IED hits U.S. patrol vehicle in Diwaniya

January 9, 2010 - 04:46:02

DIWANIYA / Aswat al-Iraq:

An improvised explosive device (IED) has hit a U.S. patrol vehicle in western Diwaniya, an Iraqi army source said on Saturday.

“The device exploded at the Ghammas intersection (30 km west of Diwaniya City),” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. There has been no word on casualties or damage, the source pointed out, adding that a U.S. security cordon has been thrown around the scene of the blast.

Diwaniya, the capital city of Diwaniya province, lies 180 km south of Baghdad.

SS (P)/SR

U.S. forces kill 4 gunmen in Mosul

January 8, 2010 - 10:45:21

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq:

U.S. forces killed four gunmen in Ninewa, while a tribal conflict left two people dead and four wounded in north of Mosul, a police source said.

“Clashes flared up on Friday morning (Jan. 8) between U.S. forces and gunmen on the Mosul-Baghdad road, south of Mosul, during which four gunmen were killed,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“Two persons were killed and four others were wounded in a conflict between two Kurdish tribes in Sinjar district, north of Mosul,” the same source said.

Mosul, the capital of Ninewa, is 405 km north of Baghdad.

SH (P)

2 gunmen killed in mortar blast in Mosul

January 9, 2010 - 01:39:16

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq:

Two gunmen were killed while they trying to launch a mortar in western Mosul, a local security source said on Saturday.

“On Saturday noon, the gunmen, two brothers, were killed when a mortar bomb went off in Rajam Hadeed area, western Mosul,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The bodies have been taken to the morgue, the source noted.

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

SS (P)

U.S. army: Attacks inside Mosul lower but escalate in suburbs

January 7, 2010 - 06:23:45

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq:

A U.S. military commander in Ninewa said on Thursday that gunmen attacks inside the city went down but were stepped up within the suburbs, noting the joint military points of the U.S., Iraqi and peshmerga forces were set up to provide security atmosphere for the elections during a set period of time.

“This well indicates that the Iraqi and U.S. forces have managed to curb or lessen attacks inside Mosul as the gunmen left their posts in the city and headed for the suburbs and outskirts to hide,” said Col. Carlos Sexton, the commander of the U.S. army 3rd Division’s 2nd Brigade, during a press conference he held in Ninewa on Thursday.

“We are working on flushing the gunmen outside the city in order to eliminate them,” he said.

Reviewing the gunmen’s planned attacks during the past three years, Sexton pointed out that the number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) went down during the recent months from 1167 in 2008 to 278 at present.

“Attacks registered their lowest levels in June 2009 during the past three years,” he added.

AmR (P)

US soldier in Iraq dies of non-combat reasons

January 7, 2010 - 03:14:18

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

One U.S. soldier died in a non-combat incident, the second to U.S. fatality in Iraq in 2010, raising to 4,373 the total death toll of U.S. forces since the beginning of combat operations in 2003.

“The soldier died in northern Iraq on Wednesday (Jan.6, 2009),” the U.S. army in Iraq said in a release on Thursday received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The incident is currently under investigation,” read the statement, not giving further details.

The recent eight casualties among U.S. forces in Iraq were all reported by their commanders as killed in non-combat incidents.

MH (P)/AmR