2 explosions injure 4 civilians in Baghdad

March 13, 2009 - 12:53:02

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

Four civilians were wounded in two separate explosions on Friday in south and western Baghdad, according to a police source.

“An improvised explosive device went off in al-Doura region, injuring a civilian and a woman,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“Another bomb exploded in al-Khadraa region in western Baghdad, wounding two civilians,” he added.

Four policemen were wounded earlier in Baghdad in an explosion that targeted their vehicle patrol in southeastern Baghdad.

SH (P)

IED injures 4 cops in Baghdad

March 13, 2009 - 09:41:18

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

Four policemen were wounded on Friday in a bomb explosion in southeastern Baghdad, a police source said.

“An improvised explosive device went off Friday morning (Mar. 13) near the highway in Baghdad al-Jadieda region in southeastern Baghdad, targeting a police vehicle patrol,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“Four policemen were wounded and one of the patrol’s vehicles was damaged in the blast,” he added.

SH (P)

British base in Basra rocketed

March 13, 2009 - 08:26:06

BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq:

The Multinational forces in southern Iraq said the British base at the Basra international airport came under Katyusha rockets attack on Thursday night, but caused no casualties or damage.

“Four Katyusha rockets hit the British base at the Basra international airport without casualties,” the spokesperson for the MNF in southern Iraq, Captain Jacklin Hackett, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

British soldiers were stationed in one base - the Basra International Airport, 25 km northeast of the province - after handing over the former presidential palaces, which they took as a military base, to the Iraqi forces. The British forces in the oil-rich port city of Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, keep 4,100 troops within the MNF in Iraq. Britain was the United States’ prime ally in the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Ceremonies to hand over security responsibilities in Basra province from the British forces to the Iraqi authorities took place at the Basra International Airport in December 2007.

SH (S)

2 policemen killed separately in Ninewa

March 12, 2009 - 06:23:46

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq:

A policeman was killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack while another shot down by gunmen in two separate areas of Mosul city on Thursday, a police source in Ninewa said.

“A policeman was killed in an IED blast that targeted his patrol in the area of Dorat Baghdad, southern Mosul, while another policeman was killed when gunmen opened fire at him near his house in al-Nabi Yunus area, eastern Mosulm” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The source did not give more details about the two incidents.

Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.

AmR (P)

Sunni figure assassinated in Basra

March 12, 2009 - 03:26:21

BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq:

Unknown gunmen assassinated Shaikh Abdullah Adnan al-Neimi, head of the tribal office of Iraq’s Scholars and Intellectuals Group, at an area in southern Basra city, a source from the Group said on Thursday.

“The incident took place at Mhejran area, southern Basra,” Mohammed al-Dosari told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“Neimi died instantly when the gunmen opened fire at him today (March 12) afternoon,” he said.

The Group, formed in 2007, calls for employing a moderate religious approach to reinforce national unity.

The oil-rich port city of Basra lies 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

MH (P)/AmR