests and heavy machine guns were found in the ruins of their hideout, it said.
The statement did not give a precise location for the raid. But northwestern Iraq has long been used by Al Qaeda and other Sunni militant groups as an infiltration route for smuggling weapons and fighters into the country from Syria, according to the military.
Yesterday's battle was among a series of raids over the past two days in northern Iraq against Sunni militants, who remain active despite suffering severe setbacks last year in fighting with US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad.
In Beiji, an industrial city about 150 miles north of Baghdad, American soldiers detained five suspects yesterday in an operation against a militant bombing network.
An alleged Al Qaeda in Iraq bomber was captured with another suspect in Mosul, and five others were arrested south of the city, the military said.
The Al Qaeda in Iraq "emir" of Tikrit, a Sunni Arab city north of the Iraqi capital, was arrested late Sunday along with three other suspects, the statement said. Two other Al Qaeda suspects were picked up in Baghdad.
US officials have said Al Qaeda and other Sunni groups have been trying to undermine efforts to reconcile Shi'ite, Sunni, and Kurdish communities in the north and pressure Sunni tribesmen against cooperating with the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.
On Sunday, one American soldier was killed and 18 were wounded in a suicide truck bombing attack in Tamim Province of northern Iraq.
Major General Mark Hertling, the top US commander in the north, told Pentagon reporters yesterday in a videoconference that the Tamim attack "was an attempt to counter some of the reconciliation efforts" and to show that insurgents retain the power "to intimidate people in this area."
Elsewhere, a car packed with munitions blew up near a passing Iraqi Army patrol yesterday in the Karradah area of eastern Baghdad, killing three civilians and an army lieutenant, police said.
The blast, which wounded at least 12 others, damaged several cars and shops in a commercial district of the Shi'ite-dominated neighborhood, which is among the safest in the city.
Baghdad has been relatively quiet since a May 11 cease-fire ended seven weeks of fighting between US and Iraqi troops and Shi'ite militiamen. But scattered bombings and shootings persist.
Meanwhile, Jordan said it will dispatch an ambassador to Iraq "in the near future." The announcement follows similar statements last week by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Jordan has a diplomatic mission in Baghdad run by a charge d'affairs. It named an ambassador to Iraq nearly two years ago, but he never assumed his duties because of security concerns.
June 10, 2008 Air strike targets suspected house of foreign fighters
By Robert H. Reid, Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- American soldiers called in an air strike yesterday during an attack on a house believed used by foreign fighters, killing five militants and capturing more than a dozen others, the US military said.
The firefight broke out early yesterday when American soldiers, acting on information from an Iraqi prisoner, came under heavy gunfire as they approached the suspected hideout in a remote area of northwestern Iraq, the military said in a statement.
Soldiers called in an air strike, which destroyed the house, triggering secondary explosions from the weapons and explosives stored inside, the statement said.
Five men were confirmed dead, and multiple suicide vests and heavy machine guns were found in the ruins of their hideout, it said.
The statement did not give a precise location for the raid. But northwestern Iraq has long been used by Al Qaeda and other Sunni militant groups as an infiltration route for smuggling weapons and fighters into the country from Syria, according to the military.
Yesterday's battle was among a series of raids over the past two days in northern Iraq against Sunni militants, who remain active despite suffering severe setbacks last year in fighting with US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad.
In Beiji, an industrial city about 150 miles north of Baghdad, American soldiers detained five suspects yesterday in an operation against a militant bombing network.
An alleged Al Qaeda in Iraq bomber was captured with another suspect in Mosul, and five others were arrested south of the city, the military said.
The Al Qaeda in Iraq "emir" of Tikrit, a Sunni Arab city north of the Iraqi capital, was arrested late Sunday along with three other suspects, the statement said. Two other Al Qaeda suspects were picked up in Baghdad.
US officials have said Al Qaeda and other Sunni groups have been trying to undermine efforts to reconcile Shi'ite, Sunni, and Kurdish communities in the north and pressure Sunni tribesmen against cooperating with the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.
On Sunday, one American soldier was killed and 18 were wounded in a suicide truck bombing attack in Tamim Province of northern Iraq.
Major General Mark Hertling, the top US commander in the north, told Pentagon reporters yesterday in a videoconference that the Tamim attack "was an attempt to counter some of the reconciliation efforts" and to show that insurgents retain the power "to intimidate people in this area."
Elsewhere, a car packed with munitions blew up near a passing Iraqi Army patrol yesterday in the Karradah area of eastern Baghdad, killing three civilians and an army lieutenant, police said.
The blast, which wounded at least 12 others, damaged several cars and shops in a commercial district of the Shi'ite-dominated neighborhood, which is among the safest in the city.
Baghdad has been relatively quiet since a May 11 cease-fire ended seven weeks of fighting between US and Iraqi troops and Shi'ite militiamen. But scattered bombings and shootings persist.
Meanwhile, Jordan said it will dispatch an ambassador to Iraq "in the near future." The announcement follows similar statements last week by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Jordan has a diplomatic mission in Baghdad run by a charge d'affairs. It named an ambassador to Iraq nearly two years ago, but he never assumed his duties because of security concerns.