U.S. military says it killed young girl in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) — U.S. soldiers fired a warning shot near a woman who "appeared to be signaling to someone" along a dangerous stretch of road north of Baghdad, but the bullet killed a young Iraqi girl, a military official said early Thursday.
The shooting took place Wednesday where several roadside bombs had recently been found in the volatile Diyala province. An exact location was not given in a military statement.
The girl appeared to be "around 10 years old," said Maj. Brad Leighton, a military spokesman.
There has been an increase in the use of women as suicide bombers in Iraq. But Leighton said preliminary reports indicated that soldiers didn't believe the woman posed a threat of being a bomber. Rather "they were afraid she was signaling to someone that the convoy was going by."
In its statement, the military said that "coalition forces fired a warning shot into a berm near a suspicious woman who appeared to be signaling to someone while the soldiers were in the area. A young girl was found behind the berm suffering from a gunshot wound."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-03-12-girl_N.htm
3 U.S. soldiers killed in rocket attack in Iraq
From a Times Staff Writer
March 13, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Three American soldiers were killed in a rocket attack Wednesday in southern Iraq, the U.S. military said.
The rocket also wounded two soldiers and a civilian when it hit a military outpost outside Nasiriya, the military said in a statement. It was not immediately clear who fired the rocket.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-iraq13mar13,1,6127336.story
US report shows increase in Iraq violence since January
* Defence Dept says rise partly due to recent offensives against militants
WASHINGTON: Iraq has seen some increased violence since January, including suicide and car bombings, despite a sharp overall decline in attacks in the past eight months, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The rise in violence was partly as a result of recent US-led offensives against Islamist militants, including Al Qaeda in Iraq, the Defence Department said in its latest quarterly report on the war. The release of the report, which covers December through February, coincided with a surge of violence that killed 46 people across Iraq on Tuesday.
The Pentagon noted a rise in security incidents since January in Nineveh and Diyala provinces and other areas where it said Al Qaeda in Iraq militants have flocked since being driven from former strongholds by US-allied Sunni tribesmen.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C03%5C13%5Cstory_13-3-2008_pg4_9
Iraq’s Mehdi army attacks US base near Kut
By Reuters, March 13
US soldiers and Iraqi militants exchanged fire after a rocket attack from a Shi’ite Mehdi Army militia stronghold on a U.S. base southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi police said on Thursday.
An Iraqi police official, who asked not to be identified, said as many as 11 Katyusha rockets landed on the U.S. base near Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, late on Wednesday.
Two Iraqi men, who the police source said were brothers, were killed and four others, including a 6-year-old girl, were wounded when U.S. soldiers responded to the rocket attack with mortar rounds, the official said.
A U.S. military spokeswoman said the Americans responded after four rockets were fired at the base. She had no information about civilian casualties but said no U.S. soldiers were hurt in the exchange.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2b972d2a-f0da-11dc-a91a-0000779fd2ac.html
Iraq refugee crisis grows
Kerry Sheridan, Washington
March 13, 2008
THE plight of people displaced by the Iraq war is getting worse, refugee experts warn.
Five years after the US-led invasion, a House of Representatives subcommittee heard that serious problems persist for the 2.5 million people displaced inside Iraq and the 2 million who have fled to other countries.
Even though the numbers have levelled off, ambassador Lawrence Foley said the most critical problem was worsening poverty among those displaced inside Iraq and in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.
Mr Foley, senior co-ordinator for Iraqi refugee issues at the State Department, said Iraqis in other countries are often forbidden to work and so have depleted any remaining family resources.
Gregory Gottlieb, deputy assistant administrator for USAID's bureau for democracy, conflict and humanitarian assistance, said: "Iraq's IDP (internally displaced persons) and refugee crisis is deepening."
In 2007, he said, 60% of internally displaced people reported not receiving any food aid since becoming displaced and 20% reported seeking shelter in informal settlements with no clean water or electricity.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/iraq-refugee-crisis-grows/2008/03/12/1205126007288.html
U.S. soldiers, militia exchange fire in south Iraq
Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:30am EDT
BAGHDAD, March 13 (Reuters) - U.S. soldiers and Iraqi militants exchanged fire after a rocket attack from a Shi'ite Mehdi Army militia stronghold on a U.S. base southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi police said on Thursday.
A U.S. military spokeswoman said the Americans responded after four rockets were fired at the base in Kut late on Wednesday. Iraqi police said two civilians were killed but the U.S. military said it had no details of civilian casualties. (Baghdad newsroom; Editing by Ross Colvin)
http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSL13369817
