Civilian convoy hijacked in Iraq

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - A convoy of civilians traveling near Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq, was hijacked Thursday, according to the Pentagon. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said that preliminary reports suggested there could be as many as 14 people captured and that the convoy included about 19 vehicles.

He said he had no new details on the attack, adding that British forces were working with Iraqis to determine what happened. He would not say whether U.S. forces were involved.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, confirmed that a convoy was attacked in the southern region of Iraq, but he also provided no other details. ABC News reported that four of the civilians captured were Americans and that the convoy was being operated by the Crescent Security Group.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061117/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_attack

[bemildred]

1. This is our good friends the Shiia deciding that we don't need

our supply lines anymore.

[Submariner]

2. I'm glad I turned down that job!

I was asked by my boss to go into Nasiriyah and help get the power plant back online for double pay and a 50% bonus. The money was great. I could have had a spectacular funeral I bet!

[ECH1969]

3. Americans Believed Captured in Iraq Ambush

Four Americans are believed to be among 14 people kidnapped in an ambush of a convoy of contractors in Iraq near the city of Nasariyah, defense officials tell ABC News.

The incident took place this afternoon in a normally peaceful part of southern Iraq. A convoy run by a Kuwaiti-based company called Crescent Security Group was driving from near the Kuwaiti border to an Italian base near the City of Nasariyah.

Early in the trip, the convoy stopped at what looked like an Iraqi police checkpoint, military officials said. Initial reports say 19 trucks were seized and approximately 14 people, including four Americans detained.

There is still a great deal of confusion about whether the checkpoint was operated by real Iraqi police or by a Shiia militia, the officials said.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=2659548
-------------------------------------------------------

Nasariyah is deep in southern Iraq, it is controled by the Madhi Army.

[HaggardsMethDealer]

4. Dont care...

No sympathy for mercs. We don't belong there, but mercs REALLY dont belong there.

[AIJ Alom]

6. And all the bloodiest fighting for Marine divisions battling into Iraq

during the initial invasion. In phase IV, this "conquered" are would have been put under support forces control, unfortunately the Mis-administration of the current occupant of the White House did not supply the support troops necessary because there was phase IV.

[leftchick]

7. lol!

in a dark sort of way this is funny...

"operated by real Iraqi police or by a Shiia militia"

I believe they are the same.

[bluerum]

5. The squatter in chief will stay the course on this as soon as he gets

back from his jaunt around the world.

This is the squatters plan for victory - abandon a ruined country and let it descend into complete civil chaos.

It worked for NOLA.

[0rganism]

8. so, where's the "good news" from Iraq today?

Did someone change a light bulb at the Ministry of Official Bullshit?

Was a missing paperweight found in the Untracked Cash Dispensary?

Perhaps a local goat gave birth to two healthy kids in Basrah?

The occupation of Iraq has become a textbook example of exponentially declining expectations...

[wholetruth00]

9. Insurgents just picked up some more supplies.

"dressed like Iraqi police." They ARE Iraqi police.

[daleo]

10. It sounds like a convoy of mercenaries

"Civilian convoy" is misleading.

[maddezmom]

11. agree it's misleading, more from today

Five foreigners missing after Iraq convoy attack
BASRA, Iraq, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Five foreigners, including four Americans, were taken hostage in southern Iraq when a civilian truck convoy was hijacked just after crossing the Kuwaiti border, Iraqi security sources said on Friday.

"The convoy was seized near Safwan yesterday," one source told Reuters in Basra, the main city in southern Iraq. An Austrian and nine Iraqis were also abducted by the gunmen but some of the Iraqis had already been released, he added.

The family of one American security contractor told a U.S. newspaper that U.S. officials said he had been captured.

The convoy, one of many bringing supplies into Iraq from neighbouring Kuwait, was heading for Nassiriya, 375 km (235 miles) south of Baghdad and the U.S. military initially said it was checking reports that the hijack happened near Nassiriya.

It was on a road that is heavily guarded to protect U.S. military convoys on what is the occupation force's main supply route into Iraq, an Iraqi security source said.
more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/MAC724207.htm

[maddezmom]

12. AP: Coalition forces probe hijacking in Iraq

~snip~
The official, who requested anonymity because of the security situation in Iraq, said it appears that some of the convoy drivers had been released, and were being interviewed by the military. He said initial reports suggested that the attack occurred at a checkpoint in a location where normally there is no blockade.

In the United States, NBC television reported that the kidnappers were wearing uniforms.

~snip~

The convoy was being operated by the Crescent Security Group. The company works mostly in Iraq, and its operations are based in Kuwait. Many of its managers and employees are American.

On Friday, a spokesman for the company in Kuwait City declined to comment about the hijacking, saying that top Crescent Security Group officials were meeting to discuss the crisis. But another official there said on condition of anonymity that the company was working with the State Department.

more;http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061117/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_hijacked_convoy

[Eugene]

13. AP: 2 Gunmen Killed in Iraq After Hijacking

2 Gunmen Killed in Iraq After Hijacking


Friday November 17, 2006 11:16 AM

AP Photo BAG132

By WILL WEISSERT

Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - British ground forces and U.S. military helicopters fought
with gunmen on Friday in an area of southern Iraq where four American security
contractors and their Austrian co-worker were taken hostage after their convoy
was hijacked, British and Iraqi officials said.

Two of the gunmen were killed in the fighting, and it was not known whether the
five hostages were being held in the area at the time, said Capt. Tane Dunlop,
a spokesman for British forces, and an Iraqi police officer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6221369,00.html