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14 marines killed in bombing { August 3 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/03/iraq.main/http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/08/03/iraq.main/
Wednesday, August 3, 2005; Posted: 8:20 a.m. EDT (12:20 GMT)
Fourteen Marines killed in bombing
21 Marines killed in 3 days of fighting; U.S. journalist slain
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A roadside bomb blast killed 14 Marines and a civilian interpreter Wednesday as they rode in a vehicle near Haditha, Iraq, U.S. military officials said.
The military said the bomb struck the amphibious assault vehicle about 1 mile (about 2 kilometers) south of Haditha, along the Euphrates River about 135 miles northwest of Baghdad. The military said one Marine was wounded.
On Monday, six Marine sniper team members were killed in a firefight near the same city and a Marine was killed in nearby Hit. Twenty-one Marines have been killed in the region in three days. The number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war stands at 1,820, according to U.S. military reports.
All 21 Marines who were killed Monday and Wednesday were assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2, part of the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.
Haditha and Hit are Sunni Arab cities along the Euphrates River about 135 miles (217 kilometers) and 95 miles (152 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, respectively. U.S. and Iraqi troops recently have been trying to clear insurgents out of both cities.
They are in sprawling Anbar province, which stretches from the western environs of Baghdad to the Syrian, Jordanian and Saudi borders.
U.S. journalist found dead
U.S. freelance journalist Steven Vincent was found shot to death in the southern Iraqi city of Basra early Wednesday, officials said.
A Basra police official said Vincent and his female interpreter, Nuriya Tiays, had been abducted about 12:30 a.m. (4:30 p.m. Tuesday) in the Ashar area of central Basra.
Vincent's body was found about a 10-minute drive from the place where he and Tiays were kidnapped, the official said. Tiays was shot in the chest and was being treated in a hospital.
Vincent was in Basra writing a book about the history of the city. He also maintained an Internet blog about his life in Iraq.
The New York Times published on Sunday an editorial written by Vincent about the growing influence of Islamic militants in the largely Shiite city of Basra and British efforts to train new security forces. He wrote that security forces were heavily influenced by such groups as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Police killed in Baghdad
Two Iraqi police officers were assassinated within 12 hours of each other in Baghdad, police said Wednesday.
The first police officer was killed about 9 p.m. Tuesday, when gunmen opened fire on his car in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Amiriya as he returned home, police said.
Gunmen killed the second police officer about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday as he left home in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Jami'a, police said.
U.S. convoy hit
A suicide car bomber attacked a U.S. military convoy Tuesday as it traveled through an underpass beneath al-Tahrir Square in Baghdad, wounding 29 people, Iraqi police said. Fifteen vehicles were destroyed.
In Baquba, about 30 miles north of Baghdad, police said gunmen killed a Diyala province Health Ministry official and his driver Tuesday near Diyala Medical College.
Dr. Abdul Hassan Mehdi was director of Khalis General Hospital in the town of Khalis, police said.
Also in Baquba, a bomb attack on a police convoy killed a police officer and a child Tuesday, police said. Seven police and a civilian were wounded.
Terror group commander captured
Iraqi police have captured a top commander of Ansar al-Sunna, a terrorist group blamed for last year's suicide bombing at a U.S. military mess hall in Mosul that killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. troops.
A U.S. military statement released Monday said Majid Mohammed Ahmeen, the group's commander in Diyala province and its self-proclaimed emir, was picked up along with a dozen other Ansar al-Sunna members in a series of raids in July. All are being held by coalition forces in Baquba.
Spokesman Maj. Steve Warren said Iraqi police also seized videotape during the raids that shows insurgents carrying out attacks.
Two commanders of Ansar al-Sunna's assassination cells -- Abass Hussain Faissal and Rahd Mohamed Mahmood -- were among those captured during the raids.
The military statement said those cells have been linked to at least 20 assassinations, including the death of Kathim E-Ekza, a member of the Khatoon city council.
According to the statement, Ahmeen coordinated with al Qaeda in Iraq and the Revolution of 1920 Group to conduct complex attacks in Baquba and throughout Diyala province.
CNN's Enes Dulami, Cal Perry and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.
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