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BAGHDAD -Twin explosions ripped through a crowded Iraqi market in a city southeast of Baghdad, killing 34 people and shattering what had been a relatively peaceful holy month of Ramadan. The blasts in Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, went off as construction workers were gathered in a market selling generators and other appliances. Police spokesman Lt. Col. Dhurgam Mohammed Hassan said the first bomb went off in a freezer used to keep drinks cold. Then as rescuers and onlookers gathered, a parked car bomb exploded. The top medical official in the province where Kut is located, Diaa...

More than 180 Iraqi patients were seen and treated during a combined medical engagement in Kut, April 2. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson, Multi-National Division - South East. FOB DELTA — The combined medical engagement team of 41st Fires Brigade visited the Hawraa Clinic in Kut to share knowledge and conduct joint medical screenings with Iraqi medical personnel, April 2.The visit is part of Operation Gunner Med, a joint medical civil-military operation between the Wasit Director General of Health and 41st Fires Brigade, designed to restore medical service capacity in Wasit and bring medical care up to the...

Cpl. Eric S. Lewis, a team leader with the 511th Military Police Company, loads a box of Halal meals on an Iraqi Police vehicle at Forward Operating Base Delta March 28. The IPs received a total of 2,400 meals and 1,440 bottles of water from the 214th Fires Brigade. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Carlos J. Lazo. AL KUT — Coalition forces provided more than 2,000 meals and 1,000 bottles of water to al Kut Iraqi policemen March 28-29.Because of the security situation and an imposed curfew, grocery stores and other food outlets were closed, said Sgt. 1st Class...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 1/2/08 - Baghdad, Amariyah Volunteers, Baquba, Basra, Bayji, Chagmalai, South Waziristan, Diwaniya, Hadid, Kut, USS Harry S. Truman, Babur, Ghazni, Kabul, Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Dijlah, Babur BREAKING: Baquba - Terrorists taken out - Cache and terrorists taken BREAKING: Basra, Iraq - Weapons cache seized. 5 Terrorists taken. BREAKING: Bayji - Terrorists taken out BREAKING: Chagmalai, South Waziristan - Involvement denied BREAKING: Diwaniya - 126 terrorists and weapons cache taken in three-week operation BREAKING: Hadid - Cache and 12 terrorists taken. Bodies of 17 civilians murdered by terrorists recovered. BREAKING: Kut -...

KUT, Iraq - American commanders in southern Iraq say Shiite sheiks are showing interest in joining forces with the U.S. military against extremists, in much the same way that Sunni clansmen in the western part of the country have worked with American forces against al-Qaida. Sheik Majid Tahir al-Magsousi, the leader of the Migasees tribe here in Wasit province, acknowledged tribal leaders have discussed creating a brigade of young men trained by the Americans to bolster local security as well as help patrol the border with Iran. He also said last week's assassination of Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, who spearheaded the...

KUT, Iraq, Dec. 9, 2005 – With its 9,800-foot runway, one of Saddam Hussein's premier air bases was in Kut, Iraq, near the Tigris River midway between Baghdad and Kuwait. Today, the coalition defense team has commandeered the base's strategic position. The U.S. Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence contracted with ECC International a year ago to build an Iraqi police cadet academy at Kut. With Iraq's training needs critical to the U.S. mission's eventual completion, the site has morphed into a triple training facility. Recruits for the Department of Border Enforcement have now begun training at Kut, as have...

Police in Iraq say they have found the bodies of 36 men dumped in a shallow river near the town of Kut, south-east of the capital, Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AFP) - The first executions in Iraq since the ousting of Saddam Hussein will take place within days, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said -- in what could be an ominous sign for the jailed former dictator. "The president (Jalal Talabani) has signed three death sentences and the next few days will see the first executions in Kut," 175 kilometers (110 miles) south of Baghdad, Jaafari told reporters on Tuesday. Three members of the Al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sunna were sentenced to death in May, a verdict later approved by the Supreme Council for Justice, the highest judicial authority in Iraq....

BAUMHOLDER, Germany — It was a hell of a show, and Lt. Col. T.C. Williams had a front-row seat. From his Bradley fighting vehicle, Williams had the perfect view as he directed the battle of Kut during which 1st Armored Division Task Force soldiers fought to retake Kut, south of Baghdad, from Mahdi Army militia. “I could see who was shooting whom. Streams of colors coming across the river — both ways,” said Williams, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment. A night fight: hypnotizing, deadly and crucial. If his Task Force 2-6 troops could secure bridges over the...

Baghdad, 15 June (AKI) - Iraqi police in the city of Kut, south of Baghdad, have arrested some 39 alleged members of the terrorist group Ansar al-Sunna in various operations over the past weeks. A security official told the US-funded Radio Sawa that among those detained was an Egyptian citizen and the driver of a leading terrorist being sought by the Iraqi authorities. The operations which led to the arrests were carried out between 30 May and 13 June.

US moves to crush Shia uprising Fighting has intensified in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf as US marines vowed to defeat a week-long uprising by supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr. Tanks backed by helicopter gunships moved to seal off the Imam Ali Shrine in the centre of the city on Thursday. US aircraft and artillery pounded a nearby cemetery where militiamen have taken up positions in recent days. American forces also targeted militias in Kut, east of Najaf, where at least 72 people are reported killed. US and Iraqi forces have been battling Mr Sadr's Mehdi militia in...

KUT, Iraq (AFP) - Heavy overnight US bombing of Kut killed 75 people and wounded nearly 150, adding to 24 hours of violence which left 165 people dead and nearly 600 wounded across the country. Iraq's health ministry said Thursday the dead included 44 in Baghdad clashes, 25 in the fighting at the holy city of Najaf, 14 in Amara and seven in Diwaniya, as well as the casualties in Kut. Kut hospital director Khader Fadal Arar said many of the dead and wounded were women and children. "We have 75 killed and 148 wounded, according to what the hospitals...

US marines have been engaged in fierce fighting against Shiite rebels in the centre of the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, with heavy machine-gun and tank fire targeting militiamen loyal to the rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr. Meanwhile, at least 72 people were killed and 148 wounded on Thursday in US air raids and fighting between the Iraqi police and Shiite militia in the southern city of Kut, an Iraqi Health Ministry official said. Plumes of smoke were visible from the historic heart of Najaf, which holds the tomb of Imam Ali, who is revered by Shiites worldwide. Warplanes...

Fallujah, Iraq - A U.S. AC-130 gunship raked Iraqi insurgents Friday night after hundreds of women and children fled the besieged city Fallujah during a U.S.-declared pause in the marine offensive. On the anniversary of the fall of captive Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's regime, Baghdad and parts of central Iraq were chaotic. At a square in the capital where Saddam's statue was toppled a year ago, soldiers took down a new icon: pictures of the radical Shiite Muslim cleric whose followers have risen up against coalition forces in the south. Gunmen running rampant on Baghdad's western edge attacked a fuel...

General: U.S. forces still fighting to retake Kut U.S. forces are engaging in heavy fighting to retake the southern Iraqi city of Kut and are still in the process of securing the town, a U.S. general returning from the city told CNN today. Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling said units from the 1st Armored Division in Baghdad have been deployed south to battle the Mehdi Army -- the banned militia loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

<p>BAGHDAD, Iraq — The U.S. military has halted offensive operations in the hostile Iraqi city of Fallujah (search), it announced on Friday, the first anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.</p> <p>The halt was called at noon local time to let humanitarian aid into the city and allow a delegation of city leaders to meet with U.S. commanders. There has not yet been a response to this latter offer, Fox News has learned.</p>

FALLUJAH, Iraq - U.S. forces Friday said they had retaken most of a key southern city from a rebellious Shiite militia, and an American-declared halt to fighting in the embattled city of Fallujah was undercut by bursts of gunfire on the first anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. On the western edge of Baghdad insurgents hit a fuel convoy, killing one U.S. soldier and an Iraqi driver the military reported. A Baghdad correspondent for the Arab satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera said the convoy had been carrying fuel near Al-Amiriyah and that not fewer than nine people were killed in the attack....

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S.-led coalition forces have retaken control of the southern Iraqi city of Kut, a military spokeswoman said Friday. The spokeswoman had no other information about how troops regained control of the city, which had been overrun by a militia led by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. On Thursday, Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. general in Iraq (news - web sites), vowed that coalition forces would move "imminently" to break al-Sadr's hold over Kut, 95 miles southeast of Baghdad, and destroy his al-Mahdi Army militia across the country in a new operation dubbed "Resolute Sword."...

The US military admitted today that it has lost control of two cities to Shia militants as fience fighting continued to rage across Iraq. Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez said today that coalition troops in Najaf and Kut had been fought back by militants loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.He said coalition leaders-Ukrainians in Kut and Spaniards in Najaf-had retreated to bases on the outskirts of their cities, effectively ceding control to the Shia fighters.He vowed to retake Kut 'immediately' while conceding that the large number of pilgrims in the holy city of Najaf for a religious festival could hamper any...

KIEV, April 8 (Reuters) - Ukraine's Defence Ministry insisted on Thursday it had no plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq despite fierce attacks earlier this week that forced its soldiers to pull out of the southern city of Kut. "The issue of pulling out troops is not being considered now," a spokesman said. "The Ukrainian mission was a peacekeeping one and they (the soldiers) had only light weapons but if there is a need, we do not rule out the possibility of thinking about sending additional equipment for them." Ukrainian troops pulled out of Kut on Wednesday after one...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 4/7/04 - Fallujah, Kut BREAKING: Fallujah - Marine Expeditionary Force moves in BREAKING: Kut - Ukrainian soldiers take shelter =========== Fallujah =========== WITH THE VALIANT HEROES, AND LIBERATORS OF IRAQ In Fallujah, with brave heroes of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, today, Wednesday 4/7/04. BEHIND ENEMY [MAINLY SUNNI] LINES In Fallujah, at the mosque. In Fallujah, groundtruthing one terrorists' keep. ========= Iraq update ========= ========= Baghdad ========= WITH THE HEROES, AND LIBERATORS OF IRAQ In the Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib. In Sadr City, Terrorists of Shi'ite al Sadr. ========= Kut =========...

Ukraine Troops Pull of Of KutUkrainian troops Wednesday withdrew from the Iraqi city of Kut, south of the capital Baghdad after heavy fighting with supporters of radical Shiite Muslim Cleric Moqtada Sadr who now control the city, the defense ministry said.'At the request of the Americans, and to preserve the life of our military, the commander of the Ukrainian contingent decided to evacuate the civil administration staff and Ukrainian troops from Kut,' the ministry said in a statement.'The operation began at dawn Wednesday..under escort from attack helicopters,' the ministry added.

Peaceful city shows another side to postwar Iraq By Saul Hudson KUT, Iraq, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Battlefield Iraq: bombs in Baghdad, mobs in Falluja, ambushed Americans in Tikrit, and in the eastern city of Kut, peace and quiet. Residents of the agricultural hub city known as the "White Flower" for its traditionally low crime and easy-going ways say Kut is worlds apart from the country they see each night ablaze with attacks on their cut-price television sets. "Life is absolutely normal here," Mohammed Idian, 35, said on Friday in his central shoe shop. "I have a car but why...

A British First World War cemetery in Iraq which was restored by United States marines as a sign of gratitude for Britain's participation in the recent conflict has been desecrated by Iraqis.The cemetery in the eastern city of Kut, site of some of the fiercest losses the British military has suffered in the region, was badly vandalised hours after a high-profile rededication ceremony attended by British generals and Anglican bishops.Some gravestones of tens of thousands of British and Indian troops who fell in Kut after being forced to retreat from Baghdad by Turkish forces in 1915 have been toppled. The...

Rummy the Genius Forgot About Nukes by Joe Conason The genius of Donald Rumsfeld and his deputies in the Defense Department is currently among the mainstream media’s favorite themes. According to the conventional viewpoint, their military strategy in Iraq was practically flawless, their political instincts are masterful, and their philosophical grounding is deep. (Some of them have even read Leo Strauss.) They’re just undeniably brilliant. To Americans who read and worry about the most recent developments in Iraq, this ceaseless chorus of praise for the Pentagon hierarchy can only be reassuring. Because otherwise, the facts on the ground might hint...

<p>Saddam Hussein's last remaining loyalists are using a trick they employed in the war by mingling with civilian crowds and firing on American forces trying to stabilize Iraq, U.S. military officials say.</p> <p>Since the fall of Baghdad on April 9, the tactic has been used sporadically, mostly in Sunni Muslim-dominated towns such as Kut, Mosul and Fallujah west of the capital.</p>

Good on the USMC - Semper Fidelis (Ever Faithfull). KUT, Iraq - For a day, U.S. Marines traded their rifles for rakes, to care for the final resting places of British soldiers who fought and died in another campaign, more than 80 years ago. The graves of World War I soldiers at Kut War Cemetery were overgrown with tall weeds. No one has cared for them since before the 1991 Gulf War when Britain closed its embassy in Iraq. After U.S. Marines were told of the cemetery by British journalists, more than enough volunteers stepped forward Monday to help pull...

3 Marines were killed and 7 injured when test firing a new kind of grenade launcher. This happened near the Iraqi city of Al-Kut. The Marines were part of the First MEU.

NEAR KUT -- An idle mind being the devil's playground, Charlie Company's demons have had ample room to roam of late. After five days parked outside Kut awaiting orders, these men are going stir-crazy. Marines do not suffer inactivity well. At first, the downtime was welcome. Knowing their light-armored vehicles weren't rolling right away meant Marines could string rope between them to use as clothesline, and they did laundry. They took showers. They cleaned weapons. They built fires at night in the windswept desert. And despite orders to stay away from the roadside cigarette dealers, because those hawking smokes could...

U.S. Marines Clean Neglected WWI Site By BURT HERMAN .c The Associated Press KUT, Iraq (AP) - For a day, U.S. Marines traded their rifles for rakes, to care for the final resting places of British soldiers who fought and died in another campaign, more than 80 years ago. The graves of World War I soldiers at Kut War Cemetery were overgrown with tall weeds. No one has cared for them since before the 1991 Gulf War when Britain closed its embassy in Iraq. After U.S. Marines were told of the cemetery by British journalists, more than enough volunteers stepped...

KUT, Iraq (AP) -- A U.S. Marine commander called tribal leaders together Saturday to seek their support in running their city but emphasized that he considers himself to be in charge. Patrols of low-flying attack helicopters drove home the point. Kut, about 45 miles west of the Iranian border, has been of particular concern to U.S. officials since a Shiite Muslim cleric occupied city hall and claimed to control the city. They contend he is backed by Iran and has only minority support.U.S. officers had said they planned to force cleric Said Abbas out of City Hall, which has been...

America nervous as militant cleric's rallies attract mass support By Julian Coman in Washington and Sean Rayment in Kuwait (Filed: 20/04/2003) Every day, the rallies held by Battle to prevent Chalabi taking power grow bigger. Every day the American marines in the eastern Iraqi town of Kut, close to the Iranian border, become more nervous. Mr Abbas is a militant Shia cleric with an unnervingly fine grasp of the political possibilities of post-war Iraq. Some days ago, he walked into Kut town hall and simply took it over, accompanied by hundreds of supporters, many of whom had crossed the border...

NEAR KUT, IRAQ -- Vaguely feminine and perfumed, the smell did not fit the Marines' mental index of recent aromas: gunpowder, camel, sewage, MREs, body odor. Yet the scent was immediately recognizable to even the most dust-caked nostrils: soap! One month and one day after their last brush with personal hygiene, the Marines of Charlie Company finally lathered up and washed off the war Thursday. To a man, they knew the date of their last shower: March 16. "It was real cold, but it felt unbelievable, to put shampoo in the hair and soap on the body," said Cpl. Franklin...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The exiled leader of the biggest Iraqi opposition group called Thursday on Iraqis to converge in the Shiite holy city of Karbala to oppose a U.S.-led interim administration and defend Iraq's independence. Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, chose the southern Iraqi city and the date - next Tuesday - because of their connections to Hussein, the grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad and one of Shiite Islam's most revered heroes. "I call on Iraqis to converge in Karbala to oppose any sort of foreign domination and support...

KUT, Iraq - A Shiite Muslim cleric who has occupied city hall to stake his claim to local control insisted Wednesday that he was chosen to lead by Kut's people, who he said don't want the U.S. military to be in charge. Hundreds of Said Abbas' supporters were camped outside the building and struck up a chorus of protest whenever U.S. troops passed by. The competition for control of the eastern crossroads city is an especially tense example of the power struggles that have arisen in Iraq following the rout of Saddam Hussein. "The regime ended and there was no...

The Shia of Najaf seethe ominously, fearing the yoke of US occupation By Phil Reeves in Najaf 16 April 2003 The message could not have been clearer if the Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani himself had broadcast it from the battery of loudspeakers that hang above the breathtaking blue mosaics lining the walls of his mosque. The powerful cleric's multitude of followers in Najaf, one of the holiest Shia cities, will not accept an Iraqi government run by anyone they see as a stooge of the occupying Americans. They are not interested in retired Lieutenant-General Jay Garner, the rumbustious former...

United States marines have taken the town of Kut in eastern Iraq, potentially opening up a new supply corridor to Baghdad from the south. Fears that Islamist irregular forces would defend the town were not realised. US marines set out overnight in some force towards the town after intelligence reports suggested that several hundred Arab fighters had gathered there in a football stadium. Exits to the north and west were sealed off, leaving only the route up from the south-east. The Americans feared there would be a fight with determined Islamist fighters motivated by hatred of America's invasion of this...

<p>ASHINGTON -- The Marine Corps relieved one of its top commanders in Iraq yesterday, an extremely unusual action, especially for a unit engaged in combat.</p> <p>Colonel Joe W. Dowdy has been the officer in charge of the First Marine Regiment, one of the three major Marine Corps ground units fighting toward Baghdad. His regiment is reported to have been used to pin down Republican Guard units in the city of Kut while the other two major units, the Fifth and Seventh Marines, crossed the Tigris River on Thursday and raced toward Baghdad. Those units encountered heavy ground fighting yesterday on the outskirts of the capital and had at least three M1 tanks disabled by Iraqi fire.</p>

<p>April 4, 2003 -- NEAR BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. Marines advancing on Baghdad fought building to building in the key crossroads town of Al Kut yesterday - at one point mowing down a small group of Iraqis, armed with AK-47s, who tried a suicide charge against a tank.</p>

US: 2,500 REPUBLICAN GUARDS SURRENDER Around 2,500 of Saddam Hussein's elite Republican Guard soldiers have surrendered, US officials say. The officials say US Marines are now advancing on Baghdad from Kut. They said the Iraqi soldiers who surrendered were from the Baghdad division the Republican Guard.

Some Iraqis Told to Fight or Die By ELLEN KNICKMEYER .c The Associated Press KUT, Iraq (AP) - Many in Kut waved white flags and welcomed the U.S. Marines, and this is why: Saddam Hussein's regime, they said, was going door to door and giving their young men a sinister choice. Fight, or die. ``God help us because Saddam Hussein is killing us,'' said Kasem Fasil, an old man with a solitary jagged tooth. Behind him, smoke billowed from Iraqi military jeeps and a military school shelled by Marines. ``They want to give us machine guns and make us fight,''...

KUT, Iraq (AP) - U.S. Marines battled suicide attacks and dueled at close range with grenade-throwing Republican Guard fighters and Baath Party irregulars Thursday in this city east of Baghdad, but many civilians waved white flags and welcomed the troops. Some townspeople said they were grateful for the U.S. challenge to a regime they say was going door to door and giving young men a sinister choice: fight or die. "God help us because Saddam Hussein is killing us," said Kasem Fasil, an old man with a solitary jagged tooth. "They want to give us machine guns and make us...

Two massive bombs explode near Iraq's Kut -witness NEAR KUT, Iraq, April 2 (Reuters) - Two huge bombs exploded close to the eastern Iraqi city of Kut on Wednesday, sending giant mushroom-shaped clouds billowing high into the sky, a Reuters correspondent said. Reporter Sean Maguire said U.S. Marines thought the blasts were caused by two so-called "daisy cutter" bombs -- a 6,750 kg (14,850 lb) device that dates back to the Vietnam war. "Two huge mushroom clouds rose hundreds of feet (metres) into the air," said Maguire, who is travelling with a U.S. Marine unit some 25 km (15 miles)...

The vanguard of the American forces in Iraq was reported yesterday to be only 20 miles from Baghdad. The US 3rd Infantry Division had advanced beyond the holy city of Karbala, which had been surrounded and neutralised after a short battle. A bridge across the Euphrates just below Baghdad had been seized and the division had passed through the "Karbala Gap" to cross the so-called "Red Line", marking the outer limit of the zone in which Saddam has apparently threatened to use chemical weapons. At the same time the US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force had fought and defeated the defenders...

Biggest push for Baghdad By Bob Graham in Baghdad, David Taylor and Justin Davenport, Evening Standard 2 April 2003 American ground assault forces achieved stunning successes on two fronts in a decisive push for Baghdad today. In the first move, troops completely encircled the city of Karbala, south-west of the capital. And in a separate action to the south-east, US marines fighting the Republican Guard near the city of Kut took a vital bridge over the Tigris, hailed by one senior officer as "the last big bridge we needed" before Baghdad. The successes paved the way for US troops and...

U.S. Marines bombard Kut, key Tigris crossing SOUTH OF KUT, Iraq, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines bombarded Kut, a key city on the Tigris river, on Wednesday, in what appeared to be a renewed advance toward the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a Reuters correspondent with the troops said. "I saw the flashes of a heavy bombardment on Republican Guard units believed to be positioned around Kut," Sean Maguire said from a position some way to the south of the city. The main road from Kut to Baghdad, 170 km (105 miles) to the northwest, runs along the north bank of...

Tough U.S.advance leaves Iraq bus full of corpses By Sean Maguire QAL'AT SUKKAR, Iraq, March 27 (Reuters) - United States Marines treated enemy wounded on Thursday and searched the blood-stained luggage of Iraqis killed inside a bus by a storm of bullets from advancing armoured units. Reporters counted four corpses outside the bus and marines said another 16 lay inside. All the bodies were adult men, wearing a mixture of civilian and military clothing and had papers that appeared to identify them as Iraqi Republican Guard. Two men who survived the attack, which appeared to have taken place on Wednesday,...

Iraq has claimed that British and US warplanes have attacked Basra International Airport and other civilian and military targets. The Iraqi News Agency reported that aircraft attacked civilian and military installations at Anbar, Basra and Kut. Earlier the Ministry or Defence said British and US warplanes have been in action against Iraqi weapons systems in the southern "no fly" zone. A MoD spokeswoman described the patrols as "standard 'no-fly' zone activity". "We are targeting systems which are a threat to our forces," the spokeswoman said. The US said fighter planes from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk bombed at least two...