US soldier killed, eight wounded in Iraq fighting
A US soldier was killed on Saturday during an operation in Iraq's western Al Anbar province, which hosts the rebel hot spots of Fallujah and Ramadi.

Fighting erupted in Fallujah earlier on Saturday after days of relative calm following last month's blistering assault on the former rebel stronghold.

US Marines clashed with insurgents in both the north and south of the city, which was largely emptied of people before the November 8 offensive.

Eight coalition soldiers were also wounded on Saturday when insurgents attacked their convoy with mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

The patrol was first hit by a car bomb and then came under concentrated fire.

The soldiers called in air support, which dropped a 500 pound bomb on the attackers, the US Army said in a statement.

The statement said the number of casualties among the attackers was unknown, adding that there were no reports of civilian casualties.

It said the soldiers were on their way to secure a cache of illegal weapons and munitions in western Mosul, adding that the wounds of the eight soldiers were not life-threatening.

Eyewitnesses told AFP that the coalition forces opened fire in all directions after the bomb blast, shooting at minibuses on the road, causing some to burst into flames.
US soldier killed, eight wounded in Iraq fighting. 12/12/2004. ABC News Online

Series of Insurgent Attacks Kills at Least 4 Iraqi Policemen
By ROBERT F. WORTH

Published: December 12, 2004


AGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 11 - At least four Iraqi police officers were killed and 16 American soldiers were wounded Saturday in a string of insurgent attacks across central and northern Iraq, military officials said.

Two of the officers were killed when a group of insurgents overtook their patrol car between Baiji and Tikrit, north of the capital, and fired on them with assault rifles, said Master Sgt. Robert Powell, a spokesman for the First Infantry Division.

Three officers in the car were wounded in the attack, and the insurgents stole the officers' patrol car before fleeing, Sergeant Powell said. One of those killed was the operations officer for the police chief of Salahuddin Province.

At least two other officers were killed in attacks in Baghdad on Saturday, an Interior Ministry official said. The Associated Press reported that one of the men had been identified as a top police commander, Brig. Gen. Razzaq Karim Mahmud.

The attacks were the latest in the steady campaign of violence aimed at Iraq's policemen, soldiers and national guardsmen, who will be responsible for security with the coming national elections.

In the northern city of Mosul, eight American soldiers were wounded when a car bomb exploded near them as they worked to secure a weapons storehouse in the western part of the city, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a military spokesman. Immediately after the explosion, insurgents attacked with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, he said.

American forces responded by calling in an airstrike, and a fighter jet dropped a 500-pound bomb on the attackers, causing an "unknown number of enemy casualties," Colonel Hastings said.

Near Baiji, two American soldiers were wounded when a suicide bomber steered a car packed with explosives into their patrol, Sergeant Powell said. Also, two other soldiers were wounded near the town when a stationary car bomb detonated as their patrol passed by.

North of Kirkuk, two soldiers and a civilian interpreter were wounded when a car bomb detonated near their patrol, Sergeant Powell said. And near Samarra, two soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol, he said.

The string of bomb attacks came as Marine officials announced that insurgents used a hospital in the western Iraqi town of Ramadi to ambush a Marine patrol on Friday night, attacking the passing troops through hospital windows with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. But officials at the Ramadi General Hospital and Medical College denied that the insurgents had fired from inside the building, The Associated Press reported.

No marines were wounded in the attack, Marine officials said. Two Iraqi civilians, including a judge, were killed, The A.P. said.

In Baghdad, an American soldier was sentenced to three years in prison for killing a wounded Iraqi teenager during heavy fighting in the Sadr City neighborhood in August.

The soldier, Staff Sgt. Johnny M. Horne Jr., pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of unpremeditated murder and one count of soliciting another soldier to commit unpremeditated murder.

Sergeant Horne's punishment also included dishonorable discharge, reduction to the rank of private and forfeiture of all pay. He initially faced the more serious charge of premeditated murder, but he agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charges.

During fierce fighting in Sadr City on Aug. 18, Sergeant Horne and other soldiers discovered the seriously wounded 16-year-old in a burning truck after battles between American soldiers and members of a militia loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. At an earlier hearing, a criminal investigator said Sergeant Horne and the soldiers with him had decided to kill the boy to "put him out of his misery."





The New York Times > International > Middle East > Series of Insurgent Attacks Kills at Least 4 Iraqi Policemen

killed in vehicle accident

Associated Press


DULUTH, Minn. - A Minnesota soldier and father of two who was serving in Iraq was killed in a vehicle accident there.

Spc. Daniel James McConnell, 27, of Duluth, died Tuesday in Kirkuk, the Department of Defense announced on its Web site. He was assigned to the 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

McConnell, who was home on leave just a few weeks ago, graduated from AlBrook High School in Saginaw, Minn., in 1996 and had two children, Riley, 5, and Cearra, 2, said his aunt Sue Roper. She said his body will be flown to the United States on Friday.


AP Wire | 11/18/2004 | Minnesota man serving in Iraq killed in vehicle accident

This photo, released by the Multi National Force-Iraq shows Marines of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines setting out on patrol while participating in part of Operation Al Fajr, clearing the city of Fallujah.(AFP/US military/File)

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A US Marine attached to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit shown in a US military photo after completing a cordon-and-search mission near Yusufiyeh, south of Baghdad. A US soldier is expected to be sentenced after being found guilty of murder for shooting to death a severely wounded Iraqi civilian, while the US army pressed its sole supplier of armored Humvees to increase production amid a growing domestic controversy over armor for troops.(AFP/USMC)

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A U.S. Marine guards the Red Crescent headquarters as an aid convoy delivers relief supplies to the war-torn city of Falluja, December 11, 2004. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday expressed concern about civilians in Falluja, where sewage is flowing in the streets and hundreds of bodies apparently lie in a warehouse since a U.S. assault. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani
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Vigil in memory of hometown hero
By DANIELLE CAMILLI
Burlington County Times


MAPLE SHADE - A candlelight vigil in memory of hometown hero U.S. Army Spc. David P. Mahlenbrock is scheduled tonight at 7 at the municipal complex on Stiles Avenue.

Mahlenbrock, 20, died Dec. 3 in Iraq when a roadside bomb detonated while he was clearing a route in the city of Kirkuk.

He was a combat engineer with the 65th Engineer Battalion, 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii and had been in Iraq since January.

Mahlenbrock grew up in the township and was a 2002 graduate of Maple Shade High School. His father and three brothers still live in Maple Shade.

"The vigil really was spontaneous," Township Manager George Haeuber said yesterday. "The members of Township Council really wanted to recognize David Mahlen-brock as a resident who contributed to his community and his country."

He said candles would be provided.

Meanwhile, Soldiers' Angels, a Nevada-based nonprofit organization that supports U.S. military personnel and their families, was unable to convince country music star Toby Keith to personally sing "American Soldier" during Mahlen-brock's funeral.


Vigil in memory of hometown hero (phillyBurbs.com)

Marathon will have satellite run in Afghanistan

Ron Staton / Associated Press
Granted, the trees will be wooden and "Diamond Head" is a small hill renamed, but the soldiers will still be doing 26.2 miles on the same day as more than 26,000 runners in Hawaii.

Nine hours before the race's 5 a.m. local start — Afghanistan is 13.5 hours ahead of Hawaii — the servicemen and women will make nearly six laps around a dusty airstrip at Firebase Ripley just outside Tarin Kowt in the central province of Uruzgan, a former Taliban stronghold and a possible hiding place of Osama bin Laden. The aid stations are guard towers doing double duty.

Going in circles is the upshot of putting on a road race in a war zone. Runners need a foxhole here and there for cover in case of a rocket or mortar attack. Fellow soldiers in full gear will be standing by with armored Humvees.

Much of organizing the run fell to Capt. Ivan Hurlburt, who has run the Honolulu Marathon four times. He set about the task after a soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, expressed the wish of going back to Honolulu for the race. The regiment is based at Schofield Barracks near Honolulu, and 16 members of the battalion, including Hurlburt, are Honolulu Marathon veterans.

The runners have been motivated and inspired by Patti Dillon, a four-time Honolulu Marathon winner who now coaches young runners in New London, Conn., where she lives.

Dillon sent to Hurlburt a banner featuring her quote from a media interview: "If they're going to beat you, make 'em spit blood."

"The soldiers here have been inspired by her and we have seemed to inspire the young runners she teaches," Hurlburt said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Hurlburt has posted Dillon's e-mails, which include marathon training tips.

"It has been a great inspiration for us to have an American distance runner world record holder have a genuine interest in a marathon that is being held for and ran by soldiers," he said.





HONOLULU - About 300 American soldiers in Afghanistan on Sunday will run past palm trees and up Diamond Head in their very own Honolulu Marathon.


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