Thursday 16th June, 2005

Eleven U.S. soldiers have died in a series of attacks in Iraq, nine as a result of explosive devices.

Five U.S. Marines were killed when a roadside bomb detonated near their vehicle on Wednesday near Ramadi, about 70 miles west of Baghdad, according to a U.S. military statement Thursday. They were assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.

A sailor attached to the same Marines' division was also killed Wednesday when he came under attack from gunfire in Ramadi, the U.S. military said.

Two Marines again from the same division were killed by improvised explosive devices in separate incidents Tuesday, military officials in Baghdad reported. The attacks occurred in Rutbah and Fallujah. The Marine killed in Fallujah was Pfc. Joshua P. Klinger, 21, from Easton, Pa.

A soldier serving with the 18th Military Police Brigade was also killed Tuesday by a rocket-propelled grenade while on patrol in Baghdad. Two coalition soldiers were wounded in the attack and taken to a coalition forces medical facility for treatment.

Two other soldiers were killed in action Monday when their vehicle was struck by an explosive device near Ramadi, according to U.S. officials at Camp Fallujah.

They were Sgt. Larry R. Kuhns Jr., 24, of Austintown, Ohio, and Spc. Anthony D. Kinslow, 21, of Westerville, Ohio. The soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, an Army unit attached to the 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).

The death toll of U.S. service members in Iraq now stands at 1,714.

Meantime two Bulgarian soldiers were killed and another injured when their vehicle slid into a canal in Iraq late Tuesday, U.S. Central Command announced.

The soldiers were 55 kilometers southeast of Diwaniyah supporting an offensive known as Operation White Shield.

Their BRDM-2 vehicle slid from the dike it was on into the water, the command said.

A total 187 coalition force members have died in Iraq, including at least 89 British soldiers, taking the total multinational forces death toll to 1,901.

The Iraqi police and soldiers death toll is also mounting rapidly with a further eight police officers killed Thursday. A suicide car bomber rammed his car into a truck carrying policemen on the main road from Baghdad to the airport around 4:00pm local time. Police and hospital officials said at least another 25 had been injured.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military reported Thursday that the al-Qaeda leader in Mosul had surrended.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston said Abu Talha, also known as Muhammad Khalaf Shakar was taken into custody on Tuesday after Iraqi civilians tipped off local police of his whereabouts.

"Talha has been one of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's most trusted operations agents in Iraq," Alston said. "This is a major defeat for the al Qaeda organization in Iraq."

"Numerous reports indicated he wore a suicide vest 24 hours a day and stated that he would never surrender. Instead, Talha gave up without a fight," Alston added.