The US military said yesterday it had destroyed two bunkers suspected of being used by insurgents to store weapons and plan attacks as seven members of Iraq's security forces were wounded in two separate bombings.
US forces destroyed a former Republican Guard bunker system in the Yusifiyah area southwest of the capital on Thursday following a tip-off by local residents and surveillance of the site, said a military statement.
It said the bunker, located in an area that housed a major part of former president Saddam Hussein's former military-industrial complex, was being used by insurgents to store ammunition.
AP PHOTO: AP
"Coalition Forces engaged the complex with five high-precision smart-bombs," it said.
"Secondary detonations emanating from inside the complex" continued for about six hours after the strike, the statement added.
On Sunday, US troops destroyed a bunker system built in an abandoned rock quarry in Karmah, near the former rebel bastion of Fallujah west of Baghdad, which had been found four days earlier.
About 150kg of plastic explosives were used to destroy the network and the weapons stored inside, the military said, adding that 12 weapons caches were also found within an 8km radius of the bunker.
The whole complex was 170m wide and 275m long or bigger than four football pitches and fresh food inside showed the hideout had been recently inhabited.
Fully furnished living spaces were found in the warren, along with a kitchen, showers and an air conditioner, hi-tech combat equipment such as night vision goggles and a large haul of weapons and ammunition.
As US and Iraqi forces pressed on with Operation Lightning aimed at routing out insurgents in Baghdad and surrounding areas, rebels struck again yesterday.
An Iraqi civilian was killed and two wounded in a mortar attack against an Iraqi police checkpoint in the northern city of Mosul, said a police source.
Five civilians, including two children, died in a similar attack in Mosul on Sunday said the US military without giving details.
Three members of the elite Iraqi commando force were wounded in a car bombing in the capital's southwestern Al-Amil neighborhood, said an interior ministry source.
Earlier, four Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a suicide car bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a joint US-Iraqi security coordination center in Tikrit, Saddam's home town north of Baghdad, said local police.
A US soldier died on Sunday after his patrol was struck by a roadside bomb near the northern oil city of Kirkuk, the US military said.
The latest death toll of US service personnel killed in Iraq to 1,670, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.
More than 1,200 suspects have been arrested since the launch of the Operation Lightning offensive at the end of last month, one of the bloodiest months since the US-led invasion of March 2003 that saw about 700 Iraqis killed in a frenzy of attacks throughout the country.
Both US and Iraqi officials blame the ongoing insurgency on Saddam loyalists and foreign militants bent on waging jihad, or holy war, against foreign troops and those perceived as collaborating with them.
The Iraqi government announced on Sunday the arrest in Mosul of two senior members of the organization of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the alleged leader of the al-Qaeda terror network in Iraq.
Zarqawi, who has US$25 million-bounty on his head, is believed to have been wounded, but the severity of his wounds are not immediately known.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told CNN that unrest was likely to continue even if Iraqi or US forces capture Zarqawi.
Iran, which fought a war with Saddam's Iraq between 1980 and 1988, announced on Sunday that Tehran had handed over its accusations against the former Iraqi dictator to the court that will try him, according to state television.
The Iraqi government said on Sunday it would bring 12 charges of crimes against humanity against Saddam although there were more than 500 possible cases against the ousted dictator.
"We are completely confident that the 12 fully documented charges that have been brought against him are more than sufficient to ensure he receives the maximum sentence," said government spokesman Leith Kubba.
Saddam, whose regime was toppled in April 2003 and who is now in US custody in Iraq awaiting trial, could face the death penalty if found guilty.
His trial should begin within two months, Kubba said.
Saddam faces a litany of accusations, including a 1988 chemical attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja, the fierce repression of a 1991 Shiite rebellion and the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
RSS