2 US Soldiers Killed in War Attacks, Britain Pays £3m to Iraqis Tortured by British Soldiers, According to July 11, 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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Unknown gunmen kill cop in Ninewa

Ninewa - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 13 /07 /2008 Time 3:15:02

MOSUL, July 11 (VOI) –

Unidentified gunmen on Friday shot and killed a policeman in northern Mosul, said a police source.
“Unknown gunmen killed a cop working in the Ninewa province’s building in al-Qahera neighborhood in northern Mosul,” the source, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).

“The gunmen shot him in the head while driving his car,” he explained.
Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.
The original city of Mosul stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient biblical city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides.
Despite having an amount of Kurdish population, it does not form part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The fabric Muslin, long manufactured here, is named for this city. Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble.
The city is also a historic center for the Nestorian Christianity of the Assyrians, containing the tombs of several Old Testament prophets such as Jonah, Yunus in Arabic, and Nahum.

SH

IED injures 6 civilians in Mosul

Ninewa - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 13 /07 /2008 Time 3:15:02

MOSUL, July 11 (VOI) –

Six civilians were wounded on Friday in a bomb blast in eastern Mosul, said a police source.
“An improvised explosive device went off targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Jamassa region in eastern Mosul, injuring six civilians,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI) on condition of anonymity
“The bomb was placed under a vegetable cart,” the source, added, noting that the explosion left no casualties among the policemen.
“The wounded were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” he also said, adding none more details.
Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.
The original city of Mosul stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient biblical city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides.
Despite having an amount of Kurdish population, it does not form part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
The fabric Muslin, long manufactured here, is named for this city. Another historically important product of the area is Mosul marble.
The city is also a historic center for the Nestorian Christianity of the Assyrians, containing the tombs of several Old Testament prophets such as Jonah, Yunus in Arabic, and Nahum.

SH

Two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq – Pentagon

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 13 /07 /2008 Time 3:15:02

BAGHDAD, July 11 (VOI) -

The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Friday the deaths of two soldiers previously listed as “Missing-Captured”‌ while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom, raising the U.S. fatalities in Iraq since 2003 to 4,118.

“On July 10, the Armed Forces Medical Examiner positively identified human remains recovered in Iraq July 9 to be those of two soldiers who had been previously listed as “Missing-Captured,” the Pentagon said in statement received by Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI).
“The soldiers Killed were: Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez, 25 at the time of his capture and Pfc. Byron J. Fouty, 19 at the time of his capture, of Waterford, Mich,” the statement added.
“Jimenez and Fouty were part of a patrol that was ambushed by enemy forces south of Baghdad on May 12, 2007,” the statement also said.
The deaths bring the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-invasion of Iraq in March 2003 to 4,118.

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Britain to pay £3m to Iraqis tortured by British troops – newspaper

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 13 /07 /2008 Time 3:15:02
BAGHDAD, July 11 (VOI) -

The British government has agreed to pay almost £3m to the family of Baha Mousa and nine other Iraqis tortured by British troops and issued a full apology for the "appalling abuse" they suffered, the Guardian newspaper reported.

The group's lawyers, Leigh Day & Co, said the Treasury solicitors had agreed to pay £2.83m in damages after two days of talks in London.
General Freddie Viggers, the officer dealing with the mediation, issued a full apology to the nine men and Mousa's family.
It said: "The British army apologises for the appalling treatment that you suffered at the hands of the British army. The appalling behaviour of British soldiers made us feel disgusted."
Mousa, a 26-year-old hotel receptionist, dies in September 2003 after being detained in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, along with a group of other Iraqis, on suspicion of being insurgents.
“A postmortem found Mousa suffered 93 different injuries, including a broken nose and fractured ribs. It said he died of asphyxia, caused by a stress position that soldiers forced him to maintain,” the paper said.
Daoud Mousa, the victim's father and an Iraqi police colonel, praised the resolution.
"The death of my son is with me every day of my life," he said.
"Today's settlement will ease a little of that pain and will go some way to enabling his children and my grandchildren to rebuild their lives."
In May the MoD bowed to pressure by agreeing o an independent public inquiry into the incident. Senior lawyer Martyn Day, from Leigh Day & Co, told guardian.co.uk: "Our clients are very pleased indeed to get this resolved, it allows them to get on with their lives. It has been a terrible ordeal for them and even getting them over here for the mediation has been a nightmare.
"The combination of the compensation and the public inquiry means that they feel that justice is at last being done."
The MoD said in a statement: "The settlement is with an admission of liability by the Ministry of Defence which follows on from a statement on 27 March 2008 by the Secretary of State for Defence when substantive breaches of Article 2 (right to life) and 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights were admitted."
"The settlement was accompanied by an apology from the Ministry of Defence."
A spokesman added: "All but a handful of the more than 120,000 British troops who have served in Iraq have conducted themselves to the highest standards of behaviour, displaying integrity and selfless commitment.
"But this does not excuse that, during 2003 and 2004, a very small minority there committed acts of abuse and we condemn their actions."
“At a court martial, six soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, including Colonel Jorge Mendonca, the commanding officer, were acquitted of negligence and abuse over Mousa's death and the ill-treatment of the other Iraqis. A corporal admitted inhumane treatment, but no one was convicted of killing Mousa,” the British newspaper highlighted.

SH

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Iraq War Report for events of Friday, 11 July 2008.

Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr,

member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice.

Friday, 11 July 2008.

·        Bomb rips through US Humvee in al-Hadithah midday Friday.

·        US admits death of two soldiers captured in combat in May 2007.

·        Bomb damages US Humvee in Tikrit Thursday night.

·        Iraqi regime troops storm into anti-occupation Sadr Movement mosque in ad-Diwaniyah, arrest Imam, 25 worshippers during Friday prayers, charging them with “insulting the reputation of the government.”

·        US troops attack home in an-Nasiriyah, leave 65-year old Iraqi man dead.

Al-Anbar Province.
Al-Hadithah.

Bomb rips through US Humvee in al-Hadithah midday Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 5:55pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a US patrol on the outskirts of al-Hadithah, 270km northwest of Baghdad, at midday Friday.

Yaqen reported an officer in the al-Hadithah government police who refused to be identified as claiming that armed men set off a bomb by a US patrol, destroying a Humvee and killing or wounding at least three soldiers aboard the vehicle. The source could not specify how many, if any, of the US soldiers had been killed, but said that he observed three casualties being pulled from the vehicle within 15 minutes of the attack.

As usual, the source said, the American patrol cordoned off the area after the attack, letting no one approach, making it impossible for witnesses to say whether anyone had been killed. The Humvee continued to burn for a “long time,” the source said.

Baghdad.

US admits death of two soldiers captured in combat in May 2007.

In a dispatch posted at 8:17pm Baghdad time Friday evening, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the US Department of Defense admitted on Friday that two American soldiers who had been listed as missing since May 2007 had now been shifted to the roster of US dead following the discovery of their bodies.

Yaqen reported the American statement as saying that medical examinations of two bodies on Thursday had established that the two soldiers remains had been found. The two had been captured in an attack south of Baghdad that left a third American dead on the scene on 12 May 2007.

Bomb in eastern Baghdad kills one, wounds four others Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 2:20pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded on a main road in the Palestine Street area of eastern Baghdad on Friday.

Yaqen reported a source in the government police as saying that the blast killed one person and wounded four others, one of them a cameraman for the al-Hayat bureau by the name of Mu‘tazz Nasir.

Salah ad-Din Province.
Samarra’.

Bombs target motorcade of Sunni Waqf administrator in Samarra’ Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 10:50am Baghdad time Friday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that two bombs exploded by the motorcade of the Chairman of the Board of the Sunni Waqf (Pious Endowment Fund) in Samrra’, 120km north of Baghdad on Friday.

Yaqen reported a source in the Samarra’ police as saying that the blasts, which targeted the motorcade of ‘Abd al-Ghafur as-Samarra’i, Chairman of the Board of the Sunni Waqf (Pious Endowment Fund) in Samrra’, killed two people and severely wounded seven more. The injured were evacuated to the US military base Speicher for treatment at the hospital there.

A source close to as-Samarra’i said that the Chairman had survived the attack and had been taken secretly to Baghdad. A source in the US military who asked not to be identified said that two of the companions of as-Samarra’i had died of their wounds.

Tikrit.

Bomb damages US Humvee in Tikrit Thursday night.

In a dispatch posted at 10:05am Baghdad time Friday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a homemade bomb exploded by a US patrol on al-Ihtifalat Street in Tiktik, 180km north of Baghdad, late on Thursday night.

Yaqen reported a source in the provincial police as saying that the blast damaged an American Humvee and inflicted several casualties among the American troops, who called in a helicopter to evacuate them to the as-Samural base in the area of as-Siniyah (220km north of Baghdad). As of the time of reporting, the US had made no announcement regarding the attack.

Diyala Province.
Ba‘qubah.

Reinforcements arrive in Diyala Province for offensive against Jaysh al-Mahdi, in continued preparations for US attack on Iran.

In a dispatch posted at 6:42pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that military reinforcements had arrived in Diyala Province from Baghdad to strengthen the US-backed offensive against the anti-occupation Jaysh al-Mahdi there, in continued preparation for an American attack on Iran.

Yaqen reported a source in Diyala Province as saying that dozens of military vehicles loaded with troops from various Iraqi regime detachments and accompanied by armored vehicles arrived in the al-Muradiyah area near Ba‘qubah Friday. The arrival of the troops indicated that the offensive, already announced last Monday, 7 July, was soon to begin in earnest.

Since March, the US-backed Iraqi regime has been actively engaged in an offensive against the anti-occupation 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.

Ninwa Province.
Al-Mawsil.

Bomb in al-Mawsil market wounds six civilians.

In a dispatch posted at 7:55pm Baghdad time Friday evening, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded in the Karaj area of northeastern al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad on Friday.

Yaqen reported Brigadier General Khalid ‘Abd as-Sattar, the spokesman for the Ninwa Province Operations Command, as saying that the bomb, which had been planted in a vegetable vending cart at the al-Hammam junction in Karaj, exploded in the midst of a crowd of civilians. The blast wounded six people who were taken to the Emergency Room in al-Jumhuri Hospital in the city.

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-Qadisiyah Province.
Ad-Diwaniyah.

Iraqi regime troops storm into anti-occupation Sadr Movement mosque in ad-Diwaniyah, arrest Imam, 25 worshippers during Friday prayers on charges of “insulting the reputation of the government.”

In a dispatch posted at 3:35pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Iraqi regime forces raided a mosque run by followers of anti-occupation religious leader Muqtada as-Sadr in the city of ad-Diwaniyah, 180km southeast of Baghdad on Friday and arrested the Imam and 25 worshippers attending weekly Friday prayer services.

Yaqen reported Sayyid ‘Ali al-Ghurabi, Director of the Sadr Office in ad-Diwaniyah as saying that the regime troops stormed into the Imam ‘Ali Mosque in the northwest of ad-Diwaniyah and arrested Shaykh Husayn al-Karbala’i, the Imam of the place of worship, as he was in the midst of delivering his Friday sermon to the congregation. The troops also arrested 25 of the worshippers. Al-Ghurabi said that the troops attacked the worshippers, striking and insulting them, and then arresting a number of them.

A source in the local government in ad-Diwaniyah said that the reason for the raid was that worshippers in the mosque had been “guilty” of “denouncing, insulting, and belittling the reputation of the government in the course of sermons and religious functions held at the Imam ‘Ali Mosque.” The government representative said that current legislation in US occupied Iraq empowers the authorities to prosecute anyone who insults the government or assails its reputation.

Since March, the US-backed Iraqi regime has been actively engaged in an offensive against the anti-occupation 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.

Dhi Qar Province.
An-Nasiriyah.

US troops attack home in an-Nasiriyah, leave 65-year old Iraqi man dead.

In a dispatch posted on its Arabic website at 7:15pm Friday afternoon Beijing time (2:15pm in Baghdad), the Xinhua News Agency reported that US forces carried out an airborne landing in the ath-Thawrah area of an-Nasiriyah, 370km southeast of Baghdad on Friday, attacking a private home before dawn Friday.

Xinhua reported a source in the Iraqi police as saying that an American force from Baghdad arrived at 2:30am Friday morning and landed on the home of Muhammad Hammud Haraz, 65. After the Americans left, the man was found dead, the source said, adding that the US troops had prevented Iraqi government police and security forces from entering the area where they were carrying out their operation. No word on the nature of the US operation or the reason for it was available.

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