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Air Strike Kills Mastermind Behind Iraqi Golden Mosque Bombings
American Forces Press Service ^ | Samantha L. Quigley

Posted on 08/05/2007 1:14:44 PM PDT by SandRat

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2007 – The senior al Qaeda terrorist believed to be the mastermind behind both bombings of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, was killed during a coalition air strike, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesperson told journalists in Baghdad today. “Yesterday, the government of Iraq announced that the coalition force killed a senior al Qaeda terrorist, Haitham Sabah al Badri,” said Navy Rear Adm. Mark Fox, spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq. “He was killed east of Samara on Aug. 2.”

Al Badri, whose body was positively identified by family members, is believed to have masterminded both the February 2006 and June 2007 bombings of the Golden Mosque that ignited widespread sectarian violence. He also is thought to have been involved in an Aug. 28, 2006 attack on a Samara checkpoint that killed 29, as well as the June 23, 2006, bombing of the Kirkuk courthouse.

During the operation, coalition forces raided a series of four buildings associated with al Badri, Multinational Force Iraq officials reported. About four armed men moved from the targeted buildings into outdoor tactical fighting positions in what ground forces viewed as a set-up to ambush approaching coalition forces. Responding to the hostile threat, they called in close-air support.

The strike killed al Badri and three other terrorists, one of them a foreign fighter. Ground forces also found weapons on site and detained seven other suspected terrorists.

Fox called eliminating al Badri, considered al Qaeda’s emir of greater Samara, another step in breaking the cycle of violence instigated by the attack on Samarra’s holy shine. While this is one more broken link in al Qaeda’s chain, Fox said the coalition is not relaxing.

“We’ve always felt that, even in a weakened state, al Qaeda is very dangerous,” he said. “Our approach to how we handle that is to take down the car-bomb networks, is to go after these different nodes and cells.”

Fox said the Iranian-backed “secret cell” poses another force for coalition and Iraq forces to turn their attention. “(They) are apparently rogue or splinter, he said. “We’re going after those kinds of rogue elements just like we’re going after al Qaeda.”


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: airstrike; alqaeda; bomber; dead; frwn; golden; mosque

1 posted on 08/05/2007 1:14:57 PM PDT by SandRat
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To: 91B; HiJinx; Spiff; MJY1288; xzins; Calpernia; clintonh8r; TEXOKIE; windchime; Grampa Dave; ...
FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News at Home and Abroad You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

Or if they do report it, without the anti-War Agenda Spin!

2 posted on 08/05/2007 1:15:49 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

Keep it up.
Kill them all.


3 posted on 08/05/2007 1:23:17 PM PDT by squibs
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To: SandRat

The question is how many leaders must be killed before the Peter Principle kicks in and the organization begins to fall apart.

Reid wants to end the war before that begins to happen. His goal is an intact terrorist leadership when we are forced to disgracefully withdraw.

Reid is the enemy.


4 posted on 08/05/2007 1:30:29 PM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Happiness is a down sleeping bag)
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To: bert

5 posted on 08/05/2007 1:34:12 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

From another source; I love the line about his car catching fire:

“...Haytham Badri, who also used the last name Sabi, was killed Thursday when his car caught fire as he fled a U.S. air assault on his home, Iraqi police said.”

“...A dozen other insurgents were killed in the U.S.-Iraqi joint attack in Samarra, police said. Eighty-eight were arrested, including fighters from Afghanistan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. A man described as the militant group’s local administrative commander also was detained, police said.”


6 posted on 08/05/2007 1:34:36 PM PDT by concentric circles
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To: SandRat
Great news.

But does anyone really believe an Iranian back terrorist cell has to "go rogue" to make trouble in Iraq?

7 posted on 08/05/2007 2:31:43 PM PDT by JasonC
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To: JasonC

Unfortunately that’s been going on for years.


8 posted on 08/05/2007 2:54:37 PM PDT by Otaku6
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To: SandRat

Another one bites the dust......


9 posted on 08/05/2007 4:00:29 PM PDT by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys--Reagan and Bush)
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To: SandRat

video?


10 posted on 08/05/2007 6:10:43 PM PDT by vigilante2 (Thank You Troops)
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To: SandRat
No thanks to the demorats. They would have pulled out by now.

I was just thinking (it might get dangerous out now). How can freedom be born, if you pull out? How can anything be born, if you pull out?

I aint pulling out. I have not lost my resolve. To bad I can not say that for Scary Reid. He thinks the baddest Military in the history of the world has lost a war after losing 3,500 Troops. Good thing Scary Reid was not around during WWII. Ho Chi Minh knew how important resolve was. He kept his resolve even after having his military dang near destroyed. But people like Hanoi Jane (aka Jihad Jane) and Walter Kronkite stole the American peoples resolve. Our Troops didn't lose Vietnam, we the people did.

We must show our enemy and our friends resolve. Most importantly though, we must show our Troops resolve too.

11 posted on 08/05/2007 7:28:48 PM PDT by do the dhue (Don't let Jihad Jane do what Hanoi Jane did!!!! SEP 15, 07 Gathering of EAGLES DC)
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To: vigilante2

Sorry not yet...


12 posted on 08/05/2007 8:10:25 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat
Why am I hearing "and another one bites the dust"?

I see my boys are still doing yeoman's work.

Go Air Force.

13 posted on 08/05/2007 11:06:44 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: SandRat
Any details on type of aircraft, or weapons used. Since the car was burning rather than in pieces, 20 mm cannon is a possibility, but a near miss from something bigger is also possible. Even Army Air is possible, and even likely.

Since I currently work on an Army post, I particularly like the joint efforts. Like the recent one where the AF drone was spotting targets for the Army Paladin armed with Excalibur precision guided rounds, and then an Air Force fast mover did the follow up when the ants scattered after the Excalibur hits.

How Sweet It Is!

14 posted on 08/05/2007 11:15:18 PM PDT by El Gato ("The Second Amendment is the RESET button of the United States Constitution." -- Doug McKay)
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To: El Gato

No details on the weapons system used to “BREW UP” the cars.


15 posted on 08/06/2007 3:50:45 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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