Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops killed at least five people on Friday in a raid on suspected members of what Washington calls an Iranian-backed terrorist group

BASRA, Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops killed at least five people on Friday in a raid on suspected members of what Washington calls an Iranian-backed terrorist group, the U.S. military said. While overall violence in Iraq has fallen over the last two years, attacks and fighting remain common as Iraq gears up for a March 7 election and U.S. troops prepare to stop combat operations ahead of a withdrawal by the end of 2011.

The firefight with suspected members of Kata’ib Hizballah, a group that the U.S. State Department says has ties to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, occurred 265 km (165 miles) southeast of Baghdad in a village near the Iranian border. Twelve people were arrested.”The joint security team was fired upon by individuals dispersed in multiple residential buildings … members of the security team returned fire, killing individuals assessed to be enemy combatants,” the U.S. military said in a statement.”While the number of casualties has not yet been confirmed, initial reports indicate five individuals were killed,” it said without specifying who was killed in the raid.

Maitham Laftah, a member of the provincial council of Maysan province, said 10 people were killed, including two women, and five people wounded in the village 75 km (46 miles) north of the city of Amara. Eleven people were arrested, he said.Hospital sources in Amara put the death toll at eight killed, including a woman, and three wounded.A Reuters photographer who arrived after the firefight saw bloodstains on the ground and bullet holes in the walls.The U.S. military said that Iraqi and U.S. intelligence sources have spotted a recent increase in weapons smuggling by Iranian-backed militia like Kata’ib Hizballah. It gave no further information.(Reuters)

Recent combined air and ground assaults against al Qaeda in Yemen last month were American-led

combined air and ground assaults

Recent combined air and ground assaults against al Qaeda in Yemen last month were American-led, according to a U.S. special operations expert who trains Yemeni forces.”It was cruise missile strikes in combination with military units on the ground,” Sebastian Gorka, an instructor at the U.S. Special Operation’s Command’s Joint Special Operations University, told CBS News Correspondent Kimberly Dozier.”It was a very distinct signal from the Obama administration that they are serious in assisting Yemen to remove these al Qaeda facilities from its soil.”That was very much something executed by the United States, but with heavy support by the Yemeni government,” Gorka told Dozier.The target was al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula, an affiliate of Osama bin Laden’s group with a popular following in Yemen. AQAP, as it’s known in the counterterrorist world, claimed responsibility for the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Flight 253, which resulted in the arrest of Nigerian Umar Farouk AbdulmutallabU.S. counterterrorist teams have been tracking al Qaeda in Yemen since the U.S.S. Cole bombing in 2000. And the Defense Department has been training Yemeni counterterrorist forces since 1990. Training has been conducted by a range of troops. U.S. Marines did much of the training when President George W. Bush was in office. More recently, the Pentagon has dispatched units from the Army’s Special Forces/Green Berets, who specialize in what’s called “foreign internal defense.”

The top American commander in the region, Central Command’s Gen. David Petraeus, visited Yemen’s capital Sanaa Saturday. It was his last stop in a tour of the region. Earlier, when he stopped in Baghdad, he praised the joint strikes in Yemen in December.

“In one case, forestalling an attack of four suicide bombers were moving into Sana’a,” Petraeus told reporters. “Two training camps targeted and some senior leaders believed to have been killed or seriously injured as well. Certainly there were activities going on there, one of which resulted in the failed attack on the airliner.” But Petraeus was careful to emphasize that the Yemeni government was the decision maker in choosing the targets. He called it “so very important indeed that Yemen has taken the actions that it has and indeed, not just the United States, but countries in the region.” Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Britain have all had a role in providing training and other strategic assistance.

While U.S. military officials say the Yemeni counterterrorist forces aren’t yet ready to go it alone, Petraeus says their intelligence sources are proving so good that “sharing of intelligence and information” has become what he called a “two-way street,” such that “the operations that were carried out in December were very significant.” Yemeni local media report that three strikes on Dec. 17, 2009, hit Abyan, Arhab and San’a, and killed several al Qaeda targets, including one former Guantanamo detainee Hani Abdu Musalih Al-Shalan. He’d been repatriated to Yemen in June 2006 and returned into al Qaeda’s fold. More strikes on Christmas Eve targeted American-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al Awlaki. They struck in Rafd, a mountain valley in Yemen’s Shabwa province, but intelligence officials believe Awlaki survived the attack. He was initially thought to be a more inspirational figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but multiple intelligence officials tell CBS News they now believe he is taking an active role in planning operations, including the attempted December airliner bombing. U.S. officials had kept fairly quiet about the extent of American involvement in the recent Yemeni strikes. But with so many Americans asking what their government is doing to keep them safe after the Christmas Day bombing attempt, many more officials seem eager to describe how they’re striking back. They also say to stand by for more joint U.S.-Yemeni action.(CBS)

Iraqis seeking justice for 17 people shot dead at a Baghdad

Iraqi traffic policeman inspects a car destroyed by a Blackwater security detail in al-Nisoor Square in Baghdad

BAGHDAD  Iraqis seeking justice for 17 people shot dead at a Baghdad intersection responded with bitterness and outrage Friday at a U.S. judge’s decision to throw out a case against a Blackwater security team accused in the killings.The Iraqi government vowed to pursue the case, which became a source of contention between the U.S. and the Iraqi government. Many Iraqis also held up the judge’s decision as proof of what they’d long believed: U.S. security contractors were above the law.”There is no justice,” said Bura Sadoun Ismael, who was wounded by two bullets and shrapnel during the shooting. “I expected the American court would side with the Blackwater security guards who committed a massacre in Nisoor Square.”What happened on Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007, raised Iraqi concerns about their sovereignty because Iraqi officials were powerless to do anything to the Blackwater employees who had immunity from local prosecution. The shootings also highlighted the degree to which the U.S. relied on private contractors during the Iraq conflict.Blackwater had been hired by the State Department to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq. The guards said they were ambushed at a busy intersection in western Baghdad, but U.S. prosecutors and many Iraqis said the Blackwater guards let loose an unprovoked attack on civilians using machine guns and grenades.

“Investigations conducted by specialized Iraqi authorities confirmed unequivocally that the guards of Blackwater committed the crime of murder and broke the rules by using arms without the existence of any threat obliging them to use force,” Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement Friday.He did not elaborate on what steps the government planned to take to pursue the case.The shootings led the Iraqi government to strip the North Carolina-based company of its license to work in the country, and Blackwater replaced its management and changed its name to Xe Services.

Five guards from the company were charged in the case with manslaughter and weapons violations. The charges carried mandatory 30-year prison terms, but a federal judge Friday dismissed all the charges.U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina cited repeated government missteps in the investigation, saying that prosecutors built their case on sworn statements that the guards had given with the idea that they would be immune from prosecution.That explanation held little sway with Iraqis outraged over the case.Dr. Haitham Ahmed’s wife and son were both killed in their car during the shooting.”The rights of our victims and the rights of the innocent people should not be wasted,” he said.Iraqis have followed the case closely and said the judge’s decision demonstrated that the Americans were considered above the law.

“I was not astonished by the verdict because the trial was unreal. They are using double standards and talking about human rights, but they are the first to violate these rights. They are killing innocents deliberately,” said Ahmed Jassim, a civil engineer in the southern city of Najaf.Dozens of Iraqis have filed a separate lawsuit alleging that Blackwater employees engaged in indiscriminate killings and beatings. That civil case was not affected by Urbina’s decision and is still before a Virginia court.Mohammed al-Kinani, whose son was killed, said he had been invited once to the U.S. by the Justice Department as a witness but said he went two more times after that to follow the case.”I will not despair,” he said.Gen. Ray Odierno, the commanding general in Iraq, said he understood that people would be upset with the decision.

“Of course people are not going to like it, because they believe that these individuals conducted some violence and should be punished for it, but the bottom line is, using the rule of law, the evidence is not there,” he said. “I worry about it because clearly there were innocent people killed in this attack.”Of all the private security companies that mushroomed in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion, Blackwater was the most well-known and vilified.Their employees were at the center of what is considered one of the key moments of the war. A vehicle with four Blackwater employees driving through the western city of Fallujah, a center of the Sunni insurgency, was hit by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in March 2004. Their charred, mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets and hung from a bridge over the Euphrates river.The bloody incident was one of the key reasons the U.S. military attacked Fallujah in April 2004.

Another Blackwater guard, Andrew Moonen, was accused by the family of a guard for an Iraqi vice president of shooting and killing the guard without provocation on Christmas Eve of 2006 after Moonen got drunk at a party in the Green Zone and then got lost. Moonen’s lawyer has described the incident as self-defense.An October 2007 report by a House of Representatives committee called Blackwater an out-of-control outfit indifferent to Iraqi civilian casualties. Blackwater chairman Erik Prince told the committee that the company acted appropriately at all times.

Were the incident to happen again today, the legal outcome might be much different. The U.S.-Iraqi security pact that took effect Jan. 1, 2009, lifted the immunity that foreign contractors had in Iraq. A British security contractor accused of shooting two colleagues is currently being held in Iraq and could be the first Westerner to face an Iraqi court since the immunity was lifted.(AP)

BAGHDAD A bomb targeting a church in northern Iraq killed two men

Shiite Muslim men

BAGHDAD  A bomb targeting a church in northern Iraq killed two men and damaged the historic building Wednesday, a day before Christmas Eve services that will be heavily guarded for fear of more attacks on the country’s Christian minority.The bomb in the city of Mosul was hidden under sacks of baking flour in a handcart left 15 yards (meters) from the Mar Toma Church, or the Church of St. Thomas, a police officer said.

The officer said the two men killed were Muslims and that five other people were injured. A hospital official confirmed the casualties.Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to news media.

“Instead of performing Christmas Mass in this church, we will be busy removing rubble and debris,” Hazim Ragheed, a priest at the church, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.The blast damaged the wooden doors, windows, some furniture and one of the walls of the church, which is more than 1,200 years old, Ragheed said. Services will be moved out of the church, but Ragheed did not say where they would be held.

“We demand that the government put an end to these repeated attacks,” Ragheed said.The blast occurred in an area where streets have been closed to cars and trucks to protect Mosul’s dwindling Christian population.

Iraqi defense officials warned earlier in the week that intelligence reports pointed to attacks during Christmas, leading the government to step up security near churches and Christian neighborhoods.Most of the increased security will be in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, said Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Askari.

Christians have frequently been targeted since turmoil swept the country after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, although the attacks have ebbed with an overall drop in violence. Still, tens of thousands of Christians have fled; many who stayed were isolated in neighborhoods protected by barricades and checkpoints.A coordinated bombing campaign in 2004 targeted churches in the Iraqi capital and anti-Christian violence also flared in September 2007 after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be against Islam.

Churches, priests and businesses have been attacked by militants who denounce Christians as pro-American “crusaders.” Paulos Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul, was found dead in March 2008 after being abducted by gunmen after a Mass.

Also Wednesday, Iraqi forces increased security around the Shiite religious observance of Ashoura, which coincides with Christmas.Insurgents have routinely targeted pilgrims on their way to the southern holy city of Karbala during Ashoura, which marks the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.More than 25,000 Iraqi police and soldiers have been assigned to protect pilgrims, said Karbala police Capt. Alaa Abbas Jaafar, a media spokesman.

Elsewhere, gunmen stormed a checkpoint Wednesday in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killing four Iraqi police officers, two police officials said.

A bomb planted on a minibus killed two people and injured five in a Shiite neighborhood in north Baghdad, police and hospital officials said. Another bomb in Fallujah targeted an Anbar University professor but missed and killed the man’s brother, police said.

13 suspects linked to al-Qaida arrested in Baghdad blasts last week's

al-Qaida-linked

BAGHDAD  An Iraqi Interior Ministry official says 13 suspected al-Qaida-linked insurgents are in custody as alleged planners in last week’s deadly bombings in Baghdad.The official says authorities believe the suspects are linked to al-Qaida in Iraq and helped mastermind the bombings that killed at least 127 people. They are the first arrests confirmed after Tuesday’s blasts.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.The announcement Sunday comes as Iraqi officials face another day of intense grilling in parliament over the government’s ability to handle security as U.S. troops depart.

Earlier, a top military commander told lawmakers that some security officials have been detained for negligence.The former top military commander for Baghdad says the U.S. military warned Iraqi security officials of multiple car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital hours before suicide bombers hit government sites.

Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar told lawmakers Sunday that Baghdad’s security command was warned by the U.S. military that insurgents would carry out three attacks, including one in or near the Green Zone.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki replaced Qanbar as Baghdad’s military commander after angry lawmakers demanded answers about security breaches that allowed Tuesday’s bombings that killed at least 127 people.
Qanbar was speaking during the third day of parliament grilling into the third massive attacks to hit government sites since August.

Robert Gates flew to Iraq on Thursday to begin the second leg of his tour of two major war zones

Robert gates

BAGHDAD  U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates flew to Iraq on Thursday to begin the second leg of his tour of two major war zones.Gates’ visit to Iraq comes during a week in which coordinated Baghdad bombings have killed 127 people and wounded more than 500. Al-Qaida’s umbrella group in Iraq claimed responsibility Thursday for the bombings and warned of more strikes to come against the Iraqi government.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell called the bombings “heinous” and said they were a sign of desperation by insurgents.The U.S. military has warned that insurgents would probably continue high-profile attacks in an attempt to destabilize the Iraqi government in advance of March 7 parliamentary elections.

Gates’ agenda in Baghdad includes meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani.The defense secretary flew to Iraq from Kabul after wrapping up a three-day visit in Afghanistan, where he met with U.S. troops and Afghan leaders, including President Hamid Karzai

– A man who was presumed dead in this week's string of attacks in Baghdad stunned neighbors

BAGHDAD

BAGHDAD  A man who was presumed dead in this week’s string of attacks in Baghdad stunned neighbors Wednesday when returned to his toppled home – and then he drew more stares as he cuddled his pet dog that was remarkably unharmed in the blast.”Lots of neighbors thought I was dead,” said Farouq Omar Muhei after his dog, Liza, was carried down to the street and began lapping at a puddle.

The ginger-colored dog was spotted chained to a roof railing and standing on a wall ledge over its collapsed home after Tuesday’s huge blast near Iraq’s Finance Ministry leveled shops and houses. The attack was part of coordinated bombings around Baghdad that claimed at least 127 lives.

Iraqi police and rescue officials said Muhei and his family were among the victims. But he stunned neighbors when he returned with his 14-year-old son, Omar, after being treated for cuts and other injuries. They were the only family members home at the time of the attack and all his family survived.

Only a few portions of the home remained standing – including one section of the roof where Liza was chained. The dog’s water bucket also remained by its side, but was empty when Muhei’s brother, Fuad, climbed over the rubble to unchain the dog and carry it down.

The dog was waiting calmly and even yawned as he approached. But it appeared to be shaking with joy as it was reunited with the 46-year-old Muhei, whose face was laced with cuts and had a bandage on his head. The thirsty Liza then began to lap water from a puddle.

“After we crawled out of the rubble of our home, I said to my son, `The dog is dead,'” said Muhei, who sells candy and small items in the local market. “But my son said, `No, I saw him.’ I came back today to rescue my dog.”

Muhei said he purchased Liza as a puppy six years year in Baghdad’s main pet market. The site was hit by two suicide bombers in February 2008, killing at least 100 people.

34 people killed at baghdad by bomb exploded

exploded at a school

BAGHDAD  A bomb exploded at a school in Baghdad’s Shiite district of Sadr City, killing five people, including four students, Iraqi officials said.The bombing took place at about 1 p.m. in an area where large attacks have been infrequent because it is encircled by U.S. and Iraqi security forces and has its own neighborhood security.The blast also wounded at least 34 people, said an Iraqi police official. A Ministry of Interior official confirmed the casualties.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

There are an estimated 2.5 million Shiites living in Sadr City, a stronghold of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.Violence has decreased dramatically in Iraq, though insurgents continue to target civilians and security forces. The U.S. military has expressed concern of a possible rise in violence ahead of next year’s national elections.

Also Monday, gunmen stormed a checkpoint north of Baghdad, killing five members of a Sunni anti-al-Qaida group, according to a police official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason. The U.S. military confirmed the attack.