Death Toll 08/27 - 08/30/03

U.S. deaths in Iraq surpass 'end of major combat' total


Tuesday, August 26, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The number of U.S. service members who have died in Iraq since the end of the major phase of the war now surpasses the toll in the first phase of the conflict.

U.S. Central Command said a 3rd Corps Support Command soldier was killed Tuesday and two were wounded in an improvised explosive device attack on a military convoy near the town of Hamariyah.

The town is between Fallujah and Ar Ramadi.

The number of war dead after the major conflict was declared over May 1 by President George W. Bush is now at 139, surpassing the 138 U.S. service members to die during the first phase of warfare.


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Car bomb kills Russian minister


Wednesday, August 27, 2003

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia's information minister for the southern Dagestan province was killed when a bomb ripped through the car in which he was traveling to work, according to Dagestan's interior ministry.

The driver of the car carrying Magomedsalikh Gusayev survived the blast and is being questioned, a ministry official said.

Gusayev was the target of a failed assassination attempt in 2001, when an explosive device detonated outside his home, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. He sustained a hip wound in that incident.

The Dagestan minister has cracked down on Wahhabi fundamentalists in the region and was given a death sentence four years ago by a joint Dagestan-Chechnya legislature, according to Interfax.

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French soldiers killed amid fear of new Ivory Coast coup[br />
27 August 2003

Two French soldiers have been killed by rebels in the Ivory Coast amid fears of a return of the civil war that was declared over last month.

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The attack on a French patrol boat occurred on Monday, hours after a coup attempt in the Ivory Coast was foiled by the arrest of 10 people in France.

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A French army spokesman, Lt Col Jérome Sallé, said the French patrol and the rebels had had a heated exchange. As the French were leaving, the rebels opened fire, hitting two soldiers in the head and chest. Both soldiers, one of whom was a medic, died within minutes. A third soldier was hit in the foot.

The French patrol returned fire, killing one and wounding several others. These were the first deaths suffered by the French since their forces arrived in Ivory Coast six months ago. At least three rebel groups took control of the north and most of the economically vital, cocoa-producing west, early this year, in an attempt to displace President Laurent Gbagbo. They accused him of exploiting ethnic rivalries and allowing army and security forces to run riot since he won a disputed election in 2000.


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Kurdish deputy security chief killed by Ansar al-Islam

Fri Aug 29, 8:36 AM ET

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq (AFP) - The deputy security chief for the Kurds in the northeastern Iraqi province of Sulaimaniya has been shot dead by Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, linked by Washington to al-Qaeda, an official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan told AFP.

Sulaimaniya's deputy security chief, Hama Hussein, was shot dead Wednesday afternoon by four Ansar members, as he approached the house where his forces had them surrounded in the middle of the city, the official said.

The militants had agreed to negotiate with Hussein and, as he walked towards the agreed meeting point, he was hit by bullets, the official said.

In the ensuing battle, three Ansar members were killed and one arrested, the official said.



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US soldier killed in Iraq

Friday, 29 August, 2003

A US soldier has been killed and three others injured in an attack on a convoy in Iraq.

Grenades and shots were fired at the convoy as the soldiers were returning to their base at Baquoba, 60 kilometres (40 miles) north-east of Baghdad.

Captain David Nelson, from the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade, said one of the soldiers would have to have a leg amputated.

The death brings to 65, the number of US soldiers killed in attacks since George Bush declared major combat operation over on 1 May.



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More Taliban said killed, U.S. soldier dies


29 Aug 2003

KABUL, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Afghan forces clashed with Taliban fighters in the southern province of Zabul for a fifth consecutive day on Friday after reports of the deaths of another 30 militants, a local official said.

The U.S. military also said a special forces soldier died of wounds sustained in an accident during overnight operations in Afghanistan's Dai Chopan district of Zabul province, where hundreds of Taliban are concentrated.

Another soldier from U.S.-led forces was wounded on Thursday as special operations troops continued to support Afghan militia hunting the largest group of militants from the Islamic movement since its collapse late in 2001.

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"Overnight there was fighting until 6 a.m. (0130 GMT). We received reports that 30 Taliban were killed by that time."



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Eight-two killed, 229 hurt in Najaf car bomb blast: doctors


Fri Aug 29,


NAJAF, Iraq (AFP) - A car bomb killed at least 82 people and wounded 229 others outside one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines in the central Iraqi city of Najaf, medical sources told AFP.

The Najaf educational hospital reported 81 dead and 200 wounded from the bombing, said Doctor Ali Jawad, a senior resident at the medical facility.

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Another person was reported dead, as well as 29 wounded, at the city's general hospital, said Doctor Hussein al-Wan.

The bombing killed Iraq's top Shiite political leader, Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim.



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Helicopter missile strike kills two Hamas members


30/08/2003

An Israeli helicopter fired four missiles at a van, killing two members of the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip today and wounding two people, witnesses and rescue workers said.

Firefighters and rescue workers rushed to the spot in the central Gaza Strip and evacuated the wounded to hospitals. The vehicle was travelling on a busy road between the Nusseirat and Bureij refugee camps.

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It was the fifth Israeli missile strike on a Hamas target in 10 days. Two F-16 fighter jets gave cover to three Apache helicopters during the strike, Palestinian security sources said.

Hospital officials identified the dead as Farid Mayet, 40, and Abdullah Akel, 37. Hamas sources said both were members of the Hamas military wing.


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A crowd looks at the car belonging to bodyguards of Muslim Shi'ite leader Ayatollah Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim after a car bomb exploded in Najaf August 29, 2003. At least 75 people were killed in the car bomb outside the main mosque in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, the director of the city's hospital said. Photo by Akram Saleh/Reuters






The Palestinian mother of eight-year-old Aaya Fayaad looks at her body, after she killed was by an Israeli tank shell while riding her bike near her home in Khan Younis, a town adjacent to a Jewish settlement, August 30, 2003, Palestinian security sources and medics said. In a seperate Gaza incident, an Israeli army helicopter fired several missiles at a car in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing two Hamas militants in the latest violence battering a U.S.-backed peace initiative. REUTERS/str





An injured man lies in a hospital in Najaf following a car bomb that exploded after Friday prayers August 29, 2003. Up to 20 people including a top Shi'ite leader were killed in the attack outside a mosque. (Akram Saleh/Reuters)