SON OF VIRGINIA POLITICIAN WOUNDED IN IRAQ: VIOLENCE CONTINUES ACROSS IRAQ

Army Spc. Patrick Hanley, the son of Virginia's secretary of the commonwealth, Katherine K. Hanley, has been wounded in Iraq. A vehicle he was riding in Saturday struck an improvised explosive device in Baghdad. Hanley lost an arm and suffered head injuries, said Bernard Henderson, deputy secretary of the commonwealth. The initial signs showed no brain damage, Henderson added. Two other soldiers in the vehicle were killed.

Corporal Paul Gennaro, 26, of Aliquippa, was injured in Baghdad on February 8 when the explosive hit his striker vehicle. Three other soldiers were also hurt. Gennaro lost part of one of his heels and the lower part of his body was crushed under the weight of the vehicle. He was wounded in an IED attack in Iraq that killed four of his fellow soldiers had an emotional homecoming at the Pittsburgh Airport.

There has been a spike in the violence in Iraq on Wednesday and the city of Basra, which was the scene of heavy fighting last week, is noticeably quieter today because many Basra residents feel it is only a matter of time until fighting between the Mehadi militia and the Iraqi Army breaks out in the city.

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

Baghdad:#1: Iraqi police found two bodies in different areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said.

#2: A cameraman working for al-Diyar satellite channel was wounded on Wednesday in a bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad, an official source from the channel said. "An improvised explosive device went off in al-Talibiya city in eastern Baghdad targeting Maytham Ibrahim, a cameraman, while heading to his work, cutting off one of his legs," Omar al-Yasseri, the channel's deputy director, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. "He was rushed to Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City, and he is in a critical condition," he explained.Three people were killed and 13 others wounded, including a cameraman with Iraq's independent Al-Diyar satellite television, in a roadside bombing in Baghdad on Wednesday, officials said. A security official said the bomb exploded in the eastern neighbourhood of Talbiyah and killed three people. Thirteen people, including Al-Diyar cameraman Maytham Ibrahim, were wounded in the attack, the official said. Ibrahim survived but lost a leg, news editor Imed al-Abadi of the station said.A roadside bomb targeting a U.S. convoy also exploded near a restaurant in Baghdad's main Shiite district of Sadr City, killing at least three Iraqi civilians and wounding 13, police said.

#3: Attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi security forces soared across Baghdad in the last week of March to the highest levels since the deployment of additional U.S. troops here reached full strength last June, according to U.S. military data and analysis. Over the week that began March 25, when the offensive began in Basra, there were 728 attacks against U.S. coalition forces, Iraqi security forces and civilians across Iraq, according to U.S. military data obtained by The Washington Post. Of these, 430 -- or almost 60 percent of the attacks -- occurred in Baghdad. In comparison, the average weekly attack rate in Baghdad last June was 326 attacks, according to U.S. military statistics.

#4: In Baghdad, several armed men fired at a civilian car Wednesday and killed two women working for Iraqna mobile telephone company, a security official said.Their driver was wounded.

#5: A roadside bomb exploded at a police checkpoint in the Qahira neighbourhood in northern Baghdad, wounding three policemen, police said.

Diyala Prv:Muqdadiyah:#1: A police patrol in the town of Muqdadiyah, north-east of Baquba, was hit in a bomb attack, which left eight policemen dead and two injured, police sources told the Voices of Iraq news agency.

#2: Another bomb hit policemen in a civilian car in Wajihiyah near Muqdadiyah, killing two and injuring three, the unnamed sources said.

Mandeli:#1: The three security guards were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the town of Mandeli, east of the provincial capital of Baquba, police Major Mohammed al-Kharki said.

Baquba:#1: The others killed were two policemen and a woman in separate roadside bomb attacks in and around the provincial capital of Baquba, police added.

Khanqeen:#1: Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen blew up a house after booby-trapped it in al-Saadiya district in Khanqeen, northeast of Baaquba, without leaving casualties," the source, who asked anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq

Basra:#1: A roadside bomb exploded near a convoy carrying Iraqi generals in a Shi'ite militia stronghold in the southern city of Basra on Wednesday, but the officials were unhurt, one of the officers said. Major-General Mohammed al-Askari, spokesman for Iraq's Defence Ministry, said he was in a convoy with Basra's security chief, Lieutenant-General Mohan al-Firaiji, when the blast went off in the Hayaniya neighborhood. An Iraqi television correspondent was wounded in the leg, Askari said, adding that he might have been hit by a bullet. One witness said he had earlier heard Iraqi army loudspeakers ordering people to close their shops and to stay at home in Hayaniya. He then heard explosions and gunfire.

#2: There were reports of sporadic clashes in Basra on Wednesday, but Askari denied there had been any fresh fighting.

#3: Gunmen in a car shot dead a teacher and wounded his son on Tuesday in the town of Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

#4: "The streets are less busy today than yesterday, because people fear that the security situation may blow up again," said Yahya Ali, who lives in the Ashar neighborhood. "There are rumors that the government and Mahdi Army are exchanging threats." The situation in Basra, 250 miles to the south, remained tense. Residents said militia members remained on the streets in some neighborhoods and that Iraqi security forces deployed in the city were jumpy and quick to blast bullets into the air when vehicles came near.

#5: New Iraqi security force raids took place in Zubayr, about 18 miles west of Basra. Witnesses said they awoke to the sound of gunfire as security forces raided homes suspected of harboring militiamen.

Shirqat:#1: The U.S. military said eight members of a U.S.-backed neighbourhood police patrol were killed and three wounded on Tuesday while they were moving a bomb they had found in Shirqat town, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad. Police said five members of the patrol were killed. The patrol was taking the bomb away for detonation when it exploded.Dalouiya:#1: Suspected al-Qaeda gunmen set up a fake checkpoint in a region in east of Dalouiya," Colonel Mohammed Jasem told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq. "The gunmen killed four persons and kidnapped four others along with their civilian vehicle," he explained. "The kidnapped, all civilians, including the chief of al-Janabiyeen tribe in al-Darawesh region, east of Dalouiya, and his son," Jasem added.He did not add more details.

Kirkuk:#1: A suicide attacker blew himself up, Tuesday evening, targeting Khalaf Ibrahim, a local Sahwa leader, in Hawija district,” the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq. The source added that Ibrahim’s escorts suspected and fired at the attacker before he could blow up himself, killing a civilian. “The local leader survived the attack unharmed,” he added.

Mosul:#1: A car bomb wounded three policeman in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.A woman was killed and four policemen were injured on Wednesday in a car bomb explosion in eastern Mosul, said a police source."A car rigged with explosives went off targeting a police vehicle patrol in al-Quds neighborhood in eastern Mosul, killing a passing woman and injuring four policemen," the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq.

Afghanistan:#1: A suicide bomber hit a police compound in southwestern Afghanistan, killing two officers and wounding five others, an official said. The bomber tried to ram a vehicle packed with explosives Tuesday inside a police chief's compound in the town of Zaranj in Nimroz province, said provincial deputy police chief Asadullah Sherzad. The vehicle exploded at the compound walls, killing two policemen and wounding five others, Sherzad said. The bomber also died.