Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
By THOMAS WAGNER
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (AP) U.S. troops backed by helicopters and a jet
attacked insurgents planning a nighttime ambush near an American base north
of Baghdad, killing six militants and wounding and capturing five others,
the U.S. command said Sunday.
Insurgents killed six Iraqi civilians in scattered attacks on
Sunday, one day after more than two dozen people died in a truck bombing in
a Shiite farming village north of Baghdad.
The surge in violence came as Iraqi political blocs unveiled their
lists of candidates for Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, which the United
States and its coalition partners hope will restore enough stability so they
can begin bringing their forces home next year. The election commission said
it has received candidate lists from 21 coalitions and from 207 other
political parties or individuals.
The U.S. operation against the insurgents was Saturday night near
Taji, a U.S. air base 12 miles north of Baghdad. Troops saw the militants
moving along a canal toward a commonly used ambush site, the military said
in a statement.
The militants fired on Apache attack helicopters which were
conducting reconnaissance in the area. The helicopters fired back, and the
insurgents retreated. When they tried to regroup, an Air Force F-15E jet
dropped a 500-pound bomb on them, the military said. Six insurgents were
killed and five were wounded and captured, the statement said.
On Sunday morning, a roadside bomb destroyed one of several oil
tanker trucks driving on a main road in south Baghdad, sending a fire ball
up over the area and killing the two men inside, police Capt. Ibrahim
Abdul-Ridha said. Four civilian passers-by were wounded.
Three separate drive-by shootings in the capital killed two
construction workers and wounded three; seriously wounded a shopkeeper in
the Dora district; and hit a car carrying Cabinet adviser Ghalib Abdul Mahdi
to work, wounding him and killing his driver, police said.
Officials also evacuated a primary school in western Baghdad on
Sunday, a school day in Iraq, to defuse a bomb that was discovered by guards
there, police Capt. Talib Thamir said.
In Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed a
farmer on his tractor and seriously wounded two other civilians, said police
Capt. Laith Mohammed.
On Saturday night, the corpses of three handcuffed and blindfolded
Iraqis were found in Baghdad, and police said an Iraqi soldier and the
brother of a policeman were gunned down.
Also Saturday night, a U.S. jet dropped a bomb north of Ramadi, 70
miles west of Baghdad, killing three insurgents who were planting a roadside
bomb, the military said.
A new Pentagon report estimates that 26,000 Iraqis have been killed
or wounded by insurgents since Jan. 1, 2004. In the most recent period, from
Aug. 29 to Sept. 16, there were an estimated 64 Iraqi casualties each day,
the report said. A recent Associated Press count found that at least 3,870
Iraqis have died in the last six months.
Last week, a U.S. military spokesman told The Associated Press that
as many as 30,000 Iraqis may have died during the war, which began with the
U.S. invasion in March 2003. But independent analysts say that figure could
be much higher, with estimates ranging from at least 30,000 to 100,000 or
more.
At least 2,015 members of the U.S. military also have died since the
start of the Iraq war, according to an AP count, including three Army
soldiers who were killed on Saturday by a land mine and a roadside bomb in
two separate attacks.
Also Saturday, a bomb hidden in a truck loaded with dates exploded
in the center of the Shiite farming village of Huweder, about 45 miles
northeast of Baghdad, killing 26 people and injuring at least 45.
The bomb exploded as villagers were heading to the mosque for
prayers or outdoors in the cool evening breeze to break the daylong fast for
the holy month of Ramadan.
Police Lt. Ahmed Abdul Wahab, who gave the casualty figure, said the
number of deaths could increase because several survivors were critically
wounded. The village is in a religiously mixed area plagued by suicide
attacks, roadside bombs and assaults on police checkpoints.
Shiite civilians are frequent targets of Sunni extremists, including
the country's most feared terror group, al-Qaida in Iraq, which considers
members of the majority religious community to be heretics and collaborators
with U.S.-led forces. Iraq's security services are staffed mainly by Shiites
and Kurds.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (AP) U.S. troops backed by helicopters and a jet
attacked insurgents planning a nighttime ambush near an American base north
of Baghdad, killing six militants and wounding and capturing five others,
the U.S. command said Sunday.
Insurgents killed six Iraqi civilians in scattered attacks on
Sunday, one day after more than two dozen people died in a truck bombing in
a Shiite farming village north of Baghdad.
The surge in violence came as Iraqi political blocs unveiled their
lists of candidates for Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, which the United
States and its coalition partners hope will restore enough stability so they
can begin bringing their forces home next year. The election commission said
it has received candidate lists from 21 coalitions and from 207 other
political parties or individuals.
The U.S. operation against the insurgents was Saturday night near
Taji, a U.S. air base 12 miles north of Baghdad. Troops saw the militants
moving along a canal toward a commonly used ambush site, the military said
in a statement.
The militants fired on Apache attack helicopters which were
conducting reconnaissance in the area. The helicopters fired back, and the
insurgents retreated. When they tried to regroup, an Air Force F-15E jet
dropped a 500-pound bomb on them, the military said. Six insurgents were
killed and five were wounded and captured, the statement said.
On Sunday morning, a roadside bomb destroyed one of several oil
tanker trucks driving on a main road in south Baghdad, sending a fire ball
up over the area and killing the two men inside, police Capt. Ibrahim
Abdul-Ridha said. Four civilian passers-by were wounded.
Three separate drive-by shootings in the capital killed two
construction workers and wounded three; seriously wounded a shopkeeper in
the Dora district; and hit a car carrying Cabinet adviser Ghalib Abdul Mahdi
to work, wounding him and killing his driver, police said.
Officials also evacuated a primary school in western Baghdad on
Sunday, a school day in Iraq, to defuse a bomb that was discovered by guards
there, police Capt. Talib Thamir said.
In Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed a
farmer on his tractor and seriously wounded two other civilians, said police
Capt. Laith Mohammed.
On Saturday night, the corpses of three handcuffed and blindfolded
Iraqis were found in Baghdad, and police said an Iraqi soldier and the
brother of a policeman were gunned down.
Also Saturday night, a U.S. jet dropped a bomb north of Ramadi, 70
miles west of Baghdad, killing three insurgents who were planting a roadside
bomb, the military said.
A new Pentagon report estimates that 26,000 Iraqis have been killed
or wounded by insurgents since Jan. 1, 2004. In the most recent period, from
Aug. 29 to Sept. 16, there were an estimated 64 Iraqi casualties each day,
the report said. A recent Associated Press count found that at least 3,870
Iraqis have died in the last six months.
Last week, a U.S. military spokesman told The Associated Press that
as many as 30,000 Iraqis may have died during the war, which began with the
U.S. invasion in March 2003. But independent analysts say that figure could
be much higher, with estimates ranging from at least 30,000 to 100,000 or
more.
At least 2,015 members of the U.S. military also have died since the
start of the Iraq war, according to an AP count, including three Army
soldiers who were killed on Saturday by a land mine and a roadside bomb in
two separate attacks.
Also Saturday, a bomb hidden in a truck loaded with dates exploded
in the center of the Shiite farming village of Huweder, about 45 miles
northeast of Baghdad, killing 26 people and injuring at least 45.
The bomb exploded as villagers were heading to the mosque for
prayers or outdoors in the cool evening breeze to break the daylong fast for
the holy month of Ramadan.
Police Lt. Ahmed Abdul Wahab, who gave the casualty figure, said the
number of deaths could increase because several survivors were critically
wounded. The village is in a religiously mixed area plagued by suicide
attacks, roadside bombs and assaults on police checkpoints.
Shiite civilians are frequent targets of Sunni extremists, including
the country's most feared terror group, al-Qaida in Iraq, which considers
members of the majority religious community to be heretics and collaborators
with U.S.-led forces. Iraq's security services are staffed mainly by Shiites
and Kurds.