On June 17, 2003, a sniper shot dead an American soldier on patrol in Baghdad. The gunman escaped. Hours earlier there had been two blasts in the capital, a car bomb and a land mine. The attack shows that the guerrilla fighters are becoming more sophisticated, that is also more dangerous. Nearly 50 US soldiers have been killed in shooting and accidents in Iraq since the war was declared finished on May 1, 2003. Many attacks seem to be inspired by heavy handed US raids and hundred of arrests of so-called suspects that have to be released without charge. Paul Bremer said that the failure to capture Saddam Hussein or find his corpse, if killed, give some reasons to some Iraqis to fight the Americans. There seems to be a growing rift between the British and the Americans running Iraq. A senior British official in Baghdad went as far as saying that the US-led authority was chaotically run.
On June 26, 2003, the US troops were attacked a few times and two soldiers were killed, two disappeared and ten more were injured. In the 48 hours since the 6 British military police officers were killed the Iraqis have blow-up an US military vehicle, fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a truck, throw grenades off a bridge and blow-up a pipeline. The probabilities that the British and the Americans will be drawn in a protracted guerrilla conflict increase every day. Grenades were also thrown at an US and Iraqi convoy killing two Iraqi employees of the local electricity company and injuring two Americans. It is more and more difficult for the British and the Americans to present themselves as the liberators of Iraq. Invaders yes, liberators NO.
On June 27, 2003, a US soldier was killed in Najaf, one of the Shia Muslims holy cities and another was shot in the neck in Baghdad and is dying. Two more servicemen were missing and they were found dead the next day. This shows that not only the Sunni Muslims are unhappy with the American presence in their country but they are not more popular with the Shia either.
On June 28, 2003, the bodies of two US soldiers who disappeared a few days ago were found. Now the Americans and the British are thinking that this resistance to the occupying forces was planned in advance. A copy of an Iraqi emergency plan dated January 2003 for looting and sabotage after an invasion has been found and it is thought to be authentic. It contains instructions for 11 kinds of sabotages including burning government offices, cutting power and communication lines and attacking water plants. At least 61 American troops have been killed since major combats have been declared to be over on May 1, including at least 23 in attacks. The latest death dates from June 27 when a US soldier was killed in an ambush and another was shot in the neck and is in a critical state. Grenades were also thrown to an US convoy in the Tjawra area, a Shia Muslim part of the capital. From a statistical point of view the losses are insignificant -there are 55,000 US soldiers in Baghdad alone- but it is highly visible and shows that the Americans are not welcome in Iraq the way they thought they would be.
On July 1, 2003, 6 US soldiers were wounded (one died the next day) and 4 Iraqi civilians were shot dead in Baghdad.
On July 4, 2003, the US troops killed 11 Iraqis who were trying to ambush an American military convoy. Four mortar rounds hit an US base wounding 16 soldiers, two of them seriously. In another incident, an American soldier on guard at the Iraqi museum was shot dead that was opened for one day. On the same day, President Bush had to admit that America was still at war in Iraq. He also promised to launch pre-emptive attack against "any terrorist group or outlaw regime", as defined by him, that threatened the USA. In his own words "the US will not stand by and wait for another attack". Now it is recognised that the US troops are coming under an average of 13 guerrillas attacks everyday.
On July 6, 2003, another US soldier was shot dead at Baghdad University. He was queuing to buy a soft drink when somebody shot him at close range.
On July 16, 2003, a missile was fired to an American C-130 plane near Baghdad airport. The missile missed the target. It is the second such attack on US planes in two weeks. The airport should have reopened to commercial flight in mid-July but it has been delayed for security reasons.
Two more US soldiers were killed on July 21, 2003, and one was wounded in an ambush west of Mosul. Thirty seven US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since President Bush declared that the war was over on May 1. On the same day we were told that faced with a greater armed resistance that foreseen to its occupation of Iraq, the USA is only admitting a fraction of the attack against its forces in Iraq. They acknowledge the attacks when some of their soldiers are killed or wounded but not those that leave no casualties.
On July 24, 2003, three American soldiers from the unit that killed two of Saddam Hussein children, the 101st Airborne Division, were killed in an attack on their convoy as it drove towards Qayarah, a few miles south of Mosul. This could be a revenge killing following the death of Saddam's two sons. The day before a soldier of the same unit was killed and seven wounded also near Mosul and another one from the 3rd Armoured Cavalry Division was also killed west of Baghdad. US soldiers also killed two Iraqis when the driver of their car did not stop as requested.
Four US soldiers were killed on July 26, 2003. Three soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division were killed and four wounded in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad while guarding a children's hospital. A fourth soldier of the 3d Infantry Division was killed and two wounded later on as their convoy was attacked near Abu Ghuraib. The total amount of US soldiers killed in Iraq is 162. Obviously the killing of Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, did not reduce the number of attacks on the coalition forces, mainly the Americans.
On July 28, 2003, another American soldier was killed and three wounded when a grenade was dropped on a convoy from a bridge. There was also a floating bomb attack on a bridge the soldiers were repairing. Until now 50 US soldiers have been killed since President Bush claimed victory three months ago.
Two more US soldiers were killed on July 31, 2003, and two were wounded. Lieutenant -General Ricardo Sanchez recognised that these attacks were becoming more sophisticated. Ten US soldiers were killed in the last 7 days. He also confirmed that foreign terrorist groups were operating in Iraq.
Another American convoy was attacked near Falluja on August 2, 2003, and, according to the Americans, four Iraqis were killed.
On August 8, 2003, the American soldiers in Iraq shot dead two Iraqis and injured at least two others they claimed they were selling arms on a street market in Tikrit. It happened a day after senior officers said that they were scaling down the hard way their soldiers had behaved in Iraq. If this is the way they want to conquer the sympathy of even the moderate Iraqis they are completely out of the pictures. The American soldiers in Iraq are murderers and not liberators. On the same day one American soldier was killed in Baghdad.
An American soldier was killed and two wounded on August 11, 2003, in Baquba. Moreover three US soldiers were also wounded by rocket propelled grenades in Shumayt near Tikrit. Until now 170 US soldiers died in combat, 56 since May 1, 2003, as well as 14 British (6 since May 1). In addition 88 American soldiers died in non-combat (66 since May 1) and 29 British (4 since May 1).
On August 26, 2003, another US soldier was killed between Falluja and Ramadi. Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush said the war was over, 139 US soldiers were killed (77 in accidents, suicides and illness), against 138 killed during the invasion! All the same President Bush said that "there will be no retreat" from Iraq as "retreat in the face of terror would only invite further and bolder attacks".
On September 3, 2003m an American civilian working with the US military for the oil company Halliburton was shot and killed south of Baghdad. A US soldier was wounded.
On September 9, 2003, a suicide car bomber attacked a US intelligence base in Irbil, northern Iraq, and killing 3 Iraqis -including an 11-years old boy- and wounding about 50 people, at least 6 Americans. It is the first attack of this kind in the usually quiet Kurdish region. On the same day a US soldier was killed and one wounded by a bomb northeast of Baghdad. In addition, in Baghdad on September 10 a US soldier died as he was trying to detonate a bomb left by the side of the road.
On September 12, 2003, two US soldiers were killed and seven wounded in Ramadi, a Sunni town near Falluja, during a raid. It this a just retribution?
Three US soldiers were killed during the week of 7 to 14 of September 2003 bringing the total number of combat death since the conflict was declared over on May 1, 2003 to 68. More or less the same number died in accidents.
Another American soldier was killed near Falluja on September 14, 2003, and three others were wounded by a homemade bomb. It could have been a revenge for the killing of the 8 policemen and one Jordanian security guard last week.
Three American soldiers were killed on September 20 and 21, 2003 and 13 wounded in two attacks. The total numbers of American soldiers killed since the beginning of the invasion amount now to 303. Two soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in a grenade attack on the Abu Ghraib prison that is regularly attacked. Until now only Iraqi prisoners were killed or wounded. Another soldier was killed in Ramadi west of Baghdad when he drove over a roadside bomb.
On September 28, 2003, four more US soldiers were wounded in two different attacks. This comes a day after the attack on the Hotel Rachid in central Baghdad where senior Americans are living.
On October 2, 2003, three American soldiers were killed in Iraq bringing the total number of soldiers killed since May 1 to now to 88. Two others at least were wounded and many Iraqis were killed too. US forces and installations were also attacked in many other places.
On October 9, 2003, a rocket-propelled grenade hit a convoy northeast of Baghdad killing an US soldiers, the 92d since the war was declared over by Bush on May 1.
On October 17, 2003, a US soldier was killed during an attack on his convoy in the northern part of Baghdad. Thee more US soldiers of the military police together with two Iraqi policemen were killed in a gun battle that lasted several hours in Karbala. Seven US soldiers were also wounded and the US military authorities said that many enemies were killed and wounded but the exact number is not known. The soldiers tried to disarm the bodyguards of a local Shiite leader, Mahmud al-Hassan but they refused and the battle started.
On October 19, 2003, two US soldiers were killed and one was wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack near Tikrit, northern Iraq.
On October 25, 2003, five US soldiers were wounded when a US military Blackhawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near Tikrit. It crash-landed and burst into flames but the soldiers above were able to escape.
On October 23, 2003, a rocket salvo of 8 to 10 missiles hit the Rashid Hotel in Baghdad. Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy defence secretary was in the hotel but he was not hurt but he was badly shaken. A US army colonel was killed and 18 others were injured including two Britons, one a British Treasury official, and two Iraqi policemen.
On October 29, 2003, a roadside bomb 75 miles north of Baghdad killed two US soldiers. Now the number of US soldiers killed in combat in post-war Iraq (116) rose above the number killed until May 1, 2003 (115). Most of the dead are 21 years old or younger. This is know having an direct effect on the internal political situation in the USA leading the government to want an early hand over of power to the Iraqis although those working for the invaders are subject to more and more attacks.
On November 9, 2003, two US soldiers were killed in Falluja when a bomb explosion hit their military vehicle. The deputy US Secretary of State, Armitage, present in Iraq deplored the attack. There were two explosions in Baghdad, one targeting the US Military headquarters and the second, an attack on US forces. The US soldiers entered in Tikrit during the night searching houses and arresting suspects. As they do it breaking doors and frightening people, it is obvious that they are not popular. Is this rude way to treat the civilians justified more than six months after the official date of the end of the war?
On November 12, 2003, the US soldiers have killed two suspect Iraqis. The soldiers are more and more trigger-happy following the number killed recently.
On November 14, 2003, one US soldier was killed and two wounded in central Baghdad by a bomb. Moreover two US soldiers were also killed and three wounded when their convoy was attacked near Samara. In Tikrit the American soldiers killed seven Iraqi suspected to be insurgents. The US soldiers are still bombing houses in Iraq for the third consecutive night.
Two US soldiers were killed and two wounded north of Baghdad on November 17, 2003. The Americans are now certain that Saddam Hussein's deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, is behind some of the attacks against US soldiers. After Saddam Hussein, he is now the 6th most wanted man in Iraq.
An US cargo plane was forced to make an emergency landing on November 22, 2003, after one engine burst into flames. Nobody was hurt. A French journalist received an amateur video showing the attack from the ground.
On November 29, 2003, a US convoy was nearly hit by a bomb in Baghdad but nobody was hurt. The number of attacks on coalition troops has decreased these last two weeks but it is now believed that some Iraqi policemen, perhaps those trained by the US, have been involved in the attacks against American troops. No compelling evidence of al-Qaida being involved in the attacks has been found.
On November 23, 2003, 2 US soldiers in a civilian car were killed in Mosul. On November 28, four mortar shells hit an US military compound in Mosul killing one US soldier.
On November 31, 2003, about 100 guerrillas attacked two US convoys bringing new money to Samara at the same time although they entered the town from two opposite directions. The Americans were ready and answered with tank guns, machine guns and small arms, they killed at least 46 Iraqis, wounded 18, captured 8 and destroyed 3 houses. Five US soldiers were slightly wounded. It is the biggest revealed number of guerrillas killed since the war was officially declared ended on May 1, 2003. Some of the attackers wore feddain uniforms. On December 1 the US militaries said that 54 insurgents were killed. The Iraqis, including the local hospitals, said that the number of dead was closer to 10, most of them civilians! Who is right, I do not know?
On November 29, 2003, two US soldiers were killed and one wounded in Husaybah near the Syrian border. This brought to 104 the number of Coalition soldiers killed in Iraq in November. This includes 79 US soldiers, the worst monthly total since the war started on March 20, 2003.
On Sunday December 7, 2003, a roadside bomb killed a US soldier and two others were wounded in Mosul, northern Iraq.
An American soldier was killed on December 8, 2003, in Mosul while standing guard at a petrol station. Petrol is still rare in Iraq! The country is producing oil but refineries are not working as they should. Three other US soldiers died and one injured the same day when their vehicle went into a canal near Duluiyah. This brings to 445 -308 in hostile action- the total of US soldiers that died in Iraq since the invasion started on March 20, 2003.
On December 9, 2003, suicide bombers tried to hit two military bases in Talafar and Husseiniya. They were not able to enter but all the same the explosion wounded about 60 American soldiers, most of them slightly. In Talafar it was a soldier from St.Petersburg, James Lawrence Ross III, who saw the car carrying the bomb coming in. He stopped it by firing at the driver and this limited the damage to wounding 58 people but nobody was killed. The same day a US OH-58 Kiowa helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and had to make an emergency landing near Fallujah, the two crew members were also very slightly injured. In Baghdad 3 people were killed and two wounded by an explosion in the courtyard of a Sunni mosque. From March 20 until December 9, 448 US soldiers died in Iraq, 308 from hostile actions.
On December 10, 2003, two American soldiers were killed in Mosul and other four were wounded. One was shot dead and another wounded while on guard at a petrol station and one was killed and three wounded when their vehicle hit an explosive device set on their road. The number of US soldiers killed in action since May 1 is now 195.
On December 11, 2003, a US soldier was killed and 14 wounded when suicide bombers detonated a bomb hidden in a lorry bringing furniture to an army base near Ramadi. Three attackers died in the blast. On the same day, two US journalists were wounded in Baghdad when a grenade was thrown into the military vehicle they were driving in.
On December 21, 2003, US troops arrested hundred of Iraqi civilians accused of attacking US soldiers. However it looks like these arrests are more or less random. One Iraqi woman was killed and two wounded when soldiers blew a door with explosive in Rawah. Liberators, are they?
On December 22, 2003, two US soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed when a roadside bomb hit their convoy in Baghdad. Two US soldiers were also wounded. These were the 2d and 3d US soldiers killed since Saddam Hussein was found, a big dropping number but still some death. The US troops are still raiding many houses in the Sunni-dominating central Iraq. They are looking for insurgents and have arrested hundred of Iraqis including a former general with the Iraqi intelligence service. Mumtaz Taji is believed to have coordinated the actions of many insurgents.
On December 23, 2003, US soldiers arrested dozens of rebel suspects including some associates of a former Saddam Hussein's aide. The same day, the US militaries bombed some buildings near Baghdad. The Americans are trying in this way to prevent some foreseen rebel attacks over the Christmas Holiday period. At least five suspects were also arrested in Baquba.
On December 24, 2003, a roadside bomb killed 3 US soldiers outside the town of Samara in the Sunni triangle. The same day, at least 5 Iraqis and a suicide bomber were killed and 22 wounded in two separate bombing in Baghdad and Irbil. Also that day, there was a rocket-propelled grenade attack against the Sheraton hotel in Baghdad. No injuries were reported, only slight material damage. An important suspect, Ghazi Hanash, who is believed to have strong links with the former Vice President Izzat Ibrahim, was arrested in Mosul as well as many others.
On December 26, 2003, two US soldiers were killed by a bomb blast bringing to 10 the number killed this Christmas week until now. Another US soldier died as he was trying to diffuse a homemade bomb in Baquba while three other US soldiers were wounded in an ambush in Mosul. A taxi driver was killed in the fight. On December 25, 2 US soldiers died when guerrillas shelled an US base near Baquba and four others were wounded.
On December 28, 2003, two US soldiers were killed in Iraq by roadside bombs, one in Baghdad together with 2 children- and one in Fallujah. In the attack in Baghdad 5 US soldiers, an Iraqi interpreter and 8 Iraqi members of the civil defence force were wounded while in Fallujah 3 soldiers were also wounded. This brings the number of US soldiers killed in combat in Iraq to 325. At Abavachi, north of Baghdad, the US soldiers found 600 rockets buried in the dirt.
On December 29, 2003, US soldiers killed 3 suspected members of an Islamic terrorist group, Ansaral-Islam, linked to al-Qaida in Mosul. Two US soldiers were wounded. Some members of the Iraqi Governing Council said that Saddam Hussein is now talking (revealing that he has $40bn abroad) but the US authorities denied this information. An US soldier died of a non-disclosed illness on December 29.
On January 2, 2004, three US soldiers were killed in Iraq. A roadside bomb killed two soldiers and one was injured. The third soldier was killed in a mortar attack near Balad and two others were injured.
On January 5, 2004, a roadside bomb west of Baghdad injured 3 US soldiers and another one was also wounded by gunfire in an ambush northwest of Baghdad.
On January 7, 2004, insurgents fired six mortar shells at a US military camp, Logistical Base Seitz west of Baghdad. Thirty-four soldiers were wounded (about half slightly) as well as an American civilian. One of the wounded died the next day.
On Thursday January 8, 2004, 300 US soldiers launched a big raid arresting 13 Iraqis in Tikrit.
On January 12, 2004, a US soldier was killed and two other were wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Following it, the US soldiers fired at a car killing the driver and a 10-year boy. This brings the total number of American soldiers killed in Iraq to 495. However the number of daily attacks has decreased from 30 before Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13, 2003, to 17 now.
Hostile brought down a US Army Apache AH-64 helicopter near Habbaniyah, west of Baghdad, on January 13, 2004. Luckily none of the two-crew members were hurt. It is the third helicopter shot down this month.
On January 17, 2004, a powerful bomb exploded under a US armed Bradley vehicle north of Baghdad killing three US soldiers and two Iraqi civil defence fighters. Two other US soldiers were wounded. Another US soldier died of non-hostile gunshot on January 16. This bring to 500 the total number of soldiers killed in Iraq, most of them after May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared the end of the hostilities.
On January 18, 2004, a powerful suicide car bomb with probably 1,000 pounds of explosive exploded at the main gate of the American Occupation Headquarters. At least 20 people (but perhaps 31) were killed and 60 (or 120) wounded. No Americans were killed but a few soldiers were slightly wounded.
On January 22, 2004 at least nine people were killed in Iraq and many more were wounded. Among hem were four Iraqis women working in an American base (six other people were wounded), two Iraqi policemen, two US soldier by rockets or mortar near Baqubah (another was wounded) and the Spanish security head was shot. Until January 22, 505 US soldiers were killed in Iraq even if the number of attacks and soldier deaths has decreased since Saddam Hussein was captured (70 in November, 25 in December and 22 until now in January).
On January 23, 2004, a US Army OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter crashed near Qayyarah in northern Iraq. The 2 pilots were killed but the cause of the crash was not known yet.
On January 22, 2004, the US soldiers in Iraq captured Husam al-Yemeni suspected to be a leader of Amsar al-Islam, a group composed mainly of ethnic Kurds alleged to be closely linked with al-Qaida. He is also thought to be the link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein regime.
On January 24, 2004, five US soldiers were killed in Iraq and one of the wounded died the next day. In Khaldiyah west of Baghdad 3 US soldiers were killed and 6 wounded by a suicide bomber at a checkpoint. One of the wounded died later on. Eight Iraqis including 6 women were also wounded. In another incident two US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb north of Fallujah. A third attack took place near a government building in Samara missing a US military patrol. However four Iraqi civilians were killed and 40 people were wounded, among them 7 American soldiers. And in Baghdad a sniper wounded another American soldier.
On January 25, 2004, a US helicopter OH-58D Kiowa Warrior crashed in the Tigris River in Tikrit while searching for a missing soldier. The two members of the crew are missing and the cause of the crash was not yet known. The missing US soldier was in a boat that capsized. On January 26 divers and patrol boats searched the river for the three soldiers but without success. Three other US soldiers were safe but two Iraqi police officers and an Iraqi interpreter died. Checkpoints were established and another Iraqi policeman was shot dead.
On January 26, 2004, a rocket was launched against the US headquarters in Baghdad. It hit a parking lot but there was no damage or casualties.
Again on January 27, 2004, six US soldiers died in Iraq by roadside bombs. Three soldiers were killed in Kahaldiyah and three others were killed and three others were wounded near Iskandariyah. However the number of daily attacks has been reduced from 30 to about 16, but the number of soldiers killed is still high. A two-cars CNN convoy was attacked south of Baghdad and two people -a driver and an interpreter/producer were killed and a cameraman was injured. US soldiers also killed three guerrilla suspects in Beiji.
Four US soldiers and intelligence officers were wounded and their Iraqi translator killed on February 21, 2004, when gunmen ambushed their convoy south of Baghdad. On the same day Paul Bremer insisted that elections will not take place for at least one year while the Shia continue to ask for elections before power is handed back to an Iraqi provisional government. The Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani would accept a short delay but nothing else and this goes again the Americans' wishes.
On March 7, 2004, gunmen fired 10 rockets at the US headquarters in Baghdad. Damages were limited and nobody was hurt.
On March 17, 2004, two US soldiers were killed and 4 wounded in a mortar attack in Ballad. This brings the total number of US soldiers killed in combat to 391.
On March 19, 2004, two rockets exploded inside the US-led coalition headquarters in Baghdad. The number of US soldiers killed in Iraq is now reaching 572.
On March 29, 2004, US soldiers killed four Iraqi suspects in Mosul and two soldiers were injured.
On April 11, 2004, a US Apache helicopter was shot down over Abu Ghraib killing the two-crew members.
On April 14, 2004, eight more US soldiers died in combat bringing the total to 93 until now in April.
During the weekend ending April 18, 2004, ten US Marines were killed, five of them near the Syrian border town of Qusayba together with about 25 Iraqis (according to the US authorities that are generally unreliable about Iraqi victims, overstating them most of the time. The Americans also said that the insurgents used women and children as human shields. It is the usual American way to hide the fact that they mainly kill innocent civilians. At the same time three British soldiers were wounded, one of them in Amara. About one hundred US soldiers were killed between April 1 and April 18 bringing the total of US soldiers killed in Iraq to over seven hundred.
On April 19, 2004, all was quieter in Iraq but the US soldiers still managed to kill two employees of the US-founded television al-Iraqiya and wounding another one in Samara.
On April 25, 2004, a roadside bomb killed an US soldier in Baghdad. In the following gun battle the American soldiers killed five Iraqi children. In Mosul four Iraqi civilians were killed and 13 injured in rocket attacks and the US soldiers said that a helicopter gunship killed 25 "enemy personnel" on the ground. How they knew that they were insurgents is not said.
On April 29, 2004, 10 US soldiers were killed in Iraq. Eight were killed and four wounded by a car bomb near Mahmudiya south of Baghdad. Two were shot somewhere else. In Basra a South African civilian was shot dead near the offices of an oil company.
On May 3, 2004, another US soldier was killed and two wounded in an attack in Baghdad. In Najaf US troops fired on some Moqtada supporters killing at least two of them and wounding 15.
On May 16, 2004 two more US soldiers were killed in Baghdad bringing to 777 the total number of the dead since the start of the war in March 2003. Also near Baghdad two women who worked on a US base died when their bus was attacked and another Iraqi woman translator was shot down in her house.
On May 17, 2004 we were told that a roadside bomb containing sarin nerve agent exploded recently near a US military convoy in Baghdad; two explosives experts were treated for "minor exposure" but no serious injuries were reported. It was believed to be the first confirmed finding of any of the banned weapons upon which the United States based its case for the war against Saddam Hussein.
On May 21, 2004, the Iraqi police said that they had arrested four suspects in relation to the beheading of the American contractor Nick Berg. The suspects have links with Saddam Hussein's family. The leader of their group, Fedayeen Saddam, is Yasser al-Sabawi, Saddam's nephew. At the same time the Americans said that they too has arrested four men linked to the killing of Nick Berg but two of them had already been released. It is not clear if the four suspects are the same. The Americans still believe that the killer was Musab al-Zaqawi, a Jordanian linked to al-Qaida. But the latest arrest seems to indicate that the killers came from Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. The Iraqi police arrested the four men on the base of information given by an informant. Obviously his identity was not kept secret and he was killed the following day. Nick Berg was interrogated three times by the FBI after his arrest in Mosul, he was held in custody for some time then released. He went to Baghdad where he was kidnapped.
On May 23, 2004, US tanks and troops attacked the Sahla Mosque in Kufa and said that they killed 32 gunmen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr. They also found some arms. They smashed the doors with their tanks and then shot the people inside. The same day two US soldiers were killed and five wounded in an ambush near Falluja. On the other hand, Kerbala was quiet as the militia and the US troops left the city centre. In Najaf fighting and bombing by air went on in the old Shia cemetery and about 14 Iraqis were killed and 37 injured.
On May 25, 2004 a female American soldier lost one hand when insurgents fired mortars at a police station in Baghdad. Another us soldier as also wounded.
The US military authorities in Iraq said on May 26, 2004, that their forces have killed up to 100 insurgents, followers of Moqtada al-Sadr, in battle in Najaf and Baghdad. They also, arrested Moqtada's brother-in-law and close associate, Riad al-Nouri.
On June 4, 2004, five US soldiers were killed and four wounded in Sadr City in Baghdad when a bomb destroyed their vehicle.
On June 16, 2004, three US soldiers were killed and 20 other people wounded in a rocket attack on an US base near Balad.
On June 20, 2004, violence went on in Iraq and 9 people died including an American soldier.
On June 21. 2004, Brigadier General Mark Kimmit confirmed that four US soldiers in uniform had been killed in Ramadi but he did not give the exact circumstances. Videotape given to the Associated Press showed the four corpses. Until now 619 US soldiers were killed in action in Iraq.
On June 27, 2004, an American transport plane was shot at taking off from Baghdad Airport killing one person.
On June 29, 2004, three US Marines were killed and two injured by a roadside bomb in Baghdad.
B- The British
Members of the British army's special investigation branch have been flow
to Iraq on June 29, 2003 to participate in the investigation in the death
of 6 Military police officers at Majar al-Kabir. Why the paratroopers who
managed to save their own men near-by did not help the policemen is also part
of the investigation. It is not clear if the killers were Sunni or Shia Muslims.
On August 14, 2003, a British medical officer was killed and two soldiers wounded when near Basra a remote controlled bomb was exploded under the ambulance they were driving. The vehicle was clearly marked with red crosses so the attack was deliberate.
On August 23, 2003, three British military police soldiers were shot dead in Basra and a fourth one was badly wounded. They were riding in a sport utility vehicle in a two-car convoy and came under small-arms fire from people in a pick-up truck who also threw a grenade. The car crashed into a wall.
A British Territorial Army soldier, Fusilier Russell Beeston, was killed in Ali Ash Sharqi, southern Iraq, on August 28, 2003, and another wounded when their patrol came under fire from a crowd of Iraqis. He is the 50th British soldier to die since the war in Iraq started in March 2003, 11 of them since May 1, 2003, when Bush said the war was over (in the same period of time 64 American soldiers died in combat). Later 10 Iraqis were arrested.
On September 4, 2003, a British charity worker was killed and his Iraqi bodyguard critically wounded by gunfire near Mosul. Ian Rimmel was an expert mine-cleaner with experience in Bosnia, Albania, Israel and Lebanon. He was working for the British charity "Mines Advisory Group".
On March 19, 2004, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain's envoy to Iraq, said that things would get worse before they get better. Keeping the coalition united is becoming more and more difficult for the Americans as, beside Spain, also Poland and South Korea, begin to have doubts.
On March 22, 2004, fourteen British soldiers were injured, three of them seriously, in Basra when Iraqis threw stones and petrol bombs at them. The Iraqis, about 500 of them, were protesting because they had no job; the soldiers used tear gas to disperse them. Six Iraqis were also injured but nobody was killed.
On March 29, 2004, British troops in Basra, southern Iraq, clashed with hardliners of the Shia Islamic "Revenge of God" party. Three British soldiers were injured as well as four Iraqis. The soldiers tried to expel the members of the party from a government building they were occupying. The crowd threw stones and iron bars at the soldiers who responded with batons and riot shields until they dispersed after about a 30 minutes battle. At least nobody was killed which would not have been the case if American soldiers had been involved.
A former British paratrooper working as a security guard, Mike Bloss, was killed near the town of Hit in Iraq on April 9, 2004. He was trying to protect civilian contractors who were able to escape the killers.
A British security guard working for the Foreign Office, Andrew Harris, was shot dead on May 19, 2004, in northern Iraq.
On May 24, 2004, a rocket-propelled grenade hit an armoured vehicle in Baghdad killed two British civilians working for the Foreign Office and injuring a third.
The identities of the two British civilians who were killed in Iraq on May 24 have been released. They are Bob Morgan -a Foreign Office adviser-and Mark Carman, a security contractor. A third British civilian was injured but his name was not released.
On June 28, 2004, a roadside bomb killed a Scottish soldier, Gordon Gentle, and wounded two others in Basra. He is the 60th British soldier to die in Iraq. More than half have been killed in accident including friendly fire.
On June 29, 2004, British security consultant working with Global Risk Strategies, Julian Davies was also killed in Mosul on June 24.
C- The Insurgents, Iraqis and Others
Six Iraqis, including a father and three of his children, were killed in Baghdad
by the US troops who shot them without warning on August 10, 2003, as they
were running home to beat the curfew. Two other men were shoot in similar
incidents. The number of Iraqi civilians killed is not known but it is estimated
to be between 6 and 7,000.
Three Iraqi security guards were killed in Najaf on August 24, 2003, when a bomb was exploded near the office of a senior cleric. The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq said that Ayatollah Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim was slightly wounded together with 10 other people.
On September 16, 2003, Colonel Khebdier Mekhalef Ali, the police chief of Khaldiya, Iraq, was killed by gunshot as he was driven home at the end of his day-work. This is a good example of the security problems existing in Iraq that could prevent the Americans to bring some stability and order in the country. Once again it is clear that they won the war but lost the peace.
On September 26, 2003, 8 Iraqi civilians were killed in the town of Baquba when mortars were fired into the local market. The US military authorities admitted that their forces are attacked on average 12 times each day. On the same day one US soldier was killed and two injured in an ambush in northern Iraq.
On October 9, 2003, a suicide car bomber drove his car in the courtyard of a police station in Baghdad and killed 8 people -3 Iraqi policemen and 5 civilians- and wounded 45 others. The driver was also killed, of course. This happened 6 months to the day the US forces entered Baghdad.
On October 12, 2003, another suicide bomb attack involving two cars killed 6 Iraqis at the Baghdad Hotel where CIA personnel, American contractors and senior Iraqi officials are staying. These suicide attacks have until now killed more than 200 people, mostly Iraqi civilians. Iraq had had about 84 major attacks since the fall of the regime and many more small incidents and sabotages. This does not help the reconstruction of the country but it is what the terrorists want, a bloody guerrilla war. Resuming total electricity supply is delayed by these attacks as well as government work; in addition, aid agencies and foreign investors stay out and the American promise to make Iraq safe, prosperous and progressive cannot be kept.
Two hotels were hit by rocket-propelled missiles in Baghdad, the Sheraton and the Palestine Hotels. Nobody was killed but the damage is important. The missiles were launched from donkey's backs and carts that succeeded to avoid all the controls.
On November 22, 2003, at least 18 Iraqis civilians and policemen were killed in two suicide bomb attacks on police stations in Khan Bani Saad and Baquba. One of the dead is a four-year-old child.
On December 4, 2003, guerrillas fired at a police station in Ramadi wounding 6 Iraqis, 2 policemen and 4 civilians. In Baghdad a roadside bomb destroyed a military vehicle. There was no victim.
On December 5, 2003, a roadside bomb killed 3 Iraqis, one US soldier and wounded 12 Iraqis on a main road in Baghdad. On the same day Paul Bremer said that he believes that the Iraqi guerrillas will increase their attacks in the next few months. In this way they hope to delay or make it impossible to transfer full authority to an elected Iraqi government. Again that day, the Iraqis said that 16 countries (USA, Japan and some European countries) are ready to insure payments up to $2.4bn to start the reconstruction of the Iraqi economy.
On December 10, 2003, 41 civilians were arrested in Latifiya, south of Baghdad. Some of them could be responsible for the death of seven Spaniard intelligence officers.
On December 14, 2003, a suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside an Iraqi police station near Khaldiyah 50miles west of Baghdad killing 17 people among them policemen, city workers and civilians- and wounding 33. On the same day an American soldier was killed trying to defuse a roadside bomb.
On December 15, 2003, one day after Saddam Hussein's capture, suicide bombers attacked two police stations and several associates of the former president -including two former generals on the base of information found in his suitcase. In the first attack in the Husainiyah district of Baghdad, 8 police officers were killed and 15 wounded. The second attack at the Ameriyah station in western Baghdad wounded 7 police officers. Another attack against the same station was aborted when police officers fired at the car that escaped without detonating the bomb.
On December 17, 2003, a powerful explosion killed at least 10 Iraqis in Baghdad and injured more than 20 more. At first it was thought that it was caused by a bomb in a lorry. Later on it became obvious that the explosion was due to a traffic accident when a lorry loaded with petrol hit a van at a crossroad.
On December 25, 2003, in Baghdad, guerrillas fired rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at two hotels frequented by foreigners, two banks, several embassies, the headquarters zone of the American occupation authority and an US army base. Nobody was killed but two people were wounded. In the evening the US responded by firing artillery rounds in south Baghdad. Some insurgents fired at least three rockets into central Baghdad. Guerrillas also fired mortars at American positions in Baqubah wounding 8 soldiers, two badly.
In Baghdad On December 26, 2003, a car exploded on the road to the airport killing its two Iraqi occupants in what looks like a premature explosion. In Mosul gunmen killed Sheik Talal al-Khalidi and his son, Saad Talal. A brother of the Sheik was wounded.
On December 28, an official of the Kurdistan Democratic party, Jwamair Atyia Kalawi, was wounded by gunfire. Three of his bodyguards died in the attack.
On New Year eve December 31, 2003, a car bomb exploded outside the Nabil restaurant in Baghdad killing 8 Iraqis and wounding at least 24 people including 3 Americans. It was not clear at first if it was a suicide bombing or if the car was parked outside he restaurant and detonated with a timer or by remote control. The building bursts into flames.
On January 9, 2004, a bomb planted by a man on a bicycle exploded outside the Sadiq Mohammed Shiite Mosque in Baqubah killing himself and four other Iraqis as well as wounding 37.
On January 14, 2004, a suicide bomber killed 2 Iraqis and wounded at least 26 including 12 children at a police station in Baqubah.
On January 20 a mortar shell was fired to the civil administration's compound in Baghdad. It fell in the parking lot and did little damage. One person could have been wounded but it was not confirmed yet.
On January 28, 2004, the driver of a van disguised as an ambulance, blew himself up in front of the hotel Shaheen in Baghdad. Three civilians -including a South African- were killed and 17 injured.
On January 25, 2004, about 50 Iraqis were detained in the Sunni triangle north of Baghdad, mainly in Baqubah. They are suspected of anti-American activities and/or possession of illegal weapons.
On January 26, 2004, one Iraqi was killed and three others wounded when he stepped on a roadside bomb while getting out of a bus. Seven Iraqis policemen were killed in two attacks west of Baghdad.
On February 1, 2004, two suicides bombers attacked the headquarters of the two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, in Irbil, northern Iraq. This was the start of the four-days Muslim holiday, the Eid al-Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice. Celebrations and seasonal greetings between hundred of party faithful were interrupted by the explosions that killed at least 70 people and wounding more than 200. The buildings were heavily damaged. Al-Qaida was immediately said to be responsible but it could as well have been the work of Ansar al-Islam, some former regime loyalists or some Iraqi nationalists. Following the attacks, both parties that are usually battling each other, decided to cooperate in the future.
On February 14, 2004, dozens of attackers overran Falluja's main police station and lay siege to the local Iraqi Civil Defence Corps nearby with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and hand grenades. The assault resulted in the death of 23 people mainly Iraqi policemen armed with light weapons. Four attackers also died, two of them with Lebanese passports. The surviving policemen later said that "the American army watched but did not help". Since summer 2003, about 600 Iraqi policemen have been killed.
On February 23, 2004, a suicide car bomber killed at least 9 people, seven policemen and two civilians (45 people were wounded) at Kirkuk's Rahimawa police station. This year 270 policemen died in such attacks. Lorries loaded with sand bags arrived just after the explosion. The policemen had been asking for them, six months ago. They arrived a few minutes too late. The attacker is suspected to have been a member of the Islamic group Ansar al-Islam that is believed to have links with al-Qaida. Donald Rumsfeld was in Baghdad to discuss plans to expand the Iraqi security forces before the handover of power on June 30. The USA want to reduce their troops in Baghdad from 36,000 today to 24,000 by May 15 and have them replaced by Iraqis.
On March 8, 2004, before the signing of the interim constitution, some rockets were fired at two police stations in central Baghdad. There were no victims.
On March 17, 2004, three days before the first anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, a powerful car bomb explosion hit the Mount Lebanon hotel in central Baghdad. At least 27 people where killed and 40 wounded including two Britons. One of them died later on. Shias, Sunnis and Kurds are living together in the area, just ordinary families. Buildings nearby were hit too by this powerful 1,000 Lb bomb including the al-Jazeera television offices. The attack is attributed to the terrorist group Anzar al-Islam and to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian linked to al-Qaida. The Mount Lebanon hotel is mainly used by Iraqi businessmen but some American and British visitors have also stayed there.
On March 23, 2004, nine Iraqi police officers and trainees were killed by gunfire near the town of Mussayab, south of Baghdad. The same day two other police officers were also killed near Kirkuk.
On March 27, 2004, 22 Iraqis died across Iraq as fighting went on between US troops and insurgents armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades. A bomb in Baghdad injured five Iraqis and in Tikrit a three-year old boy was shot dead by the Americans when the car he was in did not stop at a checkpoint. In Mosul a rocket hit a government building killing 2 civilians and wounding 14.
On April 20, 2004, insurgents fired 12 mortar bombs at Baghdad Abu Ghraib prison killing 22 prisoners and wounding 90. However on the whole the tension is easing in all the country including Falluja and Najaf. An American soldier was killed in Mosul after a bomb attack on his convoy.
In April 21, 2004, insurgent suicide bombers attacked three police stations in Baghdad and a police academy in Zubayr. At least 68 people were killed and 240 wounded. Among the killed there were 17 children on their way by bus to Middle and Nursery schools and 10 policemen. Al-Qaida, supporters of Saddam Hussein, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was soon accused to be involved. Why not admit that more and more Iraqis are fed-up with the occupiers who behave, especially the Americans, like murderers, as for them, killing Iraqis is not a crime. But in everything there is some kind of justice. Some of these killing US soldiers, once home, will go on doing the same and then we will hear some weeping stories. Hours after Donald Duck -sorry, Rumsfeld- said that the cease-fire in Falluja was finished, six civilians were killed by American soldiers and twelve wounded.
On April 23, 2004, the Iraqi police arrested an Iraqi suspected of being involved in the April 21 bombing in Basra. He came from the Sunni city of Falluja. This could show that al-Qaida or foreign Islamists were not involved in the attack that could have been a Sunni revenge for the brutal American behaviour in Falluja. The Americans are still saying exactly the opposite. The death toll in Basra rose to 74 with 160 wounded. The followers of the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took to the streets in Basra to denounce the inability of the British troops to provide security. On April 23, five more suspects of the bombing were arrested. They are believed to be linked to al-Qaida. They led the police to 20 tonnes of explosive.
On June 2, 2004, a car exploded in Baghdad killing at least 5 Iraqis and wounding 35.
On June 4, 2004, in Baghdad the Iraqi police said that they had arrested a member of al-Qaida, Omar Baziyani, a deputy of the Jordanian Abu Mussab al-Zarqaoui, the number one suspect of some of the worse attacks of these last few months. The Americans have put a price of $10m on his head.
During the weekend of June 6, 2004, 40 people were still killed in Iraq in various attacks although the situation in Najaf and Kufa was quiet. The group of the Jordanian Islamic Abu Mussab al-Zarqaoui linked to al-Qaida said that they were responsible for an attack that killed 6 civilian Iraqis and wounded at least 8 others at the entrance of the US base in Taji. On June 5 another car bomb exploded near an Iraqi police station in Mussayeb killed 13 people and wounded 10.
There was as many as twelve people killed in Iraq on June 13, 2004. Politicians and security forces were targeted. Among the dead is Kamal al-Jarrah, the head of the Education Ministry's cultural relations department who was shot in his garden. The day before Bassam Qubba, the interim deputy foreign minister, was also shot dead. A car suicide bomber killed four police officers and eight civilians. Another police station was overtaken by 50 gunmen in Yousifiya who then blew up the building. On the other hand the situation is quiet in Najaf.
On June 16, 2004, insurgents blew up two oil pipelines in Iraq bringing the supply of oil to a complete stop. As a result the price of oil on the world market went up. Opec agreed to pump extra oil but their production is close to the limit and they asked Mexico, Russia and others for help. It is believed that it will take at least one week before the supply of oil can start again. The loss of income to Iraq could amount to $1bn. On the same day a top Iraqi oil security executive, Ghazi Talabani, was assassinated in Kirkuk. He is the third senior government official killed in the last four days.
On June 17, 2004, a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi army recruiting centre in Baghdad. About 300 jobless people were waiting and at least 35 were killed and more than 138 wounded. In addition on June 15 five foreign contractors died when their convoy was attacked. It does not look like things will get better after June 30 when the interim government will receive so-called "full power". This will probably only happen when the US forces will pull out of the country. They came pretending to be liberators but they were soon seen as cruel occupants.
On June 24, 2004, the Iraqi insurgents hit five cities killing at least 100 people and injuring about 250. The actions were obviously coordinated and most of the victims were civilians and Iraqi police officers but three US soldiers were also killed. The Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed to be responsible for one attack. The worse incidents were in Mosul where four bombings -two police stations, the police academy and the Jumhuri hospital- claimed at least 44 victims. American troops had to be called to regain control of a police station after it was struck by a car bomb. Gun battle between the US soldiers and the insurgents followed. Gunmen in Ramadi and Baquba also attacked police stations; a few policemen were killed. Also in Baquba a US patrol was ambushed, two US soldiers died and seven were wounded. An US plane dropped three bombs on what was described as "insurgent strong points." In Baghdad a bomb detonated at a checkpoint killed four Iraqi soldiers and wounded one American. There were also renewed fighting in Falluja. The US used planes to bomb the insurgents. A US Cobra helicopter hit and crashed but the crewmembers were unhurt. Obviously the insurgents want to create as much chaos as they can before the handover of power to the Iraqi Interim Government on June 30. The American authorities continue to say that they have the control of the situation.
On June 27, 2004, car bombing in Hilla killed 23 Iraqi civilians. Insurgents mounted some attacks in Baquba killing at least nine people. The new interim Prime Minister, Yiad Allawi, said that a state emergency could be declared once his government takes over.
On June 29, militants attacked a police station in Mahmudiya killing one officer and one civilian. A senior Kurdish officer, Major Ahmed al-Hamawandi, was wounded in Kirkuk by a roadside bomb and one of his guards was killed.
D. The UN and other International Organisations
On September 22, 2003, a suicide bomber blew himself up in car outside the
UN headquarters in Baghdad. He was killed as well as an Iraqi security guard
and wounding 17 others. It is possible, as a consequence, that the UN, that
has already reduced its staff in the country, will close completely its operations
in Iraq.
On April 17, 2004, two Americans and a Jordanian were killed in a row over Iraq between members of the UN law enforcement mission in Kosovo. Eleven other officers were wounded in the ten-minute shoot-out.
E. Others
On September 19, 2003, the US soldiers once more fired on a civilian car.
In it there was one of the most senior diplomats in the US-led civilian authority.
The Italian Pietro Cordone, an adviser to the culture ministry, was not hurt
but his Iraqi interpreter was killed. Apparently the car was trying to overtake
a military convoy on the road between Tikrit and Mosul.
On October 9, 2003, a Spanish intelligence officer and diplomat, José Antonio Bernal Gomez, was shot in front of his house and he died.
On November 12, 2003, a suicide bomb attack in Nasiriyah killed at least 26 people including 16 Italian military policemen. Their police headquarters was destroyed. The Italian opposition parties called for the return of home of the Italian soldiers but Prime Minister Berlusconi refused saying that giving in now would be admitting that the terrorists have won. Both houses of the Parliament observed a minute of silence in memory of the dead. President Ciampi expressed his indignation at the killing. All normal television programmes were cancelled and replaced by continuous information. The majority of the Italians were, and still are, opposed to the war in Iraq but the government ignored them. President Bush presented his condolences to Berlusconi praising him for his commitment to Iraq, or is it to the USA rather that to the Italian people.
On November 26, 2003, the headquarters of the Italian mission in Baghdad has been hit by a rocket or missile. Nobody was hurt.
On November 29, 2003, eight Spanish Intelligence officers were ambushed in Mahmudiyah south of Baghdad. Their two cars were attacked by rocket-propelled grenades and small guns and the corpses of the victims were kicked by local people and their possessions taken. Seven died and one was wounded.
On November 29, 2003, two Japanese diplomats were killed after their car was ambushed near Tikrit.
Two South Koreans electricians were killed on November 30, 2003, between Samara and Tikrit. Two others were wounded.
A Colombian civilian working as a military contractor was killed in a roadside ambush in Balad on November 29, 2003.
December 25, 2003, 2 Polish soldiers were wounded by gunfire.
On January 5, two more letter bombs were sent to senior members of the Europarliament and burst into flame without hurting anybody. Another was intercepted, the 7th since December 27, 2003. An Italian anarchist group is suspected (the Informal Anarchist Federation).
On January 12, 2004, Ukrainian soldiers fired in the air to disperse a manifestation in Kut, Iraq. The protesters rioted for jobs and food. This is the 2d Shiite city of southern Iraq after Amarah where this happens. A grenade thrown by the crowd hurt four Iraqi policemen and one Ukrainian soldier. A civilian was also hurt.
On January 30, 2004, two rocket-propelled grenades were launched against the Dutch embassy in Iraq hitting the roof and putting it on fire. There were no injuries.
On April 21, 2004, a suicide car bomber attacked the headquarters of the Saudi Arabia security forces in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Islamic militants linked to al-Qaida were blamed for it immediately. Four people -including two security officials and a little girl- were killed and 48 injured. In the last 8 days the Saudi police have found at least five vehicles packed with explosives and fought many times with militants. In one of these four officers were killed. The USA is pulling out its non-essential diplomats and their families from the country.
On April 23, 2004, one Bulgarian soldier and one American were killed in Iraq.
On May 16, 2004, the civilians working for the US-led authority in Nassiriya evacuated their office after their compound came under attack from Moqtada al-Sadr fighters. Ten Italian soldiers and policemen were injured in a third day of battles, two insurgents were killed and twenty wounded.
A car bomb exploded near the Australian embassy and a hotel used by foreigners on May 25, 2004. Five Iraqis were injured.
On May 26, 2004, two Russian workers were killed in Iraq. The firm for which they worked, the last Russian firm in Iraq, decided to pull out of the country because of the lack of elementary security.
On June 14, 2004, a car bomb explosion in Baghdad hit a convoy of vehicles
carrying western contractors. At least 13 people were killed including two
Britons, one American, a Frenchman and one of unknown nationality. Many more
were wounded. The interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, said that the man responsible
for the attack was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian-Palestinian linked to
al-Qaida.