2 US Soldiers, 30 Iraqis Killed, Including 21 in Tala'afar Explosion, US Commander Beats Recruited Iraqis, According to August 8-9, 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:

- Two US-backed senior officials in the city of Haditha have been quarreling openly. These were the city governor (Qaem Maqam), Abdul Hakim Al-Jughaifi, and his cousin the police commander, Farouq Al-Jughaifi.

The two US-backed Jughaifis were quarreling over deals with US forces. The fight ended by the resignation of the governor. The police commander, as a show of force and winning, arrested the governor's son, Ayman Al-Jughaifi.

He put Ayman in an open car, and showed him to the city residents telling them that he would pay for his crimes in the city, which included rape, robbery, and spying on Iraqis for US forces.

Today, three days after his arrest, US forces intervened and released him from prison before his trial for his crimes.

- The commander of the Georgian troops in Iraq, Maysoradze, announced that all Georgian 1,000 soldiers will withdraw from Iraq as soon as US forces provide them with transportation.

The French TV, France 24, reported that there are 2,000 Georgian soldiers in Iraq and that they will be leaving Iraq to fight in the current war in Ositia.

(Georgia is a very poor former Soviet republic. The Georgian president was a US citizen before becoming a president).

- El-Salvador will replace its 280 soldiers in Iraq by only 200 soldiers, thus decreasing its troop participation (El-Salvador is a very poor country in Central America).

- Two US soldiers were killed on Saturday in Al-Anbar Province. The US command said it was a non-combat incident.

- Three members of one family, including a woman, were killed, two more were injured inside their car, by fire from Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint in Al-Shurqat, for suspicion.

Yaqen.net and amsi.org reported the following news:

- The new commander of US forces in Al-Anbar Province beat three senior Iraqis collaborating with US forces.

The first was a leader of the US-recruited Sahwa fighters in Al-Ramadi, called Sheik Ra'ad Sabah Al-'Alwani. He beat him because he was parading with a large procession in the streets of the city. The US commander ordered him to get out of his luxurious vehicle and started beating him in front of his guards and other people. The interpreter told the beaten sheik that he was parading in a vehicle paid for by the American people and the blood of American soldiers. He shouldn't be doing that.

The second was sheik 'Aref Mukhaiber, who was beaten during one of the meetings attended by leaders of the US-recruited Sahwa fighters. When the sheik suggested offering a big banquet to honor US military commanders, the new US commander started beating him for his open attempt to kiss up Americans.

The third beaten senior US-backed Iraqi official was the police commander of Al-Jama'iya, Colonel Rashed Mahmoud Shallal. He was beaten for his reckless behavior in entering the room of the US commander while having his gun on his side. The commander took off his gun and beat him.

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Minister's guard gunned down in Touz Khormato

Kirkuk - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 09 /08 /2008 Time 3:14:13
KIRKUK, Aug. 9 (VOI) –

One of the Iraqi youth and sports minister's guard was gunned down in Touz Khormato district, an official police source said on Saturday.

"At a late hour on Friday night, unknown gunmen opened fire on a bodyguard of the Minister of Youth and Sports, Jassem Mohammed Ja'afar, in front of his house in Imam Ahmed neighborhood, Touz Khormato district (85 km southwest of Kirkuk), killing him on the spot," the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI).

The body was taken to the morgue and an investigation is currently underway to reveal the motivations behind the killing, the source added.

SS (R)

U.S. army says 2 al-Qaeda gunmen killed

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 09 /08 /2008 Time 3:14:13
BAGHDAD, Aug. 9 (VOI) –

U.S. forces killed two (alleged) members of Iraqi al-Qaeda and captured 14 others during the past 48 hours in different areas of the country, according to the U.S. army in Iraq on Saturday.

AmR (S)

News Summary

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 09 /08 /2008 Time 3:14:13
BAGHDAD, Aug. 8 (VOI) –

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

* Politics & Security:

NINEWA, Three Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol in eastern Mosul on Friday, according to an army source in the city.

BASRA, Iraqi army forces arrested two wanted men and seized a factory for home-making improvised explosive devices in search raids during the past 24 hours in Basra province, an army media source said on Friday.

NINEWA, At least 16 individuals were killed and 25 others wounded by a suicide car bomb in the province of Ninewa, a police source said.

NINEWA, The casualty toll from a car bombing that ripped through the northern border town of Talafar rose to16 dead and 55 injured, a Ninewa police source said.

NINEWA, Police forces captured two gunmen after wounding them in clashes in southern Mosul on Friday, while army soldiers seized light weapons during a security raid in the eastern part of the city, a security official said.

NINEWA, The casualty toll from a devastating car bombing in the northern border town of Talafar rose to 21 dead and 70 injured on Friday, a local security said.

BASRA, Police forces on Friday arrested five people wanted on “terror and criminal” charges in raid operations all over Basra, while four others suspected of involvement in a grenade attack that targeted a shop in Basra were also arrested, police said.

AmR (R)

News Summary

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 09 /08 /2008 Time 3:12:16
BAGHDAD, Aug. 8 (VOI) –

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

* Politics & Security:

BAGHDAD, Police forces found two unknown bodies in southeastern Baghdad, a police source said on Friday.

BABEL, Joint Iraqi forces on Friday arrested 36 persons as part of the wide-scale security operation launched in different areas of Babel, a police source said.

BABEL, Unknown gunmen on Friday killed a Sahwa official in northwest of Hilla, an official police source said.

DIALA, A joint force of U.S. and Iraqi personnel on Friday arrested two activists in north of Ba'aqouba city, the media official of the national reconciliation committee said.

AmR (R)

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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Friday, 8 August 2008.

Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr,

member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.

Friday, 8 August 2008.

·        Tribal “Awakening” policeman gunned down south of Baghdad as regime launches security assault in Babil Province Friday.

·        A car bomb attack on civilian market in Tall ‘Afar Friday evening.

·        Iraqi army arrests two members of pro-Iranian Jaysh al-Mahdi militia near al-Basrah Friday.

Baghdad.

Jaysh al-Mahdi ready to dissolve should US withdraw from Iraq, spokesman claims.

In a dispatch posted at 7:30pm Baghdad time Friday evening, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Salah al-‘Ubaydi, spokesman for the pro-Iranian Shi‘i sectarian Sadr Movement, announced on Friday that the movement’s armed wing, the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, was prepared to disband as soon as US occupation forces leave Iraq.

Yaqen reported al-‘Ubaydi as saying that the Sadr Movement is in transforming the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia into a social-cultural organization, but said that this would not be carried out until after the American forces leave Iraq or set a timetable for a withdrawal in accordance with an agreement between Iraq and the United States such as is under negotiation.

Al-‘Ubaydi said that the fact that no agreement has been reached until now is the reason why specific cells of the Jaysh al-Mahdi have remained, to carry on the resistance whenever that is necessary.

US detains two members of Iranian-backed “Special Detachments” near Baghdad.

In a dispatch posted at 6:20pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US forces had announced that they had detained two members of the Iranian-backed “Special Detachments” in the ar-Rashid area to the west of Baghdad on Friday.

Yaqen reported a US communiqué as saying that the raid against the Iranian-backed fighters was based on intelligence information

Diyala Province.
Al-Miqdadiyah.

US troops arrest three pro-American Sunni-sectarian politicians in Diyala Province, Thursday afternoon.

In a dispatch posted at 2:25pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US troops raided the homes of three Diyala Province officials in the area of al-Miqdadiyah, 85km northeast of Baghdad, Thursday afternoon.

Yaqen reported a source in the province as saying that the Americans stormed into the home of the Assistant Governor of Diyala Province, Dr. Hafiz al-Jabburi; the Chairman of the Administration of the Sunni Waqf (Pious Endowments), Shaykh Hasan al-Mulla; and the Chairman of the Municipal Council of the al-Miqdadiyah area, Ra‘d ‘Abd Jasim at-Tamimi. The US knew the owners of the houses before conducting the raids, the source said, adding that the Americans made no arrests of any of the bodyguards serving the three officials.

Yaqen noted that Hafiz al-Jabbouri and Ra‘ad al-Tamimi are both members of the Sunni-sectarian Iraqi Islamic Party, which has been collaborating with the US occupation regime since it was established in 2003. Two weeks ago, at-Tamimi responded to the issuance of an arrest warrant against him by turning himself in to the Iraqi regime authorities, but he was later released after the charges against him reportedly were “proved unfounded.”

Babil Province.
Al-Iskandariyah.

Tribal “Awakening” policeman gunned down south of Baghdad as regime launches security assault in Babil Province Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 12:16pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that gunmen shot and killed an official in the tribal “Awakening” police as he road his motorcycle in the al-Faris area of Jurf as-Sakhr, 40km south of Baghdad, on Friday morning.

Yaqen reported a source in the Babil Province police as saying that the attack coincided with an offensive launched by the Iraqi regime with US support in the city of al-Hillah, 100km south of Baghdad – the capital of Babil Province.

Colonel Salim Watwat, commander of the “Falcon Force” of the government police announced that the police had conducted raids and searches, rounding up 35 people in the al-‘Askari neighborhood, Ghaydah, and al-Iskan in the al-Iskandariyah area, 40km south of Baghdad.

Ninwa Province.
Tall ‘Afar.

Car bomb attack on civilian market in Tall ‘Afar Friday evening.

In a dispatch posted at 8:35pm Baghdad time Friday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a car bomb exploded in the middle of a popular market in Tall ‘Afar, 60km west of al-Mawsil in northern Iraq on Friday evening.

In an update at 9:20pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, Yaqen reported a source in the government police as saying that an explosives-laden car that had been parked in the middle of a popular market in the ‘Ulwah al-Mukhaddar area of Tall ‘Afar, blew up, killing 18 people and wounding 55 more.

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

Al-Mawsil.

Bomb wounds three Iraqi army troops in al-Mawsil Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 5pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a patrol of Iraqi army troops in the al-Intisar Neighborhood of eastern al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad on Friday.

Yaqen reported a source in the provincial government as saying that the blast wounded three troops, one of them gravely.

Al-Basrah Province.
Al-Basrah.

Iraqi army arrests two members of pro-Iranian Jaysh al-Mahdi militia near al-Basrah Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 6:50pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Iraqi army forces arrested two members of the pro-Iranian Jaysh al-Mahdi Shi‘i sectarian militia in raids in the districts of az-Zubayr (35km southwest of al-Basrah) and al-Qurnah (100km north of al-Basrah).

Yaqen reported a source in the army as saying that the Iraqi military also uncoverd a factory for making bombs in a residence in the az-Zubayr area. The raids also yielded a find of more than 80 Kalashnikov assault rifles.

Since March, the US-backed Iraqi regime has been actively engaged in an offensive against the pro-Iranian Sadr Movement and its armed wing, the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia, in Iraq, in what is believed to be preparation for an American attack on Iran.

www.albasrah.net

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