Bassora-Najaf : 370 km à vol d’oiseau

Blasts in Basra wound 13 soldiers
Mon 22 March, 2004 16:24

BASRA , Iraq (Reuters) - Two explosions in the southern Iraqi city of Basra have wounded 13 British soldiers, in an attack that followed a demonstration by unemployed youths.

"We can confirm reports of two explosions in central Basra which appear to have been targeted against coalition forces," a spokesman for the Ministry of Defence in London said on Monday. "None of the injuries is thought to be life-threatening."

A military spokesman in Basra said the blasts followed a demonstration by unemployed men, during which stones and petrol bombs were hurled at British soldiers. He said the "public disorder" was still going on when the blasts occurred, but it was not clear whether they were linked.

The Ministry of Defence said it was not aware of any Iraqi civilians or police being wounded.

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Briton left in flames by Iraq rioters Mar 22 2004

A British soldier was set alight by a petrol bomb during riots in the southern Iraqi city of Basra that left 13 troops injured.

The unnamed soldier was seen running down a street with his head and shoulders on fire.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said the 13 soldiers were evacuated to a nearby British military hospital at Shaibah, and none of them appeared to be suffering life-threatening wounds.

Protesters threw rocks at British soldiers riding in tanks and standing behind plastic riot shields in the streets of Basra .

Scores of Iraqi demonstrators were protesting a failure to get jobs with the local customs police.

An MoD spokesman said it would be wrong to see the incident as "a terrorist-related attack." Instead, he said, it was British soldiers acting to bring public unrest under control. About 8,000 British soldiers are based in southern Iraq .

The British soldiers were reported to have fired tear gas at around 500 Iraqi demonstrators protesting at their failure to get jobs with the local customs police.

The chief of Basra customs, Colonel Zafer Abdel-Nabi, said that the demonstrators thrown rocks, petrol bombs and a grenade at the troops.

Nine of the the soldiers were wounded in a grenade explosion, he said.

Some demonstrators were reported to have shouted slogans in support of Saddam Hussein and protesting at Israel 's killing of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City . According to witnesses they chanted: "We are all sons of Yassin".

Nine policemen gunned down in Iraq

Baghdad , March 24. (Guardian News Service): Nine Iraqi police officers and trainees died on Tuesday when gunmen sprayed bullets into a minivan in which they were travelling south of Baghdad near the town of Mussayab .

Mussayab's police chief, Major Kadhim Ajmi, said the killers were in a red Opel which drove past the car and shot into it.

Similar attacks have become frequent throughout Iraq . Two policemen were killed in another drive-by shooting yesterday near the northern city of Kirkuk .

But the road where the nine died between the towns of Mussayab and Hilla is one of Iraq 's most dangerous. Insurgents ambushed and killed a Dutch and a German engineer near Mussayab last week.

The week before that, two US civilians who were working for the occupation authorities were shot with their Iraqi translator on the same road. Two staff working for the TV network CNN were killed in the same area earlier this year.

Many foreigners using the road now wear Arab headdress while they travel. But insurgents are increasingly targeting Iraqis who work directly with the Americans or who join the police or the new civil defence force and the army.

Translators working with the authorities have been getting death threats, and several have resigned.

In Basra , where a march of around 500 people demanding jobs at the local customs police turned violent on Monday, British military officials said yesterday that three British soldiers who were seriously injured were in a stable condition.

Fourteen troops were hurt, with some engulfed in flames, when demonstrators threw petrol bombs and grenades. British forces fired rubber bullets.

Despite photographs of two soldiers with flames round their heads, none was burned because fire extinguishers were used as part of the troops' riot control equipment.

Some of the injured troops may be sent back to Britain within a few days.

30/03/2004

Irak: un attentat-suicide vise le chef de la police à Hillah, les soldats espagnols face à des incidents à Nadjaf

15:22    BAGDAD (AP) - Une voiture piégée a explosé mardi devant le domicile du chef de la police d'Hillah, à environ 100km au sud de Bagdad, tuant le kamikaze et blessant sept personnes.

Des incidents ont par ailleurs éclaté à Nadjaf, dans le sud du pays, entre des manifestants et les forces de l'ordre et les soldats espagnols.

Des Irakiens réclamant d'être enrôlés dans la police irakienne ont jeté des pierres contre les policiers et les soldats espagnols. Des témoins ont rapporté que des coups de feu avaient été tirés et qu'au moins trois policiers et deux manifestants avaient été blessés. Quinze personnes ont été interpellées après cette manifestation qui a duré trois heures.

A Hillah, une voiture piégée a explosé devant le domicile du chef de la police, le général Qeiz Hamza. Selon le commandant Ali Jawad, les gardes postés devant la maison ont ouvert le feu sur le véhicule qui fonçait sur eux, sans parvenir à arrêter la course du kamikaze. Quatre d'entre eux ont été blessés, ainsi que trois civils résidant dans des maisons voisines. Le général Hamza et sa famille qui se trouvaient chez eux au moment de l'explosion sont indemne. La maison et les bâtiments avoisinants ont été endommagés.

Il y a une semaine, un responsable de la police de Hillah avait été abattu et neuf recrues de la police avaient été tués lors d'une attaque contre leur minibus. AP

sb/v0423

© AP - The Associated Press. Tous droits réservés.

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One Dead in Iraq Attack; Bomb Kills GI

By DANIEL COONEY
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)--A suicide bomber blew up explosives in his car outside the house of a police chief south of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing himself and wounding seven others, officials said. The attack came after the head of a U.N. team said better security is vital if Iraq wants to hold elections by a Jan. 31 deadline.

West of Baghdad, one American soldier was killed and a second was wounded by a roadside bomb Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

The injured soldier was airlifted to a combat support hospital after the explosion near Ramadi, said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the military's deputy director of operations.

U.S. Marines operate in the area, but Kimmitt did not say whether the casualties were Marines.

In Ramadi, west of Baghdad , a U.S. Humvee was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade Tuesday, setting it on fire, witnesses said. Four soldiers who were in the vehicle were seen being rushed away in another Humvee. A U.S. spokeswoman in Baghdad could not confirm the attack.

It was unclear whether the two incidents were related.

In the southern city of Najaf , Iraqis protesting delays in processing their applications for police jobs hurled stones at Spanish soldiers and Iraqi police, smashed windows and burned a guardhouse, witnesses said.

Witnesses also reported gunfire during the three-hour riot, and at least three police officers and two protesters were wounded.

Spanish radio station Cadena Ser reported that a female Spanish soldier and five Iraqis were injured, but the Spanish Defense Ministry in Madrid denied that a Spanish soldier was injured.

The suicide bombing occurred in the town of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, near where another police chief was shot and killed a week ago and nine police recruits died when assailants sprayed their minibus with small-arms fire.

Police Maj. Ali Jawad said guards outside the house of Hillah police chief Brig. Gen. Qeis Hamza opened fire at the car when they saw it speeding toward them, but failed to stop the attacker.

Four of those wounded were guards, while the other three were residents of nearby houses, Jawad said. Hamza and his family, who were home at the time of the blast, were unhurt. The explosion damaged the chief's house and those of his neighbors.

Guerrillas often target the police because they view them as collaborators with the U.S.-led occupation, and they often make easier targets because they are not as armed and protected as U.S. troops.

East of Baghdad in Diala province late Monday, a U.S. soldier from the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division was wounded when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at an Army convoy, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

Also Monday, west of Baghdad , a bomb that exploded near a U.S. military convoy killed an American soldier, a U.S. official said. The attack occurred northwest of the town of Fallujah , where anti-U.S. guerrillas are active.

In the southern city of Basra , British troops with clubs and shields fought Monday with dozens of anti-coalition Iraqis, who resisted eviction from a government-owned building. At least four Iraqis were injured. Two British soldiers suffered minor injuries, the British Ministry of Defense said.

In Baghdad on Monday, a U.N. team met members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, discussing the creation of an interim government ahead of a June 30 transfer of power from the U.S.-led coalition to Iraqis and plans for general elections after that.

Carina Perelli, leader of the U.N. team, told reporters that security was key.

``We need to make sure that between now and the 31st of January, there is a modicum of security that will make Iraqi people feel they can go to the polls, that they can run as candidates, without extreme fear,'' she said after the two-hour meeting.

``We put the expertise and the experience of the U.N. at the disposition of the Iraqi people in terms of the assistance it might need in carrying out this process.''

Perelli said the U.N. team, the Governing Council and the coalition had to move quickly to meet the election deadline. Her team arrived Friday and will stay for several weeks. A second U.N. delegation is expected in early April.

``If there is going to be an election on the 31st of January, then all the basic agreements need to be reached for the electoral frame no later than the end of May. Otherwise, the date might be compromised,'' she said.

Mohsen Abdel-Hamid, a Sunni member of the Governing Council, said many council members ``spoke about elections and ways of protecting these elections and the mechanism that should be used in order for the election not to be fixed.''

Abdel-Hamid said the goal was to conduct clean elections and ``achieve the hopes of the Iraqi people, who have been deprived of elections for decades under a dictatorship.''

In New York , meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan fired a senior official, Tun Myat, for failing to properly protect staff before the Aug. 19 bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people, including a top envoy.

Annan said Myat and others ``appeared to be blinded by the conviction that U.N. personnel and installations would not become a target of attack, despite the clear warnings to the contrary.''

In Washington , NATO's most senior civilian official said the alliance might be willing to command part of an international security force for Iraq if the Security Council authorizes it.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said NATO might get involved if the Security Council passed a resolution and if the governing body that takes political control in Iraq from the United States on June 30 asked for troops.

AP-NY-03-30-04 1211EST

Una patrulla española controló la manifestación en Nayaf hasta la llegada de la Policía local

MADRID, 30 (EUROPA PRESS)

Una patrulla de militares españoles de la Sección de Reserva del Grupo Táctico 'Extremadura' fue requerida hoy a las 12:30 hora local (11:30 hora española) por el gobernador local de Nayaf (Irak) para controlar una concentración de unos 500 parados frente a la sede del gobierno, informaron a Europa Press fuentes del Ministerio de Defensa español.

Las citadas fuentes informaron de que esta patrulla se hizo cargo de la seguridad de la zona hasta la llegada de la Policía local, momento en el cual se replegó sin que los militares españoles sufrieran daños.

DOS HERIDOS Y 32 DETENIDOS

Posteriormente, la Policía local se hizo cargo de la situación, dispersando a los manifestantes. Los disturbios se saldaron con dos heridos y 32 detenidos, según datos de la Policía Local facilitados al Departamento español.

La provincia de Nayaf es responsabilidad de la 'Brigada Plus Ultra', que manda el general español Fulgencio Coll. En esta zona están desplegados contingentes centroamericanos bajo mando español.

Esta ciudad es frecuentemente escenario de manifestaciones de desempleados. En el día de hoy, los concentrados lanzaron piedras, quemaron neumáticos y dos coches de la Policía resultaron dañados.

30 de marzo de 2004, 13h07

Cinco heridos en enfrentamientos entre desempleados y soldados españoles

NAJAF, Irak (AFP) - Cinco personas resultaron heridas en los enfrentamientos que se produjeron este martes entre centenares de desempleados y soldados españoles de la Coalición y policías iraquíes en la ciudad santa chií de Najaf, indicó la policía.

"Dos policías, una militar española y un desempleado resultaron heridos en los enfrentamientos que comenzaron cuando centenares de personas sin trabajo atacaron a pedradas las oficinas de la gobernación y a varias patrullas de la policía", añadió el teniente coronel Abdel Hassan Nasser a la AFP.

Police fire on protesters in Iraqi city of Basra , killing one and wounding two

By Associated Press, 4/1/2004 05:18

BAGHDAD , Iraq (AP) Iraqi security forces fired on protesters demanding jobs as policemen in the southern city of Basra on Thursday, killing one demonstrator and wounding two others, officials said.

A British military vehicle that was in the area at the time was hit by some stones thrown by the protesters, but it later left the area.

The clash occurred outside the local Customs building in Basra . Hospital official Khaled Abdullah said the wounded were in serious condition.

Last week, a clash between unemployed Iraqis demanding jobs as policemen and British troops left 14 soldiers wounded. Basra is patrolled by the British military.

At Least One Killed During Protest in South Iraq

Thu Apr 1, 2004 06:09 AM ET

BASRA , Iraq (Reuters) - At least one Iraqi was killed in clashes between protesters and Iraqi police in the southern town of Basra on Thursday, witnesses said.

They said police were trying to control a group of about 100 people demanding that they be paid their salaries. The protesters threw stones and set tires on fire.

A Reuters photographer said he saw a dead man being carried away, his clothes stained with blood.

The British military, responsible for security in Basra , said it had no immediate information.

On Monday, British troops clashed with demonstrators who threw stones and swung iron bars at the soldiers outside the offices of a religious organization. At least one protester and two British soldiers were wounded.

Southern Iraq has generally been calmer than the rest of the country, but there have been several recent flare-ups, including a string of demonstrations in Basra .

Most of the protests are held by former or current members of Iraq 's security forces seeking payment of their pensions or monthly salaries

Riot breaks out in southern Iraq

BAGHDAD , Iraq , April 3 (UPI) -- Angry unemployed Iraqi protesters Saturday stormed into the central post office in the southern city of Basra , setting the building on fire.

Demonstrators clashed with Iraqi police and British forces deployed in the city. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the angry crowd.

The demonstrators had initially gathered in front of the customs and border police headquarters building in Basra , 350 miles south of Baghdad , demanding jobs.

Iraqi cops and protesters clash in Basra

April 03 2004 at 11:27AM

Basra , Iraq - Demonstrators demanding jobs clashed with Iraqi police in the southern Iraqi port of Basra on Saturday, prompting police to fire shots into the air to try to control the crowds.

Witnesses said a few hundred demonstrators smashed shop windows and attacked a post office building in the centre of the city, Iraq 's second largest, while about 100 police officers tried to stop the violence.

Police said one officer was wounded by stones lobbed by the crowd.

British troops, who have overall responsibility for security in Basra , were keeping their distance, but witnesses said around 10 armoured British military vehicles were in the area and ready to intervene if the situation deteriorated.

Basra has been relatively quiet in the year since US-led forces invaded Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein, particularly in comparison to areas to the north and west of Baghdad .

But disturbances have increased in recent weeks, with the unemployed holding several marches and other protests led by Iraqi security service employees seeking monthly salaries or pension payments.

Last Monday, protesters swung iron bars and threw stones at British soldiers outside the offices of a religious organisation. At least one protester and two British soldiers were wounded.

At least one Iraqi was killed when demonstrators and police clashed on Thursday.

Late last month, protesters attacked a British armoured troop carrier and threw petrol bombs, setting several soldiers briefly on fire. Thirteen British troops were injured.