Seven dead in Iraq attacks

Three US soldiers have been killed and one wounded near Baquba in a rocket or mortar attack.

The attack follows the deaths of four Iraqi women west of Baghdad when assailants raked their minibus with gunfire.

In southern Iraq, a Spanish paramilitary police officer was shot and seriously wounded overnight during an "anti-terrorist operation" near Diwaniyah, Spain's defence ministry announced.

It said Major Gonzalo Perez Garcia, security chief for the Spanish-Latin American Plus Ultra brigade in the US-led coalition, was shot in the head during a raid on a home in Hamsa, 40 kilometres from Diwaniyah.

The attack on the minibus happened on the road linking the flashpoint town of Fallujah, 50 kilometres from Baghdad, to the US base of Habbaniyah further west.

"We were nine women and the driver. It was 6:30am and we were going, as every day, to the Habbaniyah base, where we work in the laundry," Maggi Aziz said, who was wounded in the leg, shoulder and head.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1030076.htm

...although they're saying only two US servicemen dead.

I guess this will help make up Kofi Anan's mind about sending UN personnel back into Mess o' potamia...

The war goes on...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_americans_killed&cid=540&ncid=716

Check this out....

<TIKRIT, Iraq - Insurgents fired mortars at an American military encampment in central Iraq (news - web sites), killing two soldiers and critically wounding another, the military said Thursday.

The attack happened Wednesday night on a forward operating base in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, military spokeswoman Maj. Josslyn Aberle said. >

Contrast with the AFP story...

<"Three US soldiers were killed Wednesday and one wounded near Baquba in a mortar or rocket attack," Lieutenant Colonel Dan Williams told AFP. >

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/afp/20040122/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_us_toll_040122101306&e=2

HUUHHH?????

The latest deaths bring to 349 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action in Iraq since the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was launched in March last year.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040122/ts_nm/iraq_mortar_dc

We're over 500 by now.

since I posted it. the original included: "over 500 soldiers killed since Mar. 20"

attacks = success

cried the AWOL chimp

and the nightmare goes on and on

Devastating news for the families who have waited so long, through promises made and broken time and again...

This is so sad, anyone who collaborates with the US seems to be a target.... :(

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Guerrillas attacked an Iraqi police post with assault rifles and a grenade Thursday, killing two policemen and a civilian, hours after a mortar attack on a U.S. base killed two soldiers and wounded another.


Insurgents also opened fire Wednesday on a bus carrying Iraqi women home from work at a military base west of Baghdad, killing four women and wounding six others. All the attacks were in the volatile "Sunni triangle" region around Baghdad.

The latest upsurge of violence came amid U.S. talk of handing over political power to an Iraqi administration later this year and a dispute over whether this should be done before or after elections are held.

South of the capital near Diwaniya, a Spanish Civil Guard police commander was shot in the head and seriously wounded during a joint operation with Iraqi police against "members of a terrorist group," the Spanish Defense Ministry said.

Police near Falluja, a hotbed of resistance 30 miles west of Baghdad, said guerrillas in a passing car lobbed a grenade and opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles at a checkpoint on the highway to the town of Ramadi.

"We were standing at our checkpoint and saw some cars come by. From one of them, a grenade was thrown and Kalashnikovs were fired at us," policeman Maher Mohammad said. He said the attackers wore checkered headdresses around their faces.

Two policemen and a civilian were killed in the attack, and five police were wounded. A pool of blood lay on the side of the highway, along with a police vehicle pockmarked by bullets.

<snip>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040122/ts_nm/iraq_dc