BAGHDAD, May 18, 2007
2 ABC Journalists Killed In Iraq
Iraqis Working For ABC News Ambushed As They Drove Home From Work
-
Play CBS Video Video Search Continues For Soldiers For the platoon searching for three kidnapped soldiers in Iraq, the mission is personal - the missing soldiers were from their brigade. Mark Strassmann reports from Iraq.
-
Video Ft. Drum Feels Loss Everyone stationed at Ft. Drum, N.Y., is holding their collective breath as they wait to learn the names of those killed or kidnapped during a weekend ambush in Iraq. Sharyn Alfonsi reports.
-
Video Military Mobilizes For Search The U.S. military has stepped up its search efforts to find three missing soldiers, amid fears they may have been kidnapped by al Qaeda insurgents. Mark Strassmann reports.
-
-
Blackened asphalt and spare parts are seen at the site of an attack that left four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi translator dead, and three other soldiers missing in Cargouli village, near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, May 17, 2007. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
-
Army Pfc. Joseph Anzack, U.S. Army Spc. Alex Jimenez, and a third solider whose name has not yet been released have been missing since Saturday. (CBS/AP)
-
Staff Sgt. Redoc Jordan, 43, from Waiawa, Hawaii, looks behind him as soldiers from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division search a block in the Rashid neighborhood in Baghdad on May 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
-
Iraqi youths burn car tires during a protest against power shortages in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, on May 16, 2007. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)
-
-
Interactive American Heroes Profiles of U.S. soldiers who've died in Iraq, a look at the war's toll and pictures of mourning.
-
Photo Essay Iraq In Pictures A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.
-
Interactive Iraq: 4 Years Later The conflict wears on as the nation struggles to rebuild.
The attack took place Thursday afternoon, when unknown assailants attacked the car carrying cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz, 33, and soundman Saif Laith Yousuf, 26, from the network's Baghdad bureau, ABC News President David Westin said in a statement posted on the ABC News Web site.
ABC said the men were returning home from work at the network's Baghdad bureau when their vehicle was ambushed by two cars full of unknown gunmen.
Journalists have been frequently targeted by violence in Iraq. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded 102 journalists and 39 media support workers killed and 48 journalists abducted since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Those numbers do not include those killed in the latest attack.
Last week, three journalists were killed along with their driver in a drive-by shooting near the northern city of Kirkuk. Gunmen also stormed the offices of the independent Radio Dijla in a predominantly Sunni area in western Baghdad earlier this month, killing two employees and wounding five before destroying the building and knocking the station off the air.
Earlier Friday about 50 suspected insurgents attacked a U.S. base in the center of a city north of the capital, sparking a battle with U.S. soldiers and helicopters that killed at least six militants, the Iraqi army said.
The fighting took place in Baqouba, a Sunni insurgent stronghold that has seen a recent spike in violence largely blamed on militants who fled a 3-month-old security crackdown in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the massive search for three missing U.S. soldiers believed to have been kidnapped by al Qaeda-linked insurgents entered its seventh day.
Col. Michael Kershaw, the commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division who was overseeing the mission, said the teams were talking to local Iraqis, hoping to find information that would lead them to the soldiers.
"Everyone is motivated and knows the importance of finding the soldiers," he said in a statement from Quarghuli, a village 12 miles south of Baghdad where a May 12 ambush killed four U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi, and left three American troops missing.
The soldiers were captured in an ambush on their two-vehicle patrol. Maj. Webster Wright, a U.S. military spokesman, said the soldiers had been in position for eight to 12 hours when a large number of insurgents crept up on them through the foliage, cut concertina wire and attacked from all directions.
The attack appeared aimed at capturing soldiers, because there were signs that a getaway car was used, he said.
On Thursday, U.S. officials expressed cautious optimism that the missing soldiers were still alive even as troops drained canals and questioned children in the search. FBI agents and Australian forensic experts also took part in the operation.
Meanwhile, Army officials have identified the fourth soldier killed Saturday in the ambush, a newspaper reported late Thursday. Sgt. Anthony J. Schober, 23, of Reno, Nev., was identified by DNA testing, the soldier's relatives told the Reno Gazette Journal. Three other soldiers killed in the ambush had previously been identified.
In other developments:
At 7 a.m. Friday, the day of rest in mostly Muslim Iraq, about 50 suspected insurgents opened fire on a U.S.-Iraqi base in downtown Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, wounding two Iraqi soldiers, an Iraqi army officer said.
U.S. forces and helicopters responded at 7:30 a.m., killing at least six insurgents, the Iraqi army officer said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Residents said the fighting sent smoke billowing up from neighborhoods in the area.
One resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from militants, said he heard heavy machine gun fire and then men shouting "Allahu Akbar," or God is great in Arabic. Others said they saw U.S. tanks and armored vehicles driving through the street, while aircraft flew overhead.
The base was set up two months ago in a three-story city office building that was abandoned because of the violence in the area, the Iraqi officer said.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment on the incident.
Baqouba and the rest of the Diyala province have been hit by a string of attacks this week.
Gunmen hijacked a bus in Baqouba and took 23 passengers hostage, a car bomb exploded near a market in a Shiite village, killing at least 32 people, and five civilians were killed execution style in broad daylight in the city by gunmen who appeared to be accusing them of collaborating with the U.S.-led forces.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 13 Comments
- Bush and Cheney deserve impeachment and JAIL for Lying us into Iraq. Where are the pathetic spineless ineffectual wimp Democrats?
Posted by mh4cbs1 at 12:30 AM : May 19, 2007
OH? Would you rather have the Do NOTHING, GO ALONG Fascist Congress to deal with. You clowns want the Democrats to erase 6 long years of absolute INCOMPETENCE in a few short months. It's rediculous! What's the chance, without the Democrats, that we'd even be having this conversation right now? If the Fascist were still in control of congress, there would be no debate about Gonzo's activity. There would be no debate about the funding bill... NO! All that would have been rubber stamped LONG ago and we'd be talking about a memorial to Jerry Falwell. Get real folks!!! - Reply to this comment
- Great article by Pat Buchanan, about the very conservative congressman Ron Paul, presidential candidate. Why is it so few spineless Democrats have the guts to speak out like Ron Paul? Democrats are pathetic and are complicit in this Iraq War of Terror.
www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=10984
Bush and Cheney deserve impeachment and JAIL for Lying us into Iraq. Where are the pathetic spineless ineffectual wimp Democrats? - Reply to this comment
- The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation ... (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -James Madison, Federalist Paper No. 46.
"If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all forms of positive government." -Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper No. 28.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." -Thomas Jefferson, Proposed Virginia Constitution, 1776, Jefferson Papers 344
"The constitution of the United States asserts that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed and that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of press." -Thomas Jefferson
"The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun." -Patrick Henry
"Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace." -James Madison
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." -Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-8. - Reply to this comment
- I don't think the soldiers will be found alive--though eventually they may be found. After all, with 5 already dead and retribution from America certain, why would anyone keep the rest alive? America will not pay the kidnappers for keeping the men alive--but they may kill them or detain and torture them--so there is no incentive to keep them alive. In fact, they are probably already dead. Death would be better than day after day of torture before dying.
- Reply to this comment
- It's obvious to everyone in the entire world that our president MR George W. Bush does not give a d** for human life period. If he did he would stop this madness and bring our brave, and patriotic troops home today.
Mr. President PLEASE stop the MADNESS. - Reply to this comment
usaadvisor;
"come crawling to us"
It is opinions expressed like yours that make the world hate the U (F) S A.- Reply to this comment
- It doesn't look like the surge is scaring anybody in Iraq. Maybe bush, cheney and mccain should go over there and wave the flag, that will make them back down.
- Reply to this comment
- This whole war has been a crime and still no one has been held responsible.
Bush, Cheney, Wolfie, Rumsfeld, Rice, Franks, and even Powell act as if it was a surprise that they didn't know there were no WMDs and that this would turn into a disaster. Yet the weapons inspectors and any respected intellectual knew there were no WMDs and that invading would cause a civil war disaster to entail.
We no longer have a democracy. Bush admits freely with his, "I don't watch the polls" even though his administration has spent more money on polls then any other in history {cost adjusted}.
The whole administration should resign and all those in Congress who have sherked their constitutional responsibilities. - Reply to this comment
- The puppet government in Iraq has probably already passed the Iraqi Oil Law that benefits big oil of the U.S. and very, very, little to the Iraqis who own the oil. We are in hell!
http://priceofoil.org/thepriceofoil/war-terror/iraqi-oil-law/ - Reply to this comment
- I guess we need to get to the same number of war dead like in Vietnam before our leaders pull the plug.
They are not too worried...their kids are safe.
Now, are you willing to sacrifice YOURS? - Reply to this comment
- you got that right missmyhubby !!!!!
it was all a bunch of lies to begin with. all bu$hco wanted to do was take the oil away from saddam and israel always feared him putting a wmd on a scud. its that simple.
well mission accomplished, you dumb azz chicken hawks !!!!! yeah great job. even aipac has to be shaking their heads thinking now what have we done ??????????
yep, you idiots made it ten times worse now, you have proiranian shia radicals in charge of iraq, that stomp on our flag !!!!!
the sooner we leave the M E entirely, the sooner they will come crawling back to us, to sell oil to the number one consumer of oil in the world, USA. - Reply to this comment
- What a mess I just can't say anthing else it is already been said.
- Reply to this comment
- The surge is so NOT working!! How many more US troops have to die before the Bush administration admits they made a mistake...BRING OUR TROOPS HOME!
- Reply to this comment
