There was no major news out of Baghdad today, but we have two big stories coming out of Fallujah and northern Babil province. Multinational Forces Iraq confirmed that it has indeed recovered the body of one of the three missing soldiers near Mussayab, while al Qaeda plowed a suicide car bomb into a funeral procession in Fallujah.
A fireman attempts to put out a massive fire at an oil
well, outside the northern town of Kirkuk.
AFP/Marwan Ibrahim
The body of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. was found floating in the Euphrates River yesterday by Iraqi civilians. Pfc. Anzack appeared to have been dead for several days, and his body showed signs of torture as well as multiple gunshots to the head and chest. Specialist Alex R. Jimenez and Private Byron W. Fouty are still listed as missing, and earlier reports that two other bodies have been recovered have since been denied by U.S. commanders. Al Qaeda has still not released a videotape of the soldiers’ capture, interrogation, or torture, but hope of finding the two soldiers fades as each day passes. In Fallujah, al Qaeda attacked friends and family attending the funeral of Allawi al-Isawi. A suicide bomber struck the funeral procession killing 25 and wounding another 30 mourners. Isawi was a leader in the Anbar Salvation Council, the grouping of former insurgents and tribal leaders that have banded together to fight al Qaeda. He was also a member of the Albu Issa tribe, part of which is actively fighting al Qaeda in the eastern regions of Anbar province and has been the target of repeated al Qaeda attacks as a result. Coalition forces captured 15 members of al Qaeda’s network during raids in Salman Pak, Karma, Amiriya, and Mosul. And Iraqi National Police captured three wanted insurgents in Jisay in Diyala province. The men were “wanted for murder, kidnapping and displacing Shiia families.” In the north, insurgents conducted a successful strike against Iraqi’s oil infrastructure. “Insurgents planted a bomb in the well,” in a field near Kirkuk, an unnamed Iraqi Army officer told AFP. Insurgents have repeatedly attacked the pipeline running from Kirkuk into Turkey, but this is the first time a well head was targeted.
