Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Truck bomb kills 75 as new offensive launched
Security
(RFE/RL) - A massive truck bomb explosion has killed some 75 people and wounded at least 130 in central Baghdad. The explosion occurred near the Shi'ite Al-Khalani Mosque in the city center. The attack in Baghdad's busy commercial district of Sinak came just hours after thousands of U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a new offensive north of Baghdad aimed at clearing the region of Sunni insurgents and Al-Qaeda.
The operation is called Arrowhead Ripper and involves some 10,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Diyala Governorate. The operation began in earnest overnight, with air and ground assaults in and around the provincial capital of Ba'qubah, 60 kilometers north of Baghdad. By daybreak, the U.S. military said 22 militants had been killed. The Diyala operation opens a new front and comes in response to changing insurgent tactics.
The U.S.-led troop surge in Baghdad, and Al-Anbar Governorate to the west, has meant insurgents, who are being pushed out of those areas, are refocusing their activities to other parts of the country. In a report issued on June 13, the Pentagon said the rise in attacks in Diyala and Ninawa governorates were threatening to offset coalition gains in Iraq’s center. In recent months, Diyala Governorate has emerged as a center of the Sunni Arab insurgency, with Al-Qaeda In Mesopotamia and other militant groups turning it into a base of operations.
Shi’ite militias have also been active in the region. Diyala Governorate, a prime agricultural region of date and orange groves has a mixed Sunni and Shi’a population. That makes it explosive as extremists seek to fan sectarian tensions. Thousands of people have already been forced from their homes in fighting between militant groups.
While Diyala Governorate appears to be a current epicenter of insurgent-led violence in Iraq, the Pentagon report also notes a rise in militant attacks in the southern city of Al-Basrah as well as Mosul and Tal Afar in the north, all of which were once touted as islands of relative stability. Operation Arrowhead Ripper comes just days after the U.S. military said it had completed its buildup of forces in Iraq to 160,000 troops.
The operation is called Arrowhead Ripper and involves some 10,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Diyala Governorate. The operation began in earnest overnight, with air and ground assaults in and around the provincial capital of Ba'qubah, 60 kilometers north of Baghdad. By daybreak, the U.S. military said 22 militants had been killed. The Diyala operation opens a new front and comes in response to changing insurgent tactics.
The U.S.-led troop surge in Baghdad, and Al-Anbar Governorate to the west, has meant insurgents, who are being pushed out of those areas, are refocusing their activities to other parts of the country. In a report issued on June 13, the Pentagon said the rise in attacks in Diyala and Ninawa governorates were threatening to offset coalition gains in Iraq’s center. In recent months, Diyala Governorate has emerged as a center of the Sunni Arab insurgency, with Al-Qaeda In Mesopotamia and other militant groups turning it into a base of operations.
Shi’ite militias have also been active in the region. Diyala Governorate, a prime agricultural region of date and orange groves has a mixed Sunni and Shi’a population. That makes it explosive as extremists seek to fan sectarian tensions. Thousands of people have already been forced from their homes in fighting between militant groups.
While Diyala Governorate appears to be a current epicenter of insurgent-led violence in Iraq, the Pentagon report also notes a rise in militant attacks in the southern city of Al-Basrah as well as Mosul and Tal Afar in the north, all of which were once touted as islands of relative stability. Operation Arrowhead Ripper comes just days after the U.S. military said it had completed its buildup of forces in Iraq to 160,000 troops.
Labels: Al Qaeda in Iraq, Al-Khalani Mosque, Arrowhead Ripper, Baqouba, Diyala, Shia militias, Sinak, truck bomb
Thursday, May 17, 2007
New Diyala bridge attacked again
Security
(RFE/RL) - Iraqi police say suspected insurgents set off a bomb near a bridge in southeastern Baghdad today, killing at least two civilians. It's the second attack on the bridge within one week. On May 11, a large fuel truck drove toward a checkpoint at the new Diyala Bridge and the driver blew up his vehicle, killing about a dozen people. The bridge, which crosses the Diyala River, a Tigris tributary, was damaged.
Labels: new Diyala bridge, truck bomb
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Al Qaeda claims new methods after death of 9 U.S. soldiers
Security
(Gulf News) - An Al Qaida-linked group claimed that it used "new methods" in staging a double suicide bombing with dump trucks that blasted a paratrooper outpost in volatile Diyala province, killing nine Americans from the 82nd Airborne Division and wounding 20 on Tuesday. The attack, which also wounded an Iraqi civilian, underscored the ability of guerrillas of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency to wage war in Iraq four years after the US-led invasion, and it came in a region that has seen violence escalate since US and Iraqi troops launched the security crackdown in Baghdad.
The first truck hit outlying concrete barriers surrounding the outpost at Sadah and exploded after soldiers opened fire. A second truck rammed into the wrecked vehicles, dragging it and other rubble before it exploded 30 yards from two-story building housing the post's troops, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, US military spokesman in north Iraq. Neither vehicle penetrated the patrol base's inner perimeter, but the second powerful blast ruptured the wall of the building, collapsing its second floor and causing most of the soldier casualties, a US military statement said Wednesday.
A civilian house was destroyed and several smaller structures collapsed in a nearby neighborhood, the military said. A civilian hospital and a mosque about 200 meters from the patrol base also were damaged. Fifteen of the 20 wounded US soldiers later returned to duty, the military said.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said the style of the attack fit the pattern of Al Qaida but he said an investigation was under way into who was to blame and exactly what happened. When asked about the "new methods" claimed by the group, he said the military was on heightened alert for dump trucks as they had been used in several recent high-profile attacks. "The use of dump trucks seems to be a recurring theme recently in the last few weeks," he said.
The first truck hit outlying concrete barriers surrounding the outpost at Sadah and exploded after soldiers opened fire. A second truck rammed into the wrecked vehicles, dragging it and other rubble before it exploded 30 yards from two-story building housing the post's troops, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, US military spokesman in north Iraq. Neither vehicle penetrated the patrol base's inner perimeter, but the second powerful blast ruptured the wall of the building, collapsing its second floor and causing most of the soldier casualties, a US military statement said Wednesday.
A civilian house was destroyed and several smaller structures collapsed in a nearby neighborhood, the military said. A civilian hospital and a mosque about 200 meters from the patrol base also were damaged. Fifteen of the 20 wounded US soldiers later returned to duty, the military said.
Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said the style of the attack fit the pattern of Al Qaida but he said an investigation was under way into who was to blame and exactly what happened. When asked about the "new methods" claimed by the group, he said the military was on heightened alert for dump trucks as they had been used in several recent high-profile attacks. "The use of dump trucks seems to be a recurring theme recently in the last few weeks," he said.
Labels: 82nd Airborne Division, Al Qaeda, Diyala, dump trucks, Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, Sadah, truck bomb
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Truck overturns before attacking U.S.-Iraqi security station
Security
(AP) - A dump truck overturned north of Baghdad, revealing a payload of nitric acid and explosives en route to attack a joint U.S.-Iraqi security station, the U.S. military said Tuesday. The botched attack occurred Monday in Mashahda, 25 miles north of the capital. After the truck tipped over, U.S. troops approached the truck driver to help, and found the vehicle loaded with nitric acid containers and explosives, the military said in a statement.
Nitric acid is a chemical used to make fertilizer, and can also be used in bombs. "The driver was taken into custody and confessed that he was paid to attack the Joint Security Station in Mashahda, which also houses the town's Iraqi police station," the statement said. Explosives experts disposed of the truck's contents, which included eight containers of nitric acid, eight explosive devices and two large rounds of ammunition, the military said. The driver remained in U.S. custody for further questioning, it said.
Nitric acid is a chemical used to make fertilizer, and can also be used in bombs. "The driver was taken into custody and confessed that he was paid to attack the Joint Security Station in Mashahda, which also houses the town's Iraqi police station," the statement said. Explosives experts disposed of the truck's contents, which included eight containers of nitric acid, eight explosive devices and two large rounds of ammunition, the military said. The driver remained in U.S. custody for further questioning, it said.
Labels: Mashahda, nitric acid, truck bomb, U.S.-Iraqi security station
