WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-02-21 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
BAGHDAD, Feb. 19 (151) In a rare coordinated assault on an American combat outpost north of Baghdad, suicide bombers drove one or more cars laden with explosives into the compound on Monday, while other insurgents opened fire in the ensuing chaos, according to witnesses and the American military. Two American soldiers were killed and at least 17 were wounded.
The brazen attack, which was followed by gun battles and an evacuation of the wounded by American helicopters, was almost surely the work of Sunni militants, most likely Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, according to American and Iraqi officials.
It appeared to be part of a renewed drive by insurgents in recent weeks as more American and Iraqi troops flood the streets of Baghdad and thousands of marines head to western Anbar Province to try to stem the violence. Hundreds of Iraqis have died in a recent wave of car bombings in Baghdad and elsewhere.
Insurgents have been able to shoot down more helicopters through coordinated assaults, captured documents suggest, and American and Iraqi military officials say they are concerned that militants are moving to areas where the American troop presence remains thin.
As the Iraqi government and the American military struggled to build public trust in the security forces, a Sunni woman publicly charged that she had been raped by members of the largely Shiite National Police, causing a furor.
The assault on the American outpost, situated in the heart of a town called Tarmiya, was unusual because militants had largely avoided direct assaults on heavily fortified American positions. A similar attack occurred last summer, when a suicide driver plowed a truck full of explosives into a military outpost near the town of Baghdadi, in Anbar Province, but that did not seem as coordinated as Monday's assault.
Shortly before dawn, suicide bombers drove at least one and possibly as many as three cars laden with explosives into the outer perimeter of the outpost. Witnesses said there were two explosions then a brief pause before another bomber drove his vehicle into the building, a former police station.
Sometime during the assault a gas storage container exploded, sending black smoke billowing into the sky as militants laid siege to the outpost, firing on the Americans from multiple directions, according to an Iraqi official and local residents. As the gun battle raged, at least four American helicopters swept overhead to evacuate the wounded soldiers. There were no reports of how many militants were killed.
The witnesses were reached by telephone and related their accounts only on the condition of anonymity, saying they feared for their lives. The accounts of the witnesses, some of whom live next door to the outpost, could not be independently verified. In a statement, the American military confirmed only the casualty figures and said at least one car bomb was involved in the attack.
Militants usually attack American bases by firing mortars from a distance, using snipers to wait for targets of opportunity, or planting explosive devices on roads frequented by Americans. Iraqi police and army stations, on the other hand, have come under frequent assault by suicide bombers.
There is evidence that Shiite militia leaders are lying low and heading to strongholds in the south during the security crackdown, but attacks by Sunni militants seem to be intensifying. In addition to the assault in Tarmiya, militants on Monday struck at Iraqi security forces and government officials near Kirkuk, Ramadi and Tikrit, and attacked civilians near Falluja.
A family of 13 was killed on the road leading to Falluja, about 12 miles northwest of Baghdad, because its members were from a tribe known to oppose Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, witnesses said.
The family, including an elderly woman and two small boys, was dragged out of a minibus, lined up and shot. The bodies remained on the highway for hours because people were afraid they would be ambushed if they collected the dead, witnesses said.
The family was part of the Albu Farag tribe, which has made an alliance with the Anbar Salvation Council. The council has been trying to undermine the militants, and its leader, Abdul Satar Abu Risha, was himself the target of an assassination attempt on Monday when a suicide bomber drove into his home in Ramadi. He survived, but five of his guards were killed.
The attack on the Tarmiya outpost came as American troops moved into similar stations throughout Baghdad for the first time since the early months after the 2003 invasion. Monday's attack underscored the inherent risks in the new strategy.
The Americans entered Tarmiya after the local police force collapsed in December, following a campaign of intimidation by Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, according to the military and residents.
Until the police force collapsed, the Americans had been only an occasional presence in the town of 25,000, sending soldiers to conduct patrols with the Iraqis from a nearby base. Over the past two years, residents said, Sunni militants have been a constant presence. In addition to attacking the security forces, they have pushed nearly all the Shiites out of the once-mixed community.
The outpost, established in the abandoned police headquarters in the center of the town, was fortified by large blast walls. Americans typically keep one company of about 100 soldiers at such outposts.
By nightfall, American forces had sealed off all entrances to the town and imposed a curfew, leaving residents worried that they would be cut off from basic supplies.
In the west of the country, three marines and an Army soldier were killed over the weekend, the United States military said Monday.
Even as Iraqis and Americans stepped up security efforts in Baghdad on Monday, a day after bombs killed 61 people in a downtown market, there were at least three bombings and one mortar attack that killed 11 people, Iraqi officials said.
There was also an increase in the number of bodies found around the city after a brief lull, officials said. At least 20 bodies showing signs of torture were found on the streets of the capital on Monday.
The American military released statements asserting a number of successes in combating both Sunni militants and Shiite militia groups.
An Iraqi unit, aided by American advisers, caught militants in the act of constructing devices known as explosively formed projectiles in a house in Hilla, south of Baghdad, on Saturday, according to the American military. The explosive devices have proved especially lethal to American troops in recent months, and both military commanders and the White House have pointed to Iran as the source of a component essential in making the devices.
The renewed security campaign will rely on winning the trust of the population, and that effort may have been dealt a blow on Monday night, when a woman said on Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language satellite channel, that she had been kidnapped and raped by members of the Iraqi National Police.
The woman, a Sunni, said three members of the National Police stormed into her home in the Amil neighborhood of Baghdad on Sunday while her husband was away, accused her of cooking for militants and took her to a police garrison where the assault occurred.
Although the woman did not say her attackers were Shiites, the National Police is believed to be dominated by Shiites, including elements of the militias that have infiltrated its ranks.
Sunni politicians rushed to condemn the Shiite-led government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki and the security crackdown, while some Shiite officials questioned the woman's account.
The woman said she was treated by Americans, but a spokesman for the American military said he had no knowledge of the case. An Iraqi nurse who said she had treated the woman supported her account.
Rape victims rarely come forward in Muslim countries, making the public airing of the account highly unusual.
Aware of the highly charged nature of the woman's claims, Mr. Maliki's office quickly released a statement last night calling for a full investigation and “the severest punishment” for anyone involved.
Source: New York Times
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/world/middl…/p>