insurgents – News Stories About insurgents - Page 8

May 22, 2007 8:19 AM CDT

Iran Said to Be Plotting Iraq Offensive

Makes new allies to increase violence, prompt withdrawal

(Newser) - Iran is secretly allying with al-Qaeda and Sunni insurgents to launch a major summer offensive against the US in Iraq, reports the Guardian. The goal is to trigger a political mutiny in Congress to force a withdrawal of US troops. Iran had previously been linked to Shia militias but had...

Shiite al-Sadr
Reaches Out
to Sunni Rivals

May 20, 2007 3:14 PM CDT

Shiite al-Sadr Reaches Out to Sunni Rivals

Switch in tactics aims at hastening US withdrawal

(Newser) - In a dramatic shift in tacttics, Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is reaching out to rival Sunni leaders in Iraq, and purging radical elements of his own militia, the Washington Post reports. With Sunni insurgents making moves to distance themselves from al-Qaeda, Sadr sees an opportunity for a cross-sectarian political alliance,...

Clashes in Lebanon Kill 39

May 20, 2007 2:20 PM CDT

Clashes in Lebanon Kill 39

(Newser) - A gunbattle between the Lebanese army and al-Qaeda-linked militants in Tripoli today left 22 soldiers and 17 insurgents dead, the AP reports. The fighting—the worst in the city in two decades— began when police raided an apartment occupied by militants. The army later shelled a Palestinian refugee camp which...

Contractor Fatalities Soar in Iraq

May 19, 2007 9:13 AM CDT

Contractor Fatalities Soar in Iraq

New numbers show soaring increases in civilian casualties, even as the troop presence rises

(Newser) - Private contractors have been killed in Iraq in record numbers this year, the New York Times reports, as the deployment of U.S. forces in outside the Green Zone amps up the danger for both soldiers and civilians. Through March, there were at least 146 killed, compared to 224 troops...

Tribes Claim Al-Qaeda Head Killed by Rivals

May 1, 2007 7:40 AM CDT

Tribes Claim Al-Qaeda Head Killed by Rivals

Leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq said to be victim of Insurgent infighting

(Newser) - The head of al-Qaeda in Iraq is dead, according to the Iraqi government. Abu Ayyub al-Masri was killed in a skirmish between rival groups of militants, officials said today, suggesting the possibility of exploitable rifts in the Sunni insurgency. The U.S. military has not verified the claim because a...

Condi Says She'll
Talk to Iran

Apr 30, 2007 6:45 AM CDT

Condi Says She'll Talk to Iran

Meeting at Iraq conference will be first between US and Iran since 2004

(Newser) - Iran will be attending next week's regional conference on Iraq, the Times reports, offering the first sitdown between the Axis of Evil power and the U.S. in three years. Condoleezza Rice yesterday reiterated accusations that Iran is stirring insurgent violence in Iraq, but also hinted that the meeting in...

Deadly Blast Rocks Holy City

Apr 28, 2007 4:35 PM CDT

Deadly Blast Rocks Holy City

Shiite Holy City Rocked by Blast

(Newser) - A car bomb ripped through one of Iraq's holiest cities today, killing at least 58 Iraqis and wounding over 150 as they made their way to evening prayers. Karbala—the site of two major Shiite shrines—is a hotspot for suicide bombers, who killed 47 in an attack just two...

You Go to War With the Army You Need

Apr 27, 2007 8:11 PM CDT

You Go to War With the Army You Need

Not the Army you have, says an active-duty Army officer

(Newser) - "America's generals have failed to prepare our armed forces for war and advise civilian authorities on the application of force to achieve the aims of policy," says Lt. Col. Paul Yingling. In an extraordinary article in Armed Forces Journal Yingling blames the military for not properly advising the...

Iraqi Slams U.S. Senate Vote

Apr 27, 2007 8:25 AM CDT

Iraqi Slams U.S. Senate Vote

"We see it as a loss of four years of sacrifices"

(Newser) - The Iraqi government is blasting the U.S. Senate for approving the troop-withdrawal bill, saying it sends the wrong message to insurgents. "We see it as a loss of four years of sacrifices," government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said yesterday of the legislation, which mandates an October 1 deadline...

Prince Harry Heads for Iraq

Apr 27, 2007 6:04 AM CDT

Prince Harry Heads for Iraq

(Newser) - England's Prince Harry is scheduled to deploy to south-east Iraq with his regiment next month, in spite of misgivings about the high-profile royal becoming a target for insurgents. The British Ministry of Defense continues to support his deployment, saying that holding him back would be a "tremendous propaganda coup"...

Eight Dead
In Bombing
of Iraqi Parliament

Apr 12, 2007 2:13 PM CDT

Eight Dead In Bombing of Iraqi Parliament

Suspected suicide bomber was bodyguard of Sunni MP

(Newser) - Eight people, including three lawmakers, were killed and at least 30 wounded when a suicide bomber eluded the normally heavy security around the Green Zone and denonated an explosion in the cafeteria of the Iraqi parliament. Officials believe the culprit was the bodyguard of a Sunni legislator not among the...

Al-Sadr Preaches Peace — But Not
Toward U.S.

Apr 8, 2007 5:56 PM CDT

Al-Sadr Preaches Peace — But Not Toward U.S.

Urges Iraqis to unite against "occupiers"

(Newser) - Firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on Iraqis Sunday to stop killing each other—and join together to rid their country of Americans. On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, he urged both Iraqi forces and insurgents to direct their fight against "the occupiers,"...

Bill Would Put Ba'athists
Back in Power

Mar 28, 2007 8:47 AM CDT

Bill Would Put Ba'athists Back in Power

Aim is to woo Sunnis into Shiite-dominated government

(Newser) - Ba'athists will be allowed back in government posts if a bill proposed yesterday, aimed at reconciling dissident Sunnis with the Shiite-dominated government, passes the Iraqi parliament. The U.S has been pushing for the law to law to woo the former Saddam loyalists —mostly Sunnis— into the political...

Sunni Baghdad
Lies in Ruins as Shiites Rebuild

Mar 26, 2007 12:05 PM CDT

Sunni Baghdad Lies in Ruins as Shiites Rebuild

Insurgents target efforts to provide food, fuel, services

(Newser) - Baghdad's Sunni neighborhoods are in collapse, lacking food, fuel, electricity and health care even as their Shiite neighbors have regained basic services, Alissa Rubin reports. In Shiite areas, the Mahdi Army fills in for the government by keeping order and organizing resources, but Sunnis now find themselves under attack...

Fake Raids Test Iraqi Reconstruction

Mar 22, 2007 11:13 AM CDT

Fake Raids Test Iraqi Reconstruction

U.S. aid to small businesses works only if it's invisible. Otherwise, companies get 'immediately shot or blown up.'

(Newser) - The American military is staging fake raids on Iraqi small businesses to confirm that US aid is being well spent—without tipping off insurgents that they have any US connection. "The only way things will work is if the US contribution is totally invisible," says a civil-affairs officer,...

Iraqi Bombers Use Kids to
Get Through Checkpoint

Mar 21, 2007 9:00 AM CDT

Iraqi Bombers Use Kids to Get Through Checkpoint

(Newser) - Insurgents in Baghdad used two children in the backseat of a car to lower suspicion at an American security checkpoint, then blew up the car, with the children in it. Once they cleared the checkpoint, the bombers parked near a school, ran from the car, and detonated the bomb,...

Chalabi Rides Surge Back
Into Office

Mar 6, 2007 11:04 AM CST

Chalabi Rides Surge Back Into Office

The divisive Iraqi politician will build public backing for security push

(Newser) - Ahmed Chalabi, the former U.S. darling and deputy prime minister spurned by Iraqi voters in the 2005 elections, is back in office. He won a post created as a buffer between residents and the troops pouring into Baghdad for the new security push. Chalabi's new role involves organizing reimbursement...