15 Iraqis Killed, Including 6 Family Members in US Air Strike, 4 Executed by Death Squads, According to August 2, 2008 News Reports

Editor's Note:

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

Concerning deaths of US soldiers, only those US citizens who die in Iraq are included in the statistics. There are no published statistics about US soldiers who die of their injuries after that. There are no published statistics about the deaths or injuries of the private army soldiers (security contractors), or about those without US citizenship.

It is noteworthy that May 20, 2008 news reports showed that death squads which execute Iraqis on daily basis are no longer hiding themselves. Previously, Sunni leaders pointed to Mahdi Army and Badr militiamen as the perpetrators. Now, death squads are composed of the US-recruited Sahwa fighters and policemen (which is an opportunity for US forces command to sever relations with these fighters).

Despite the fact that there are scores of organizations involved in the Iraq war, the Iraqi government officials prefer to refer to them as Alqaeda gunmen for propaganda purposes, as mentioned in the June 4, 2008 news report. For accuracy purposes, the term "Alqaeda gunmen" may be replaced with "Iraqi fighters."

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Yaqen.net reported the following news:

- Six members of the family of Jassem Haddad were all killed and buried under rubble in a US air strike on their home in Al-Jazeerah area, in Salahuddin Province. A baby girl was found in serious condition was taken to a US forces hospital. US forces surrounded the house before the air strike. Two days ago, three members of another family were also killed by US forces in Salahuddin Province.

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News Summary

National - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 02 /08 /2008 Time 10:30:08
BAGHDAD, Aug. 2 (VOI) –

Following is a summary of news reports posted until 10:00 p.m. Baghdad local time Saturday:

* Politics & Security:

DIALA, Five (US-recruited) Sahwa tribal fighters were killed and three others wounded on Saturday when an improvised explosive device went off while defusing it, according to a statement by the Multi-National Force (MNF) in Iraq.

BAGHDAD, The U.S. army captured 13 suspected members of al-Qaeda in Iraq, two of them wanted, during separate security operations targeting the group around the country, according to a U.S. army statement on Saturday.

BASRA, A man suspected of killing three family members, including two women, was arrested one hour after the incident in western Basra on Saturday, a police source said.

ARBIL, The German Ambassador in Baghdad Hans Schumacher on Saturday said his country was planning to open a consulate in Arbil in early 2009, adding that a Goethe Institute would be inaugurated during the next few months.

AmR/SR

News Summary

National - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 02 /08 /2008 Time 10:30:08
BAGHDAD, Aug. 2 (VOI) –

Following is a summary of news reports posted until 04:00 p.m. Baghdad local time Saturay:

* Politics & Security:

BAGHDAD, The United States is about to make military sales to Iraq valued at nearly $9 billion, a Swiss daily newspaper said on Saturday.

KARBALA, A total of 40,000 security personnel will be deployed in the city of Karbala in preparation for a Shiite pilgrimage scheduled to take place on August 19, the city's operations command said on Saturday.

DIALA, A total of 200 wanted persons have been captured by the security apparatus since the commencement of Operation Bashaer al-Khair (Promise of Good), the director of the Iraqi Interior Ministry's National Command Center said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD, Police forces released a hostage held by an armed group in a western Baghdad neighborhood, a security source said on Saturday.

KIRKUK, Iraqi police forces thwarted an attempt to smuggle 13 tankers transporting crude oil in the southwest of Kirkuk, an official source said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD, Twenty five individuals were captured on Saturday under Operation Bashaer al-Khair (Promise of Good) in Diala, in addition to a woman believed to be behind the recruitment of female bombers in the province, Iraqi authorities said.

KIRKUK, An Iraqi force captured eight gunmen of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq group in a security raid southwest of Kirkuk city on Saturday, a police official said.

WASSIT, A local morgue in Kut City received two unknown bodies that were pulled out of a river in northern Wassit province, a medic said on Saturday.

NINEWA, A police force found two unidentified bodies in eastern Mosul while arms and munitions were seized in a raid in the northern part of the city on Saturday, a security source said.

SS/SR

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Iraq War Report for events of Friday, 1 August 2008.

Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr,

member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.
Friday, 1 August 2008.

· Iraqi regime forces capture six al-Qa‘idah commanders in operation near al-‘Azim.

· US announces one American soldier killed, two more wounded in “non-combat incident” in Ninwa Province Thursday.

Al-Anbar Province.
Ath-Tharthar.

TV reporter kidnapped.

In a dispatch posted at 5:50pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a correspondent for al-‘Iraqiyah TV was kidnapped in the ath-Tharthar area near the border between the provinces of al-Anbar and Salah ad-Din.

Yaqen reported a high-ranking source in the ath-Tharthar police who asked not to be identified as saying that gunmen abducted Ahmad ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Hamdani, also knows as Ahmad Abu Rayshiyah, of al-‘Iraqiyah TV on Friday afternoon after he had made a trip to the ath-Tharthar dam to the south of Samarra’, 120km north of Baghdad. The gunmen set up a fake roadblock and then waited for al-Hamdani’s car, a description of which they already had.

Al-Hamdani works for al-‘Iraqiyah TV, al-‘Arabiyah TV, and the al-Hurrah Channel. He specializes in covering the “Awakening” tribal police and their operations against resistance and armed organizations. The area in which he was kidnapped is known to be a hideout for al-Qa‘idah fighters.

Al-Hadithah.

Bomb destroys Iraqi police vehicle in al-Hadithah.

In a dispatch posted at 11:15am Baghdad time Friday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by government police car in the ar-Rifaq neighborhood of al-Haqlaniyah, a suburb of al-Hadithah, 270km northwest of Baghdad.

Yaqen reported eyewitnesses as saying that the car, a GMC, was totally destroyed and all those aboard it were killed. The police refused to mention that anyone had been killed in the blast, saying only that bodies had been taken to the police headquarters in the city. The area where the bomb exploded remained cordoned off for several hours as police searched in vain for the attackers.

Baghdad.

Bomb kills motorist in southern Baghdad midday Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 3:50pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that one person was killed and two more wounded when an adhesive bomb exploded on a car in which the victims were riding through southern Baghdad.

Yaqen reported a source in the Iraqi government police as saying that the attack took place in the al-Qadisiyah area of Baghdad near the al-Jadiriyah Bridge at midday Friday. The driver of the car was killed and two of his passengers were wounded. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

US announces one American soldier killed, two more wounded in “non-combat incident” in Ninwa Province Thursday.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 4:48pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (11:48am in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that the US military had announced that one of its soldiers had died and two more had been injured in what it described as “a non-combat incident” somewhere in Ninwa Province in northern Iraq.

Xinhua reported the American communiqué as saying that the “non-combat incident” took place when the soldiers were taking part in security operations in Ninwa Province on Thursday, 31 July.

Since 10 May, the US and its Iraqi regime allies have been waging an offensive against the al-Qa‘idah organization, known for its suicide attacks, in al-Mawsil and surrounding Ninwa Province.

Salah ad-Din Province.
Balad.

Resistance group claims to fire rocket.

In a dispatch posted at 12:32pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the Iraqi resistance group that calls itself the Brigades of the Glory For the Liberation of Iraq, an organization affiliated with the Baathist “Supreme Command for the Jihad and Liberation” had issued a communiqué

Yaqen reported the communiqué as saying that fighters for the group had fired a rocket at an American base in Balad, 80km north of Baghdad. The statement gave no indication as to when the attack had allegedly taken place.

Diyala Province.
Al-‘Azim.

Iraqi regime forces capture six al-Qa‘idah commanders in operation near al-‘Azim.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 4:55pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (11:55am in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that the Iraqi army announced that its units had arrested six commanders of the Sunni fundamentalist al-Qa‘idah organization who had been wanted for the commission of dozens of crimes against civilians and members of the security forces in the area around al-‘Azim, 120km north of Baghdad. The Iraqi military said that another four al-Qa‘idah personalities had been killed.

Xinhua reported a source in the security forces who asked to remain anonymous as saying that the 4th Division of the Iraqi army carried out security operations in the Amitbijah area and villages around al-‘Azim in Diyala Province. The operation was in support of US and Iraqi regime efforts against al-Qa‘idah in the area.

The source said that the troops captured six commanders in the Sunni fundamentalist al-Qa‘idah organization: ‘Ali al-Balwaz al-Khazraji, Mahmud Muhammad Husayn al-Jabburi, ‘Ammar al-Aswad (who was an Captain in the police during the time of the Saddam Hussein regime), Nazim as-Sayyad and his son Qusay, and ‘Adnan al-‘Ubaydi. All of them were on lists of “wanted” men, accused of killing dozens of residents of ad-Dulu‘iyah across the border in Salah ad-Din Province and also accused of killing members of the Iraqi government security forces.

The source said that four al-Qa‘idah gunmen were killed during the fighting, two of them found wearing the explosive belts of suicide bombers.

In the course of the operation, three of the government troops were moderately wounded when one of the al-Qa‘idah gunmen pretended that he wanted to surrender but then blew himself up when the government troops approached.

The area where the battle took place is regarded as a stronghold of the Sunni-sectarian al-Qa‘idah organization. The terrain there is favorable to the gunmen as it is wooded and hilly and remote from populated areas.

At-Ta’mim/Kirkuk Province.
Kirkuk.

Bomb explodes by motorcade of staff of Kirkuk police chief Friday evening.

In a dispatch posted at 10pm Baghdad time Friday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by the motorcade of the chief of police of Kirkuk Province in Kirkuk city, 250km northwest of Baghdad, on Friday evening.

Yaqen reported a source in the Kirkuk police as saying that a homemade bomb that had been planted by the side of the road near the Baghdad car park in southwestern Kirkuk went off when the motorcade of Major General Jamal Tahir, the chief of police, passed by.

The source reported that General Tahir was not actually in the procession at the time and that the explosion only inflicted material damage on five vehicles, three of those in the motorcade, and one of them the general’s personal car.

Three Iraqi soldiers killed in bomb blast southwest of Kirkuk.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 7:36pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (2:36pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a patrol of Iraqi army troops in the ar-Rashad area, 30km southwest of Kirkuk (which is 250km north of Baghdad).

Xinhua reported a source in the city police as saying that the blast totally destroyed a Humvee and killed three Iraqi army troops. A fourth Iraqi soldier was severely wounded in the explosion and was taken to hospital for treatment.

The situation around Kiruk has grown tense as Kurdish separatists struggle against the Arab and Turkoman majority to take control of oil-rich Kirkuk and annex it to the Kurdish separatist enclave set up under US auspices in northern Iraq.

Al-Basrah Province.
Al-Basrah.

Iraqi regime forces arrest eight in al-Basrah.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 7:36pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (2:36pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that Iraqi security men arrested eight individuals wanted for “terrorism and crime” and disarmed an anti-personnel cluster bomb in the course of raids and searches in various parts of the southern province of al-Basrah in the last 24 hours.

Xinhua reported a source in the police in al-Basrah who asked not to be identified as saying that Interior Ministry forces carried out raids and searches in various parts of al-Basrah, arresting eight “wanted” men. Elsewhere, on the old highway near sand dunes 50km west of al-Basrah, the security men found and disarmed a cluster bomb.

www.albasrah.net

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