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Iraq
Attacks, Clashes Kill 23, Chopper Downed
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An
Iraqi man looks at the damage done to a building as clashes in the
northern city of Mosul raged
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MOSUL,
Iraq, August 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – At least nine
people were killed and more than 20 wounded Thursday, August 5, in a
bombing attack outside an Iraqi police station in southern Baghdad, a
few hours after over 14 Iraqis were killed in fresh battles in the
northern city of Mosul.
A
bomber blew up a minibus outside the police station of Mahawil,
leaving nine people dead, police sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP)
said, with no further details.
Aljazeera
correspondent said on air that the attackers clashed with the police
station guards before the blast, which left some 20 people injured.
Moving
to the north, loud explosions and heavy gunfire ricocheted across
Mosul, where at least five bridges were cut off.
"The
hospital received 12 bodies, including two women, and 26 injured, most
of them civilians," a doctor at Mosul's Medical City hospital
said. Another 12 people were admitted with injuries to the general
hospital.
The
regional governorate quickly imposed a curfew from 3:00 pm until
Thursday morning in the city, home to 1.7 million mainly Sunni Muslim
Iraqis, with Kurdish, Christian and Turcoman minorities.
Streets
emptied as police said gunmen forced shopkeepers to close.
Earlier
a man and a woman were killed when a roadside bomb exploded in the
path of a US military convoy at around 10:35 am, police said.
The
US occupation forces said none of its personnel were hurt in the
blast. A doctor at the general hospital said two people had been
admitted with shrapnel wounds.
Najaf
Clashes
Meanwhile,
US occupation forces fought fierce clashes with Shiite leader Muqtada
Al-Sadr’s supporters in the northern Iraqi city of An-Najaf on
Thursday.
The
An-Najaf clashes followed overnight fighting during which an Iraqi
police station was attacked.
The
police station was attacked by "a significant number of
aggressors" believed to be members of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia,
said a US occupation military statement carried by Reuters.
The
statement said "the attackers used heavy machine guns,
rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small arms in an assault on the
police station around 3 am local time."
"Iraqi
national guardsmen quickly reinforced Iraqi police, and the two units
successfully defended the station from the attackers. Upon arrival of
the marines, Medhi Army members withdrew into the city's exclusion
zone," said the US military.
But
a US military spokesman said in Baghdad admitted that an American
marine helicopter was shot down near An-Najaf Thursday.
"A
UH-1 marine helicopter was shot down at about 11:45 am (0745
GMT)," the spokesman said.
"Both
crew are alive and have been recovered. The extent of their injuries
are unknown," the spokesman added, adding that he was unable to
specify exactly where the helicopter was downed.
Hostages
Killed
The
fresh violence came as the hostages crisis saw no reprieve in the
war-ravaged chaotic country.
A
Turkish truck driver has been killed in an attack in the north of Iraq
while two others were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen, the Anatolia
news agency reported Thursday.
The
news of Osman Alisan's death was conveyed to his family by the Ulasli
oil company for which he had started working six months ago, his wife
Elife Alisan told Anatolia.
"His
boss said my husband's body was in a morgue in Mosul," she said.
An
official from the Turkish embassy in Baghdad said they had received
information that Alisan was shot some 70 kilometers from the Turkish
border, but could not confirm his death.
Alisan's
death brings to at least seven the number of Turkish drivers who have
been killed in attacks in Iraq.
In
a separate incident, a Turkish driver and another unidentified
colleague were abducted by unidentified gunmen while on their way back
to Turkey after dropping off goods near Baghdad, their employer, Emin
Deger of the Deger transport company, told Anatolia.
Neither
embassy officials in Baghdad nor the Turkish foreign ministry in
Ankara could confirm the report.
According
to a major Turkish truckers' association, at least four drivers are
missing in Iraq.
Turkish
officials refuse to say how many Turks are missing or being held
hostage in the war-torn country.
On
Wednesday, two Turkish truck drivers were set free by the Tawhid wa
al-Jihad group, alleged to be run by suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu
Mussab al-Zarqawi, after their employers agreed to halt deliveries to
US forces in Iraq.
Four
Jordanian truck drivers, snatched eight days ago, were also released
in the flashpoint city of Fallujah, a self-styled Iraqi mediator said
Wednesday.
"The
hostages have been released," Ibrahim Jassem from Fallujah,
confirming that the freed men were four Jordanian truck drivers.
But
an official at the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad said he was unaware of
their release.
With
a report from Amman on Tuesday, August 3, that a Jordanian businessman
had been kidnapped in Iraq, a total of three of its nationals remain
held in the country.
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