Monday, January 10, 2005
400 more UK troops to be sent to Iraq
Matthew Tempest, James Sturcke and agenciesMonday January 10, 2005
Guardian UnlimitedAn extra 400 British troops are to be sent to Iraq ahead of the planned January elections, the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced today.
The soldiers, who will be from First Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers, are to be deployed from their Cyprus base to south-east Iraq. Mr Hoon said the deployment was being made on the recommendation of the British commanding officer on the ground, and would be "for a limited period of time".
The figure of 400 is less than the 650 troops some reports said Mr Hoon would send, but he was heckled by both Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs for announcing the deployment during Commons questions rather than making a formal statement.
Security is being stepped up across Iraq following a week of insurgent attacks in which the governor of Baghdad and three British civilians have been killed. Although the troops are likely to be based in southern Iraq, there could be requests for them to be deployed in Baghdad or Sunni strongholds in the north.
In Iraq, the deputy police chief of Baghdad and his son were today shot dead as violence continued across the country. Four policemen also died in a suicide car bombing, while two US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the south-west of Baghdad.
News of the attacks came as the Iraqi authorities announced they had arrested the leader of an insurgent group and almost 150 suspected terrorists in a nationwide crackdown.
Brigadier Amer Ali Nayef and his son Lieutenant Khalid Amer, also a police officer, were assassinated in the south Dora district as they travelled to work by car, an interior ministry spokesman said. Police said the assassins had fired machine guns from two cars that were driving parallel with the police chief's vehicle. The victims had been alone in the car.
The assassinations were the latest in a series of attacks against senior Iraqi security officials, policemen and politicians in the run-up to the elections scheduled for January 30.
On Tuesday, gunmen killed the governor of Baghdad, Ali al-Haidari, and six of his bodyguards. Yesterday, Samarra's deputy police chief, Colonel Mohammed Mudhafir, was shot as he drove alone, Samarra police said.
In a separate incident, a suicide car bomb this morning exploded in the courtyard of a police station in southern Baghdad, killing at least four policemen and injuring 10 others, police and witnesses said. A fake police car packed with explosives was used in the attack.
The explosion took place at 8am local time (0500 GMT) in the Zafarniya district, police commissioner Abdul Khaleq Hussein said. Witnesses said it happened as policemen changed shifts.
Two US troops were killed and another four wounded in a roadside bomb attack which destroyed a heavily armoured Bradley fighting vehicle, the US military said.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government today announced that it had detained 147 suspected terrorists, including an insurgent leader and a Saudi citizen, around the country.
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, said Raad al-Doury had been detained only days after taking over command of Jaish Muhammad - Arabic for Muhammad's Army - from Moayad Ahmed Yasseen, who was detained in November.
"Every day the terrorists name a new leader, we capture him and they will stand trial," Mr Allawi told a news conference.
A government statement identified the Saudi as Abdullah Hussein Ali, and said he had been captured along with three Iraqis in Mosul. It added that he had been found in possession of "leaflets that incite terrorism".
Iraqi army troops searched the Sumar mosque in Mosul and captured five suspected insurgents, the statement said. In the Mashtal area of Baghdad, 27 alleged terrorists were detained along with weapons.
The greatest number of arrests took place in the north-eastern town of Mansouriyat al-Jabal, where 79 suspects were captured and weapons and ammunition seized.
Over the weekend, a firefight between insurgents and US troops whose convoy was attacked south of Baghdad left at least eight people dead, according to hospital officials.
In other violence yesterday, a US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb, while a marine was killed in action in the volatile Anbar province.
Iraqi interior ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman said a roadside bomb had hit the US convoy near a police checkpoint in Yussifiyah, nine miles south of Baghdad.
Troops opened fire, killing two police officers and three civilians. Dr Anmar Abdul-Hadi, of al-Yarmouk hospital, said eight people had been killed in the attack, with another 12 wounded.
However, US commanders today claimed that insurgent gunfire had killed the civilians. "Three other civilians were wounded, most likely from insurgents," a statement from the 1st Cavalry Division said.
Hours before the attack, the US admitted dropping a 227kg (500lb) bomb on the wrong house during a search for terror suspects in Aitha, outside Mosul. A statement said that five people had been killed in the blast.
Ali Yousef, the owner of the house, said that 14 people had died when the bomb hit at around 2am on Saturday. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the victims included seven children and seven adults.
Eight Ukrainian soldiers and one from Kazakhstan died in an apparently accidental explosion at an ammunition dump south of Baghdad yesterday.
Few details were known, but the US military said the soldiers had been cleaning up the ammunition dump when the explosion happened. Eleven soldiers were wounded.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
Matthew Tempest, James Sturcke and agenciesMonday January 10, 2005
Guardian UnlimitedAn extra 400 British troops are to be sent to Iraq ahead of the planned January elections, the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced today.
The soldiers, who will be from First Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers, are to be deployed from their Cyprus base to south-east Iraq. Mr Hoon said the deployment was being made on the recommendation of the British commanding officer on the ground, and would be "for a limited period of time".
The figure of 400 is less than the 650 troops some reports said Mr Hoon would send, but he was heckled by both Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs for announcing the deployment during Commons questions rather than making a formal statement.
Security is being stepped up across Iraq following a week of insurgent attacks in which the governor of Baghdad and three British civilians have been killed. Although the troops are likely to be based in southern Iraq, there could be requests for them to be deployed in Baghdad or Sunni strongholds in the north.
In Iraq, the deputy police chief of Baghdad and his son were today shot dead as violence continued across the country. Four policemen also died in a suicide car bombing, while two US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the south-west of Baghdad.
News of the attacks came as the Iraqi authorities announced they had arrested the leader of an insurgent group and almost 150 suspected terrorists in a nationwide crackdown.
Brigadier Amer Ali Nayef and his son Lieutenant Khalid Amer, also a police officer, were assassinated in the south Dora district as they travelled to work by car, an interior ministry spokesman said. Police said the assassins had fired machine guns from two cars that were driving parallel with the police chief's vehicle. The victims had been alone in the car.
The assassinations were the latest in a series of attacks against senior Iraqi security officials, policemen and politicians in the run-up to the elections scheduled for January 30.
On Tuesday, gunmen killed the governor of Baghdad, Ali al-Haidari, and six of his bodyguards. Yesterday, Samarra's deputy police chief, Colonel Mohammed Mudhafir, was shot as he drove alone, Samarra police said.
In a separate incident, a suicide car bomb this morning exploded in the courtyard of a police station in southern Baghdad, killing at least four policemen and injuring 10 others, police and witnesses said. A fake police car packed with explosives was used in the attack.
The explosion took place at 8am local time (0500 GMT) in the Zafarniya district, police commissioner Abdul Khaleq Hussein said. Witnesses said it happened as policemen changed shifts.
Two US troops were killed and another four wounded in a roadside bomb attack which destroyed a heavily armoured Bradley fighting vehicle, the US military said.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi government today announced that it had detained 147 suspected terrorists, including an insurgent leader and a Saudi citizen, around the country.
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, said Raad al-Doury had been detained only days after taking over command of Jaish Muhammad - Arabic for Muhammad's Army - from Moayad Ahmed Yasseen, who was detained in November.
"Every day the terrorists name a new leader, we capture him and they will stand trial," Mr Allawi told a news conference.
A government statement identified the Saudi as Abdullah Hussein Ali, and said he had been captured along with three Iraqis in Mosul. It added that he had been found in possession of "leaflets that incite terrorism".
Iraqi army troops searched the Sumar mosque in Mosul and captured five suspected insurgents, the statement said. In the Mashtal area of Baghdad, 27 alleged terrorists were detained along with weapons.
The greatest number of arrests took place in the north-eastern town of Mansouriyat al-Jabal, where 79 suspects were captured and weapons and ammunition seized.
Over the weekend, a firefight between insurgents and US troops whose convoy was attacked south of Baghdad left at least eight people dead, according to hospital officials.
In other violence yesterday, a US soldier was killed by a roadside bomb, while a marine was killed in action in the volatile Anbar province.
Iraqi interior ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman said a roadside bomb had hit the US convoy near a police checkpoint in Yussifiyah, nine miles south of Baghdad.
Troops opened fire, killing two police officers and three civilians. Dr Anmar Abdul-Hadi, of al-Yarmouk hospital, said eight people had been killed in the attack, with another 12 wounded.
However, US commanders today claimed that insurgent gunfire had killed the civilians. "Three other civilians were wounded, most likely from insurgents," a statement from the 1st Cavalry Division said.
Hours before the attack, the US admitted dropping a 227kg (500lb) bomb on the wrong house during a search for terror suspects in Aitha, outside Mosul. A statement said that five people had been killed in the blast.
Ali Yousef, the owner of the house, said that 14 people had died when the bomb hit at around 2am on Saturday. An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the victims included seven children and seven adults.
Eight Ukrainian soldiers and one from Kazakhstan died in an apparently accidental explosion at an ammunition dump south of Baghdad yesterday.
Few details were known, but the US military said the soldiers had been cleaning up the ammunition dump when the explosion happened. Eleven soldiers were wounded.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
