3 US Soldiers, 33 Iraqis Killed in War Attacks, Including 14 in Sadr City, According to April 25, 2008 News Reports

3 US Soldiers, 33 Iraqis Killed in War Attacks, Including 14 in Sadr City, According to April 25, 2008 News Reports

Editor's Note:

Only God knows how many Iraqis are killed everyday. The following represents part of the reporting but the actual number of deaths should very much exceed what's reported.

Yaqen.net reported that:

- 2 US soldiers were killed, 6 were injured in Kabeesa, west of Baghdad, when two US Hummer vehicles were destroyed by roadside bombs.

- A mass grave of five people was discovered in Al-Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad. The area has been a theater of ethnic cleansing where Mahdi Army and Badr militia killed thousands of Sunni Muslims, in an attempt to force Iraqi Sunnis out of the area. One such mass graves contained 4,020 corpses.

- US military base in the Mosul airport was shelled by artillery from Al-Qa'aqa'a forces of the former Iraqi Army, causing casualties and damages.

- A US soldier was killed yesterday, (but not reported before) south of Baghdad, increasing the number of US soldiers who are officially announced killed in Iraq as 4, 050 and 38th in April 2008.

- A roadside bomb exploded as a US patrol passed by the road in Salahuddin Provinces.

Amsi.org reported that 14 people were killed (3 more than reported by VOI below), 75 were injured in the Sadr City fighting, on Friday. It also reported the death of 2 US soldiers in Kabeesa (above) and the injury of six others.

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Bomb kills child, injures 25 in Basra

Basra - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 25 /04 /2008 Time 10:22:12
Basra, Apr 25, (VOI) –

One child was killed and 25 people were wounded on Friday when unknown gunmen attacked a wedding with a hand grenade at the center of Basra city, said the band leader that organized the wedding, while an owner of a music shop said that his shop was attacked by a bomb explosion in a separate incident in the city.

"A hand grenade, thrown by unknown attackers on a wedding at al-Abbasiya neighborhood in central Basra exploded, killing one child and wounding 25 people, who where participating in the celebration, including seven of the band's members," Mustafa al-Fadha'ee, the band leader told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

4 al-Qaeda gunmen killed in U.S. attack in Samarra

Salah al-Din - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 25 /04 /2008 Time 10:22:12
Tikrit, Apr 25, (VOI)-

Four al-Qaeda gunmen were killed on Friday in a U.S. aircraft shelling on a region in northeast of Samarra, a police source said.

"A U.S. aircraft shelled a hideout of al-Qaeda group in al-Jalam region in northeast of Samarra, killing four gunmen, including one holding Saudi passport," the source, who asked to be unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"The residents identified the other three gunmen, whom their bodies were sent to the city's hospital," he explained.

No word was available from the U.S. army on the incident.
Samarra, Salah el-Din, lies 120 km north of Baghdad.
SH

3 policemen killed, kidnapped in Mosul

Ninewa - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 25 /04 /2008 Time 10:22:12
Mosul, Apr 25, (VOI) –

One policeman was killed by unknown gunmen in front of the Ninewa province's building in central Mosul, while unidentified armed men kidnapped two policemen at the western part of the city, Fadil Koran, an Iraqi army lieutenant colonel, said on Friday.
"On Friday afternoon, unknown gunmen opened fire on a policeman in front of the Ninewa province's building in central Mosul, killing him instantly," Koran told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).
He added that the policeman was one of the building's guards.
"Unidentified masked armed men surrounded on Friday afternoon two policemen at Sommer neighborhood, western Mosul, and took them to unknown place," he said.
Koran explained that the two policemen were driving a police vehicle when they were surrounded and abducted by gunmen.
Mosul, capital city of Ninewa province, is 405 km north of Baghdad.
MH/SH

5 gunmen killed, 3 soldiers injured in shootout in Baghdad

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 25 /04 /2008 Time 10:22:12
Baghdad, Apr 25, (VOI)-

Five gunmen were killed, and three Iraqi army soldiers were wounded in clashes that erupted at a checkpoint in al-Qahira neighborhood, northern Baghdad, police sources said on Friday.
"A group pf gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi army soldiers at a checkpoint in al-Qahira neighborhood, wounding three soldiers," a security source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"The soldiers responded killing the five gunmen inside their vehicle," he explained.
"At a checkpoint in al-Qahira neighborhood, northern Baghdad, and near al-Nida'a mosque, Iraqi army soldiers stopped a car that carried five persons, for checking purposes," the source said.
"During the search operation, the soldiers found that the car was carrying a quantity of ammunitions, rockets, and guns, and were surprised when those who were inside the car opened fire on them," he added.
"Clashes then erupted between the two sides, and three Iraqi army soldiers were wounded, while ammunition that was inside the car exploded, burning and killing all those who were inside the car," he explained.
The source gave no more details

MH/SH

Sadr City clashes leave 85 casualties

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 25 /04 /2008 Time 10:22:12
Baghdad, Apr 25, (VOI) –

Eleven people were killed and 74 others wounded in clashes and aerial bombing on the eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City between gunmen and joint Iraqi-U.S. forces on Friday, a medic said.

"The Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City received during the past few hours nine corpses and 39 wounded people while the al-Shahid al-Sadr hospital received two killed and 35 others wounded," the source, who requested not to have his name revealed, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

"The number of deaths is most likely to rise due to the serious condition of some of the wounded," he said, adding the two main hospitals in Sadr City and other nearby hospitals are acting in a limited pace due to the continued bombardment.

Sadr City, a stronghold of Shi'i leader Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militias, has been witnessing armed clashes since the (US-backed) Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced last month the commencement of a security operation codenamed Saulat al-Forsan (Knights' Assault) in the port city of Basra, Iraq's second largest province and an oil-hub, 590 km south of Baghdad, which he said targeted "outlaws".
AE

Bomb wounds four persons in northern Falluja

Anbar - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 25 /04 /2008 Time 10:22:12
Falluja, Apr 25, (VOI)-

Four persons, including an intelligence officer, were injured on Friday in a bomb explosion in northern Falluja, a security source said.
"An improvised explosive device went off in al-Raqeeb mosque in al-Joulan neighborhood in northern Falluja, injuring Major Salah Hamoud al-Jameli, an intelligence officer, one of his bodyguards and two civilians," the source, who asked anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

"The wounded were rushed to the Falluja hospital for treatment," he added, noting that there are in serious condition.
"The bomb was placed under the rostrum of Preacher Sheikh Khaled Hamoud," the source noted.
"Security forces rushed to the area and sealed off the region," he added.
Falluja, Anbar province, lies 45 km west of Baghdad.
SH

Cameraman killed north of Basra

Basra - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 25 /04 /2008 Time 10:22:12
Basra, Apr 25, (VOI) –

A cameraman working for the al-Nakhil TV channel was killed by an unidentified gunman in the area of al-Qarna, 100 km north of Basra, on Friday, an official police source in the province said.
"A gunman opened fire at Ali Jassem al-Battat in al-Qarna, killing him instantly and escaping to an unknown place," the source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

Battat was on his way to work in the al-Nakhil TV headquarters, central Basra, the source added.
Al-Nakhil, which belongs to Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim's Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), has started broadcasting as a ground channel five years ago.

The port province of Basra, Iraq's second largest city and oil hub, lies 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Earlier on Friday, a legislator said that the Iraqi parliament received a draft law on protection of journalists and would start debating it during this legislative term to provide guarantees for journalists to practice their jobs freely.
"The new draft, a them of debates inside the parliament's culture and information committee, would work on granting rights for journalists and workers in the media field," committee chairman Muhnammad al-Khazaali told VOI.

Khazzali said the draft included visions for allocating pensions for martyr Iraqi journalists' families, stressing freedom of journalists to have unencumbered access to information and providing state care for journalists wounded during their duty.

Reports issued by the Iraqi Journalists' Syndicate estimated that 271 journalists and media people were killed since the fall of the former regime in 2003. Fifteen others are still reportedly missing.
According to the Syndicate reports, more than 65 journalists have received death threats, prompting a number of them to leave Iraq out of fears for their lives.
AE

Iraqi children silent victims of ongoing violence, says UN envoy

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 25 /04 /2008 Time 10:22:12
Baghdad, Apr 25, (VOI)-

Wrapping up a six-day visit to Iraq, the United Nations human rights envoy tasked with protecting the rights of children caught up in armed conflict said that the war-ravaged country's children are silent victims of the continued violence.

“Many of them are no longer go to school, many are recruited for violent activities or detained in custody, they lack access to the most basic services and manifest a wide range of psychological symptoms from the violence in their everyday lives,” said Radhika Coomaraswamy, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, in a statement received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

She urged religious, political, military and community leaders to encourage children to stay out of the violence and return to their studies.

Gender-based violence is also reported to be on the rise, which Ms. Coomaraswamy said is “intolerable.”
Only half of primary school children are attending school, down from 80 per cent in 2005, she noted. Only 40 per cent having access to clean drinking water, with the outbreak of cholera possible.

Since 2004, rising numbers of children have been recruited into militias and insurgent groups, some serving as suicide bombers, while some 1,500 are known to be in detention facilities.

Since humanitarian workers' access to children is impeded in many parts of Iraq, children are deprived of their assistance.

The special representative called on all parties to give free and independent access to aid workers, and urged the Iraqi Government, the United States Government and other countries to allow agencies, such as the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), to be able to reach children in all parts of Iraq without hindrance.

Ms. Coomaraswamy also appealed to the international community to assist neighbouring countries to which Iraqis have fled to ensure that the children are protected and can access basic services, including education and health care.
She called on all sides in the Iraqi conflict to follow international humanitarian standards for the protection of children and to release without delay any children under the age of 18 associated with their forces, and also to adhere to international human rights standards pertaining to juvenile justice provisions.

“Let peace in Iraq begin with the protection of children” the special representative said.
SH

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Iraq War Report for events of Thursday, 24 April 2008. Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.

Thursday, 24 April 2008.

· Rocket blasts into Polish residence in Green Zone in Baghdad.

· US forces reportedly kill four Iranian al-Quds Brigade members north of Baghdad.

· US troops raid mental hospital in eastern Baghdad, detain patients, staff destroy wards.

· Two US soldiers die in non-combat incident in Salah ad-Din Province Wednesday.

· US admits death of American soldier Wednesday in continued battle against Jaysh al-Mahdi in Baghdad.

· US troops kill two brothers in al-Mawsil Thursday morning.

Baghdad.

Rocket blasts into Polish residence in Green Zone in Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted at 1:33am Baghdad time Friday morning, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that a rocket or possibly a mortar shell slammed into the building where employees of the Polish embassy live in Baghdad.

US forces reportedly kill four Iranian al-Quds Brigade members north of Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted at 3:50pm Baghdad time Thursday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the US military killed four members of the Iranian al-Quds Brigade in the ar-Rashidiyah area.

Yaqen reported eyewitnesses as saying that clashes erupted when US troops attacked an armed group it accused of having been armed and trained in Iran in order to carry out attacks in the ar-Rashidiyah area to the north of Baghdad. It was later learned, Yaqen reported, that the group consisted of members of the Iranian al-Quds Brigade itself. Four of the al-Quds Brigade members were killed and five more of them wounded, the witnesses said.

Car bomb kills civilian in southeastern Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 7:49pm Thursday evening Beijing time (3:49pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a car bomb exploded by a patrol of Iraqi government police near the al-Ghadir Bridge in southeastern Baghdad at midday Thursday.

Three civilians killed when bomb explodes in west Baghdad neighborhood.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 7:28pm Thursday evening Beijing time (3:28pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb exploded in a market in the upscale west Baghdad district of al-Mansur at midday Thursday.

US troops raid mental hospital in eastern Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted at 2:40pm Baghdad time Thursday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US and Iraqi regime forces raided the ar-Rashad Hospital for Mental and Psychological Illness in eastern Baghdad and detained everyone inside.

Yaqen reported Qasim ‘Abd al-Hadi, Information Director in Baghdad’s Health Department, as saying that a force of American troops and their Iraqi army allies raided the ar-Rashad Mental Hospital on Thursday morning, smashing down the doors and detaining all the staff. He said that the raiding party destroyed the ar-Razi Ward for Men in the hospital and also the Zaynab Ward for women. They sealed off the Ibn al-Haytham Ward and damaged the counseling department and administrative offices in the hospital. Staff and patients were locked up inside the hospital.

The ar-Rashad Mental Hospital in the Madinat as-Sadr section of Baghdad has been under the control of the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia since the US occupied Iraq in 2003.

Two US soldiers die in non-combat incident in Salah ad-Din Province Wednesday.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 5:58pm Thursday afternoon Beijing time (1:58pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that the US military declared that two more of its soldiers had died in a non-combat accident in Salah ad-Din Province north of Baghdad.

Xinhua reported an American communiqué as saying that the two soldiers were killed when their car overturned on their way to a military base in Salah ad-Din Province on Wednesday. The statement added that a third American soldier and a translator were injured in the incident and taken to an American military hospital fort treatment.

Bomb explodes by Iraqi army patrol in western Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 5:08pm Thursday afternoon Beijing time (1:08pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb went off by a patrol of the Iraqi army on al-Liqa’ Square in western Baghdad before noon on Thursday.

Bomb explodes by police patrol in Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 5:08pm Thursday afternoon Beijing time (1:08pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb went off by a patrol of the government police near the International ash-Sha‘b Stadium.

US admits death of American soldier Wednesday in continued battle against Jaysh al-Mahdi in Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 2:59pm Thursday afternoon Beijing time (10:59am in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported the US military as admitting that an American soldier had been killed during military operations in eastern Baghdad, where the US has been prosecuting an offensive against the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia for over three weeks.

Xinhua reported a statement issued by the American army as saing that one of its troops had been killed by small arms fire in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday, 23 April. In keeping with the US policy of hiding information regarding its losses in Iraq, the American statement provided no further details.

The US has been engaged in a drive to destroy the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi militia in Baghdad in what is believed to be preparation for an eventual attack on Iran.

Diyala Province.

Al-‘Adheem.

Iraqi army soldier killed in bomb attack in al-‘Adheem Thursday.

In a dispatch posted at 10:15pm Baghdad time Thursday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a patrol of the Iraqi regime army on the main street in al-‘Azim, 120km north of Baghdad, on Thursday.

Ninwa Province.

Al-Mawsil.

US troops kill two brothers in al-Mawsil Thursday morning.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 4:37pm Thursday afternoon Beijing time (12:37pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that US troops engaged in raids and searches in the al-Wahdah neighborhood of southern al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad, shot and killed two Iraqi brothers on Thursday morning.

Xinhua reported a source in the Iraqi police as saying that the Americans entered a house in the neighborhood where they killed an officer in the former Iraqi army along with his brother. No explanation for the killings was provided, the source said, and as of the time of reporting, the US had offered no account of the incident.

Bomb kills one in al-Mawsil.

In a dispatch posted at 12:13pm Baghdad time midday Thursday, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a car in the al-‘Arabi neighborhood of northern al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad.

Yaqen reported an official in the police as saying that the blast killed one person and wounded three more. The injured were taken to al-Mawsil General Hospital for treatment.

Wasit Province.

Al-Kut.

Iraqi regime security forces raid Sadr Movement office in al-Kut at dawn Thursday.

In a dispatch posted at 6:45pm Baghdad time Thursday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that an Iraqi regime security force raided the office of the Sadr Movement in al-Kut, 150km southeast of Baghdad, at dawn on Thursday.

Al-Basrah Province.

Al-Basrah.

Prominent official in Sadr Movement arrested by Iraqi regime in al-Basrah Wednesday night.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 5:57pm Thursday afternoon Beijing time (1:57pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that Iraqi regime security forces had arrested a prominent commander in the anti-occupation Sadr Movement in al-Basrah on Wednesday night.

Xinhua reported a source in the provincial police who asked to remain anonymous as saying that the regime forces arrested Shaykh ‘Abd as-Sattar al-Bahadili, and President of the al-Ghadir Institute for Islamic Culture, and a prominent leader of the Sadr Movement in al-Basrah. The US-backed regime’s security men also arrested the Shaykh’s brother, ‘Uqayl al-Bahadili.

A statement released by the regime stated that al-Bahadili was arrested in the Hamdan Restaurant in al-Basrah at 10pm Wednesday night.

Xinhua noted that Shaykh ‘Abd as-Sattar al-Bahadili had been Director of the as-Sadr Office in al-Basrah from 2003 to 2004, during which time he took part in numerous military operations against the British occupation forces. Later he headed the al-Ghadir Institute. ‘Uqayl al-Bahadili is an information official at the same Institute.

US forces and their Iraqi regime allies have been engaged in an offensive against the anti-occupation Sadr Movement for several weeks in what is believed to be the preparation for an eventual attack on Iran.

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