Two US soldiers killed, 17 wounded in Iraqi attack

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO948105.htm

Two US soldiers killed, 17 wounded in Iraqi attack

More BAGHDAD, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 17 wounded when insurgents launched a coordinated attack on an outpost near Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. military said.

The insurgents used a suicide car bomber in the attack north of the capital, it said in a statement. U.S. soldiers secured the area and evacuated the wounded, it added. No more details were available.

[babylonsister]

1. How can that be? I heard everything was calming down in Baghdad just

yesterday (forget which talking head informed me-CNN?).

[jannyk]

3. I heard that same crap too - nearly choked! nt

[Solly Mack]

7. I was about to say the same thing

[Warren Stupidity]

2. So petraeus is going to create hundreds of such outposts

That is his thing: take the troops out of their comfy internet cafe/swimming pool fortified bases and put them 'in with the people' in small outposts all over Iraq. The casualty rate is going to climb, the sunnis are going to continue to not accept an unacceptable peace, the war will grind on. We will eventually discover that we can after all just go home. The only question is how many lives and limbs we leave in mesopotamia.

[coalition_unwilling]

15. Reminiscent of French in Indochina pre-1953-- small fortified outposts

highly vulnerable to attack by Vietminh forces at night time. CB

[saigon68]

19. They got their asses kicked then and there too

[acmavm]

4. So the insugents didn't get the memo? Things are lots better

now with thousands of more warm American bodies to occupy their country. At least, that's what I've been told.

[BeyondGeography]

5. It took them about a week to figure out the new rules of the game

The "enemy" has been outfoxing us for four years now. I use quotation marks because it's their country after all, a fact which also helps to explain why we keep getting out maneuvered.

[Tin Man]

6. Makes me wonder if this might be "Outpost Alamo" we read about recently?

Outpost "Alamo" in Baghdad's Ghazaliyah neighborhood?

Feb05 UKTimes: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article1329343.ece

Feb16 ChiTrib: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0702160193feb16,1,1724563.story?track=rss

[Tin Man]

8. I'm worried the casualty figures from this attack may yet grow.

2 dead, 17 wounded. Sounds like the attackers managed to make significant contact our troops. I hope the number killed in this attack doesn't grow.

[sabra]

9. "It was not just a spontaneous attack. It wasn't just people taking potshots at us,"

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO936868.htm

<snip>

A spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad said the assault took place in an outpost north of the capital, but declined to provide more specific information on its location.

"It was not just a spontaneous attack. It wasn't just people taking potshots at us," Major Steven Lamb told Reuters.

Insurgents rarely mount coordinated attacks against U.S. bases.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

10. Thank you for posting this - May they & their families find peace. My prayers are with them.

The Monday Morning Today "Fake News" Show - Mt. Hood hikers, Jet Blue, Brittney Spears - Lots about BS. Wow, she used to be a mousketeer - Wouldn't even know there was a war going on. Soldiers? What soldiers? Dying? Oh my, fiddlededee, what a nuisance. Darn - easy solution - just don't mention it. Now, let's talk about the really important things......

This is a synopsis of the Monday AM Today fake news. And Katie Couric had the nerve to refer to Jon Stewart's show as fake news. What in the hell is she and her ilk reporting. They should be ashamed.

[rodeodance]

11. several Little "Alamo's" like this are to be setup.

[leftchick]

12. Brazen is right, more here....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6426141,00.html

<snip>

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insurgents launched a brazen coordinated attack on a U.S. combat post Monday, sending in a suicide bomber and clashing with American troops. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 17 wounded, the military said.

The assault began with a suicide bomber exploding a vehicle outside the base north of Baghdad, said the military statement. It gave no further details beyond the number of dead and wounded.

Residents said U.S. forces fought with militants after the suicide bomber tried to break through barriers around the base near Tarmiyah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad. For hours, helicopters were seen landing at the base and leaving.

The attack came on a day when a string of car bombings and other attacks claimed nearly 41 civilian lives in Baghdad and elsewhere.

Baghdad's majority Shiite neighborhoods were the focus of the attacks in the capital. A suicide bomber donated an explosives-rigged belt on a public bus headed for the Karradah neighborhood, police reported. Five people were killed. Two other bombs - both in the southeastern Shiite neighborhood of Zafraniyah - killed a total of eight. Police said a mortar attack killed at least 11 people in Baghdad.

[rodeodance]

13. AP story (more): 2 today and 2 this weekend

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070219/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

Two soldiers killed in Iraq base attack

By BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents launched a brazen coordinated attack on a U.S. combat post Monday, sending in a suicide bomber and clashing with American troops. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 17 wounded, the military said.

.............The U.S. military announced Monday that two American service members were killed in combat in western
Iraq — a U.S. Marine who died Saturday and a soldier who died Sunday in Anbar, a Sunni insurgent hotspot west of the capital.

The latest attacks were a sobering reminder of the huge challenges confronting any effort to rattle the well-armed and well-hidden insurgents.
..............
Just a few hours before, Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar led reporters on a tour of the neighborhood near the marketplace and promised to "chase the terrorists out of Baghdad." On Saturday, the Iraqi spokesman for the plan, Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, said violence had plummeted 80 percent in the capital.

[Straight Shooter]

14. "Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi said violence had plummeted 80 percent in the capital"

That is what is known as the calm before the storm. :(

[rodeodance]

16. nwer Reuters: Insurgents rarely mount coordinated attacks against U.S. bases.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070219/wl_nm/iraq_dc;_ylt=AoPcBk.Lezb1Nl_XFjb5l2UUewgF


Two U.S. soldiers killed in outpost attack

By Ibon Villelabeitia 1 hour, 39 minutes ago

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 17 wounded when insurgents launched a coordinated attack on an outpost north of Baghdad on Monday in what appeared to be one of the biggest such assaults in months. ..................

"It was not just a spontaneous attack. It wasn't just people taking potshots at us," Major Steven Lamb told Reuters.

Insurgents rarely mount coordinated attacks against U.S. bases.

A U.S. military statement said U.S. soldiers secured the area and evacuated the wounded. It was not known if any insurgents were killed.

[maddezmom]

17. Six more US troops die in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AFP) - A suicide bomber has attacked a US outpost north of Baghdad, detonating an explosives-laden vehicle that killed two American soldiers and wounded 17 more.

Separately, the military announced the deaths "in combat operations" of three marines and a soldier over three days in the western province of Anbar.

An Iraqi security official told AFP Monday's attack was carried out against an American base in Tarmiyah, 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of the capital.

"Insurgents initiated the attack on the outpost with a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonation," a US military statement said Monday. "The attack site has been secured and wounded soldiers have been evacuated."

The deaths brought the number of US servicemen and women to have died in the Iraqi campaign since the March 2003 invasion to 3,135, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures.

more:http://uk.news.yahoo.com/19022007/323/six-troops-die-iraq.html

[swag]

18. Iraqi Militants Launch Attack on U.S. Base

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/world/middleeast/19cnd-iraq.html

BAGHDAD, Feb. 20 — In a rare coordinated assault on an American combat outpost north of Baghdad, suicide bombers drove one or more cars loaded with explosives into the compound on Monday, while other insurgents opened fire in the ensuing chaos, according to witnesses and the American military.

The brazen attack, which was followed by fierce gun battles and an evacuation of the wounded by American helicopters, was almost surely the work of Sunni militants, most likely Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, according to American and Iraqi officials. It appeared to be part of a renewed drive by insurgents in recent weeks as more American and Iraqi troops flood the streets of Baghdad and thousands of Marines head to western Anbar Province to try to stem the violence.

Captured documents suggest that insurgents have been able to shoot down more helicopters through coordinated assaults, and hundreds of Iraqis have died in a recent wave of car bombings in Baghdad and elsewhere. American and Iraqi military officials say they are concerned that militants are moving to areas where the American troop presence remains thin.

As the Iraqi government and its American allies struggled to quell the violence and build public trust in the security forces, a Sunni woman caused a furor on Monday when she publicly charged that she had been raped by members of the Iraqi National Police, which is largely made up of Shiites.

. . .

[Eugene]

20. MNF Iraq: MND-B troops fight off insurgents, detain seven in wake of onslaught

MND-B troops fight off insurgents, detain seven in wake of onslaught

Tuesday, 20 February 2007

Multi-National Corps – Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20070220-10
Feb. 20, 2007

Update on Tarmiyah attack
MND-B troops fight off insurgents, detain seven in wake of onslaught
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAo 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs

BAGHDAD – Twenty-nine Multi-National Division Soldiers were injured
when insurgents attacked a combat outpost in Tarmiyah Feb. 19. An
initial release on Feb. 19 announced that 17 troops had been wounded
and two killed in the attack.

The U.S. Soldiers defending the outpost were able to maintain security
of the compound, evacuate the wounded and elements of the unit
successfully detained seven suspected insurgents in the wake of the
attack.

Of the 29 Soldiers wounded in action, 24 suffered minor injuries
and have returned to duty. Five others suffered more serious injuries
and are receiving medical treatment for their wounds.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.mnf-iraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10073&Itemid=128