Reports From Irak May 18 2007 Summarised From Arabic
Cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz, 33, and soundman Laith Yousuf Saif, 26, were killed by unknown assailants who ambushed there car as they were returning home from work at the ABC News Baghdad bureau yesterday afternoon. The ambush took place in Saydia. Aziz is survived by his wife, two daughters and mother, and Yousuf by his fiancee, mother and brothers and sisters.
After the bomb attack this morning which resulted in the destruction of an American tankr, which was part of the military force patrolling the distict of Al-Hurriya (north west Baghdad) American troops opened fire indiscriminately killing one civilian and wounding four.
The American army announced today, Friday, that five of its soldiers were killed and a dozen others were injured in attacks. During this month 50 American soldiers have been killed in Irak. Since the American led assault on Irak in March 2003 March 3401 Americans have been killed in Irak.
A suicide bomber crashed his payload into a green zone government police checkpoint in al-Musayab, (70Km south of Baghdad), 3 dead, 4 wounded.
Incidents Outside Baghdad
In Kirkuk a policeman was killed and his brother wounded when the car in which they were driving was attacked by gunmen 5km north of the city. A first lieutenant in the al-Sulatminiyah brigade was ambushed and died of gunshots to his chest and head on the Chuan road (35 km north of Kirkuk).
Two bombings in the Kirkuk region continued the campaign against petroleum workers. An engineer in the Northern Oil Co. was wounded along with two other civilians in a bombing targeting a residence in Kirkuk, the roadiside bomb in al-Huwija wounded four civilians who were driving past as it detonated.
A convoy of three trucks carrying foodstuffs from Mosul to Kirkuk was ambushed by gunmen, the drivers shot, and the trucks set on fire near near the Kharabat Root, (55 km west of Kirkuk), thebombing of the police rapid resonse unit in Qada Sahat al-Ihtifalat wounded one civilian.
In Diyala 4 gunmen were killed as they set up a fake checkpoint on the Baghdad - Kirkuk highway in al-Adhim area, north of Khalis.
The body of Colonel Adnan Mohammad Ibrahim al-Mashhadani, cousin of the Speaker of the parliament who was kidnapped last Monday while returning to his army unit stationed in Diyala was found last Wednesday in Baqubah. Another body. that of Mohammad Ali Ahmed, one of al-Mashhadni’s bodyguards, was also found on Wednesday . He had kidnapped while returning to his home in the al-Toubji district of Baqubah.
In Anbar a suicide bomber attacked an American armoured convoy near the centre of Fallujah. Eyewitnesses said the explosion was violent and destroyed several vehicles in the convoy.
In Diwaniyah the truce is mostly holding. Three green zone government soldiers were wounded in the gunfight that lasted from 20:00 hours to 02:00 hours to the north. A civilian was shot dead on the western road. There has been sporadic gunfire in the north of the city.
In Wasit 5 bodies, including one of a 12-year-old child, were salvaged from the rivers Tigris and al-Dujaila Three were taken from the river north of al-Suweira, a fourth from near near al-Aziziya - all had been tortured before being shot. The child had been kidnapped some days earlier his body was removed from the Dujaila river in Kut.
Late breaking news:
- Baghdad -Two people were killed and 5 wounded in a bombing in al Karkh this evening - no details yet.
- 25 bodies were recovered in different areas of Baghdad.
- A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb this afternoon near an American military convoy in al-Dubbat in central Fallujah- one vehicle destroyed, casualties unknown.
Other:
- Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, has left Irak for medical tests and treatment related to hypertension in the U.S.
- Abbas al-Bayati from the Unified Iraqi Coalition (UIC) on Friday denied the green zone government planned to set up a new national intelligence agency. (- A report to that effect was made on Wednesday in USA today.)
Hussein Al-Bayati
Khaled
Indexed under: al-Hurriya, Baghdad, Baqubah, bomb, bombing, Bombings, Car bomb, Dhi Qar (Governorate), Disputed Areas, Diwaniyah, Diyala, Fallujah, Journalists Attacked, Khalis, Kirkuk, Kirkuk (At-Ta'mim) Governorate, Kut, Maysan (Governorate), Mosul, Wasit