.U.S., Iraqis Launch Anti-Insurgent Raids
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. and Iraqi forces launched six raids against insurgents on Friday, including one that killed at least three Iraqis in house-to-house fighting and another in which American forces wounded a female Iraqi who the U.S. command said was being used as a "human shield."
In some of the fiercest fighting, Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. helicopters swept through Fadhil, one of Baghdad's oldest areas, in house-to-house combat, said police Lt. Ali Muhsin. The neighborhood is about a mile from the heavily fortified Green Zone, where Iraq's parliament and American forces are based.
Fighting in the narrow streets and alleys, suspected insurgents armed with rifles and machine guns killed one Iraqi soldier and two civilians, said Muhsin. U.S. helicopter gunships hovered overhead, but did not open fire on the crowded neighborhoods of one-story homes, he said.
State-run Iraqiya TV said 43 suspected insurgents were taken into custody. Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a U.S. military spokesman, said 28 people were detained in an operation aimed at capturing insurgents.
During five other raids, U.S. forces killed two insurgents and detained 27 Iraqis. The sweeps took place in Baghdad, the town of Youssifiyah to the south, and two locations to the north: near Taji, the U.S. Air Force base, and the town of Tarmiyah.
In the Taji area, soldiers killed one insurgent and wounded "a female local national who was being used as human shield by the terrorist," the U.S. command said. The female, whose name and age were not given, was hospitalized, the U.S. military said.
It was the fourth time this week that a female Iraqi civilian has been killed or wounded in crossfire between U.S. forces and insurgents.
"Terrorists continue to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and children in danger by their actions and presence," the U.S. statement said.
Friday's show of force came a day after President Bush rejected calls for a measured withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. At the meeting with Bush, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who faces domestic opposition to U.S. forces - said Iraqis could take full control by June.
A widening revolt within al-Maliki's divided government showed no signs of subsiding, with 30 lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continuing their political boycott to protest the prime minister's meeting with Bush.
The Sadrists, who want Iraqi forces to take control of the country's security and coalition forces to pull out, said Thursday's meeting was an affront to Iraqis.
Falah Hassan Shanshal, a Shiite lawmaker with the Sadrist group, criticized al-Maliki for winning a unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to extend for one year the mandate of the 160,000-strong multinational force in Iraq. At the time, the prime minister said a priority of his government is to assume full responsibility for security and stability throughout Iraq, but that it needs more time.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, said an American soldier was killed during combat in the capital Thursday, raising the number of U.S. troops who died in November to at least 67, well under the 105 reported dead in October.
An Interior Ministry official said Friday that 1,846 civilians were killed in Iraq in November, a 43 percent increase from the estimated 1,289 civilians killed in October. The official spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. According to a count by The Associated Press, 1,923 civilians were killed in Iraq in November.
Sectarian attacks also continued Friday in Baghdad, with at least 12 Iraqis killed and a Sunni Arab mosque damaged in Baghdad, despite a weekly four-hour vehicle ban aimed at preventing suicide car bombers during Friday prayers.
Gunmen also kidnapped the Sunni head of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs on Thursday and, in separate abductions Friday, two Iraqi women, ages 17 and 20.
In other violence, men armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades drove into a mostly Sunni Arab section of west Baghdad Friday afternoon and opened fire on a small mosque, a police officer said. The grenades set fire to holy books inside the one-story al-Quds Sunni mosque, which was empty at the time. Neighbors opened fire on the attackers, who fled, the officer said. No casualties were reported.
In Sadiyah, a primarily Sunni area of southwestern Baghdad, a Shiite man was killed early Friday and six relatives were wounded in twin bombings - one that drew them outside their house and a second that exploded near them outside, another police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared for his security.
Later, bomb attacks in three areas of the capital killed six Iraqis and wounded 39, police said.
North of Baghdad, mortar rounds killed three civilians and wounded 14 in a village near Muqdadiya, and a suicide bomber targeting an American convoy killed two civilians and wounded three, in the city of Kirkuk, police said.
The bullet-ridden bodies of 14 Kurdish farmers were found in a village 28 miles west of the Syrian border, said provincial official Dekhel Qasim.
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In some of the fiercest fighting, Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. helicopters swept through Fadhil, one of Baghdad's oldest areas, in house-to-house combat, said police Lt. Ali Muhsin. The neighborhood is about a mile from the heavily fortified Green Zone, where Iraq's parliament and American forces are based.
Fighting in the narrow streets and alleys, suspected insurgents armed with rifles and machine guns killed one Iraqi soldier and two civilians, said Muhsin. U.S. helicopter gunships hovered overhead, but did not open fire on the crowded neighborhoods of one-story homes, he said.
State-run Iraqiya TV said 43 suspected insurgents were taken into custody. Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a U.S. military spokesman, said 28 people were detained in an operation aimed at capturing insurgents.
During five other raids, U.S. forces killed two insurgents and detained 27 Iraqis. The sweeps took place in Baghdad, the town of Youssifiyah to the south, and two locations to the north: near Taji, the U.S. Air Force base, and the town of Tarmiyah.
In the Taji area, soldiers killed one insurgent and wounded "a female local national who was being used as human shield by the terrorist," the U.S. command said. The female, whose name and age were not given, was hospitalized, the U.S. military said.
It was the fourth time this week that a female Iraqi civilian has been killed or wounded in crossfire between U.S. forces and insurgents.
"Terrorists continue to deliberately place innocent Iraqi women and children in danger by their actions and presence," the U.S. statement said.
Friday's show of force came a day after President Bush rejected calls for a measured withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. At the meeting with Bush, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki - who faces domestic opposition to U.S. forces - said Iraqis could take full control by June.
A widening revolt within al-Maliki's divided government showed no signs of subsiding, with 30 lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers loyal to anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr continuing their political boycott to protest the prime minister's meeting with Bush.
The Sadrists, who want Iraqi forces to take control of the country's security and coalition forces to pull out, said Thursday's meeting was an affront to Iraqis.
Falah Hassan Shanshal, a Shiite lawmaker with the Sadrist group, criticized al-Maliki for winning a unanimous vote by the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to extend for one year the mandate of the 160,000-strong multinational force in Iraq. At the time, the prime minister said a priority of his government is to assume full responsibility for security and stability throughout Iraq, but that it needs more time.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, said an American soldier was killed during combat in the capital Thursday, raising the number of U.S. troops who died in November to at least 67, well under the 105 reported dead in October.
An Interior Ministry official said Friday that 1,846 civilians were killed in Iraq in November, a 43 percent increase from the estimated 1,289 civilians killed in October. The official spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. According to a count by The Associated Press, 1,923 civilians were killed in Iraq in November.
Sectarian attacks also continued Friday in Baghdad, with at least 12 Iraqis killed and a Sunni Arab mosque damaged in Baghdad, despite a weekly four-hour vehicle ban aimed at preventing suicide car bombers during Friday prayers.
Gunmen also kidnapped the Sunni head of one of Iraq's leading soccer clubs on Thursday and, in separate abductions Friday, two Iraqi women, ages 17 and 20.
In other violence, men armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades drove into a mostly Sunni Arab section of west Baghdad Friday afternoon and opened fire on a small mosque, a police officer said. The grenades set fire to holy books inside the one-story al-Quds Sunni mosque, which was empty at the time. Neighbors opened fire on the attackers, who fled, the officer said. No casualties were reported.
In Sadiyah, a primarily Sunni area of southwestern Baghdad, a Shiite man was killed early Friday and six relatives were wounded in twin bombings - one that drew them outside their house and a second that exploded near them outside, another police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared for his security.
Later, bomb attacks in three areas of the capital killed six Iraqis and wounded 39, police said.
North of Baghdad, mortar rounds killed three civilians and wounded 14 in a village near Muqdadiya, and a suicide bomber targeting an American convoy killed two civilians and wounded three, in the city of Kirkuk, police said.
The bullet-ridden bodies of 14 Kurdish farmers were found in a village 28 miles west of the Syrian border, said provincial official Dekhel Qasim.
MyWay
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