DoD: Al-Qaida Attack Kills 31 in Baghdad

02 May 2008

The U.S. military has blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for a double suicide bombing that killed at least 31 people and wounded about 50 at a wedding party northeast of Baghdad.

An Excalibur projectile explodes out of an M777 howitzer on Camp Taji, northwest of Baghdad, April 26, 2008. The Excalibur was the first round of this type fired by soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The attack happened Thursday in the town of Balad Ruz. The U.S. military says the first suicide bomber was a woman disguised to appear pregnant, while the second bomber blew himself up later as emergency workers arrived on the scene.

Iraqi authorities gave a higher death toll of 35.

U.S. military officials say al-Qaida in Iraq is trying to regroup after suffering a blow last year when Sunni tribesmen turned against it.

In another development, the U.S. military says an unmanned American spy plane crashed in Iraq early Friday morning. It says mechanical failure is thought to be the cause. It is not clear where the MQ-1 Predator drone went down.

The U.S. military uses spy planes in Iraq to search for insurgents targeting American forces.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Edisson Vargas prepares his soldiers to fire an Excalibur round for the first time on Camp Taji, northwest of Baghdad, April 26, 2008. The Excalibur is a specialized round guided by a global positioning system. The soldiers are assigned to the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 11th Field Artillery Regiment.

Earlier Thursday, a car bomb exploded in Baghdad, killing nine Iraqis and a U.S. soldier and wounding more than 20 other people.

Coalition and Iraqi forces killed and captured suspected terrorists in various operations around Iraq over the past two days, military officials reported.

During operations in Iraq today:

-- Coalition surveillance teams in the Tigris River Valley, 85 miles south of Mosul, saw armed men entering a vehicle behind a targeted building. Coalition aircraft engaged the vehicle and killed five of them. The vehicle then erupted with secondary explosions, indicating that weapons and ammunition likely were inside. Ground forces killed an additional suspected terrorist in the raid and detained another.

-- An air weapons team used a Hellfire missile to engage and kill three enemy fighters in a vehicle around 2 a.m. in northeastern Baghdad. Earlier in the evening, coalition forces saw the men placing a homemade explosive before fleeing in the vehicle.

-- Coalition aircraft struck a known Iranian-backed senior “special groups” leader in the Sadr City section of Bagdad at 2:17 p.m. The leader is responsible for criminal acts against Iraqi citizens and coalition forces, according to military intelligence. It is unclear whether the air strike injured or killed the targeted suspect, officials said.

-- Troops captured an alleged suicide-car-bombing associate in Abu Ghraib, 10 miles west of Baghdad, and another man believed to be preparing to carry out a suicide attack.

-- Iraqi and coalition forces in Tuz, some 50 miles south of Kirkuk, detained two suspected terrorists while targeting an individual believed to have long-standing ties to the local al-Qaida in Iraq network.

-- Coalition troops captured two wanted individuals in Mosul during a raid targeting associates of al-Qaida in Iraq leaders.

-- Coalition forces captured an alleged bombing network associate in Beiji.

In Iraq yesterday:

-- Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, came under indirect fire and heavy machine gun fire from a vehicle in northeastern Baghdad. The soldiers retaliated and killed seven attackers.

-- Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 4th Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team, saw enemy fighters loading multiple rockets onto a launch sled in Sadr City at about 3 p.m. The soldiers engaged the men before they could fire the rockets, killing five of them. About 20 minutes later, troops killed another man as he attempted to recover the rockets, which coalition forces later destroyed.

-- Attackers in Sadr City fired rocket-propelled grenades at soldiers from 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment. The soldiers returned fire and killed three enemy fighters.

-- Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, received rocket-propelled-grenade and small-arms fire while emplacing barriers in northeastern Baghdad. The troops returned fire and killed three enemy fighters.

-- Soldiers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, operating an unmanned aerial vehicle, witnessed two armed men, including one bearing a rifle on the rooftop of a house. Soldiers fired one Hellfire missile from the UAV, killing both enemy fighters and destroying their weapon.

-- Enemy fighters attacked soldiers with small-arms fire in northeastern Baghdad around 8:10 p.m. The soldiers retaliated and killed two attackers.

-- Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, positively identified an Iranian-backed “special groups” operative with an RPK machine gun. Acting in self-defense, the soldiers returned fire and killed the individual.

-- Troops captured a wanted man and detained an additional suspect while targeting al-Qaida in Iraq operatives in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood. The wanted man is believed to be associated with an al-Qaida in Iraq leader responsible for car bombing and suicide attacks in the Iraqi capital.

-- Coalition forces captured two suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists in Mosul, using information gleaned from an April 21 operation. One suspect is a wanted man allegedly associated with several senior terrorist leaders in the city.

-- Iraqi and coalition forces nabbed an alleged al-Qaida in Iraq operative in Kirkuk and an additional suspected terrorist. The alleged operative is believed to have ties to senior terrorist leaders both in Kirkuk and Mosul.