Death Toll 08/01 - 08/03/03

Beirut blast kills Hezbollah fighter


Saturday, 2 August, 2003

A member of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group has been killed by a powerful car bomb in Beirut.

Hezbollah and a Lebanese Government minister blamed Israel for the blast on Saturday in a southern suburb dominated by the Iranian-backed group.

The group said Ali Hussein Saleh, 42, had taken part operations against Israeli forces occupying southern Lebanon before they pulled out three years ago.

At least one passer-by was injured as the blast tore through the vehicle which was parked on a busy street. It left a crater in the ground and propelled the car about 10 metres (30 feet), witnesses said.

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Afghan forces launch campaign to root out Taliban insurgents


August 2, 2003

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan security forces were trying to flush out Taliban fighters in a new operation in rugged southern Afghanistan, where recent gunbattles between Afghans have killed five insurgents and two soldiers, officials said Friday.

Four Taliban guerrillas and two soldiers died in a firefight late Thursday in Torghar, or Black Mountain, about 45 miles northeast of Kandahar, said Khan Mohammed, an Afghan military commander.

A fifth Taliban fighter died in a separate gunbattle with Afghan police late Thursday, Mohammed said. The insurgent was among 20 Taliban fighters in two cars who fired at a police post in Dund district, about 15 miles south of Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold, he said.


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In other fighting, four insurgents were killed Thursday night in a firefight with U.S. Special Forces north of Kandahar, the U.S. military said from its headquarters at Bagram Air Base, north of the capital, Kabul.

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Also Friday, three people - including a senior police official - were wounded in a land mine explosion near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan Gen. Abdul Malik Malikzai said.



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2 US soldiers killed in Iraq

August 3, 2003

BAGHDAD: A US soldier was killed and three others injured in a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack north of Baghdad, the US military said on Saturday.

“One 4th Division Infantry soldier was killed and three injured on August 1 when their convoy came under an RPG attack south of Shumayat,” a town between Balad and Tikrit around 100 kilometres north of Baghdad, a spokesman said.

Another US soldier with the First Armoured Division died in Baghdad from a gunshot wound received the day before, apparently by accident, US Central Command said in a statement.

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Meanwhile, an Iraqi woman was killed when US forces opened fire in Baghdad after a bomb was thrown at their convoy, a military spokeswoman said on Saturday.


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Blast in Kenyan port city


Friday, 1 August, 2003

A policeman and a terror suspect have died and another policeman injured after a hand grenade exploded in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.

A suspect was detained in an anti-terrorist operation and was being taken to the central police station for interrogation.

Whilst he was seated in the back of a police vehicle, being guarded by two police officers, he managed to detonate an explosive device concealed on his body.

The grenade went off just outside Mombasa Central Police Station in the city's centre.

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Six militants, police constable killed in Kashmir


Srinagar, Aug 3 (UNI) Seven people, including six militants, were killed in the Kashmir Valley overnight.

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One of the injured constable, Daljeet Singh, later died in hospital, he said.

He said two foreign militants were killed in an encounter with security forces at Manohatter Chowkibal in north Kashmir this morning.

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Three more foreign militants were killed by security forces in a similar encounter at Waderwala Rajward in the Frontier District of Kupwara last evening. A large cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the slain militants.

Another militant was killed at Kupwara, the spokesman said.


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Kidnappers kill man delivering ransom for relative in Philippines


August 3, 2003

Suspected Muslim Abu Sayyaf kidnappers have killed a man who was delivering a ransom in exchange for a relative held hostage by the group, police said.

Abdul Lim was fatally shot after handing over $US12,000 to the kidnappers near the town of Patikul in the southern island of Jolo, police said.

Mr Lim's body was found last week, but it was not exactly clear when he was killed.

The money Mr Lim delivered was meant to pay for the freedom of Gertrudes Tan, a relative reportedly kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf in April who is believed to still be held in the jungles of Jolo.

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Now 50 Dead in Russian Blast


ROSTOV-ON-DON, RUSSIA-August 3, 2003 — Rescuers on Sunday called off their search for survivors of a suicide attack, after pulling the body of a surgical nurse and four others from the rubble of a military hospital near Chechnya as the death toll rose to 50.

The nurse and at least four others were initially believed trapped alive under the rubble and the recovery of their bodies dashed all hope of finding any survivors, emergency officials said.

The operation switched to a clean-up effort at the site of the four-story brick hospital, which collapsed like a house of cards when an unidentified driver rammed it with a truck full of explosives Friday night.

Chechen rebels were suspected of being behind the attack at the hospital in the North Ossetia region city of Mozdok, since it bore similarities to other blasts and targeted a facility treating Russian soldiers injured fighting in the separatist republic, authorities said.


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This TV grab shows a Russian soldier wounded by an explosion at a military hospital. Dozens of people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives(AFP/NTV)




Lebanese security forces carry away remains from the scene of a car bombing in Beirut August 2, 2003, which killed at least one person. Witnesses and security sources said the blast rocked a street in the southern suburbs of the capital. REUTERS/Mohammed Azakir




The casket of U.S. Army Sergeant Chad Keith, from Batesville, Indiana, is carried to its final resting place during his standard honors funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, August 1, 2003. Keith was killed in Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded next to the vehicle he was patrolling in. REUTERS/David Snyder




Kim Hitzges, left, mother of Army Spc. Chad Keith is comforted by her husband Mark Hitzges as they attend funeral services for Keith, Friday, August 1, 2003, at Arlington National Cemetery. Keith of Batesville, Ind., was killed on July 7 when a roadside bomb exploded as he was patrolling Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

:kick: :-(