Air Strike Kills Terrorist; Iraqi Soldiers Respond to Baghdad Bombings

A Coalition air strike killed a terrorist near Khanaqin, and Iraqi Soldiers responded to two bombings in Baghdad Wednesday, military officials reported.

A Coalition aircraft was leaving a raid that targeted foreign fighter facilitators when it received small-arms fire from a vehicle, officials said. Coalition Forces returned fire, destroying the vehicle and killing the armed terrorist. Ground forces detained a suspected terrorist during the raid.

Iraqi Soldiers responded to two bombings in Baghdad Wednesday. Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, who work with the U.S. Army's 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Military Transition Teams, responded to a car-bomb attack in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Three Iraqis were killed, and eight others were wounded in the explosion.

Earlier Wednesday, Iraqi Soldiers responded after an improvised explosive device detonated near the old Ministry of Defense building in the Rusafa neighborhood of central Baghdad. Upon arrival, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, reported that 15 Iraqis were killed and 25 were wounded in the explosion.

All of the casualties were transferred to the Medical City Hospital, officials said.

In other news, three civilians were killed and four were wounded yesterday during a coordinated attack when a car-bomb detonated at the gate of the Khalis Hospital in Diyala province. Terrorists followed this attack with a drive-by shooting, which resulted in the casualties, oifficials said.

The bomb caused a power outage at the hospital; however, enough power was restored to treat wounded patients, which included three children, officials said. Other patients were forced to go to the Baqubah hospital for treatment.

Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Iraqi Army Division, arrived to secure the area while Coalition Forces from 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, conducted a post-blast analysis.

Also Wednesday, paratroopers from 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, found a bomb along a road near the village of Bahbahani, south of Baghdad. An explosive ordnance disposal team dealt with the explosive.

Source: Multi-National Force-Iraq