• Resistance blasts US base, US helicopter near ath-Tharthar early Friday.

In a dispatch posted at 6:46pm Baghdad time Friday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the Iraqi Resistance blasted the US base at Qiss ath-Tharthar northeast of ar-Ramadi with mortars scoring at least five direct hits on the American-occupied facility.

Yaqen reported a source who asked not to be identified as saying that early on Friday the Resistance unleashed a mortar barrage on the facility. US aircraft were seen flying into the area above the base moments after the attack and then the Resistance fired a surface-to-air rocket at the helicopter scoring a hit on it as well.

Eyewitnesses said that Medevac helicopters were seen landing inside the base about an hour after the Resistance barrage. They added that plumes of smoke could be observed rising from inside the facility. It was considered likely that there had been casualties among the personnel deployed at the facility, since medical helicopters were sent in after the attack.

In a dispatch posted Friday, the Yaqen News Agency reported that an Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a patrol of collaborationist tribal contingents known as the "al-Anbar Awakening" puppet police in the ad-Dubbat neighborhood of ar-Ramadi, 110km west of Baghdad.

Yaqen reported eyewitnesses as saying that the blast disabled a patrol vehicle, killed one of the collaborator police and wounded five more of them. After the attack, witnesses said, the collaborators immediately began house-to-house searches in the area, looking for the attackers. No sign of the Resistance men was found. The wounded collaborator policemen were taken to the ar-Ramadi General Hospital for treatment.

In a dispatch posted at 9:05pm Baghdad time Friday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the puppet police recovered the bodies of six more victims of sectarian murder that had been dumped in various parts of Baghdad in the previous 24 hours.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet police as saying that three of the bodies were found in al-Karakh and the other three in ar-Rusafah.

In a dispatch posted at 10:14am Baghdad time Friday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded in the al-Ghazal Market near the ash-Shurjah area of Baghdad late Tuesday.

Yaqen reported Captain 'Ali Husayn of the puppet police in Baghdad as saying that the bomb was planted in a box near a store inside and not far from the entrance to the market. The victims of the attack were reportedly shoppers, eight of whom were killed and dozens more wounded according to witnesses.

The al-Ghazal Market is a traditional location where trained birds and exotic animals are sold and the clientele there come from all over Iraq and do not belong to any particular religious sect or nationality. Yaqen quoted one survivor as denouncing the attack and saying that whoever carried out the assault was an enemy of Iraq and Iraqis since the market has no military significance, since there were no troops or puppet policemen there, and since the crowds are drawn from every religious and national group in the country.

Mortar shells, Katyusha rockets "fall like rain" in massive Resistance barrage on US base in Samarra’ Friday morning.

In a dispatch posted Friday, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Iraqi Resistance forces pummeled the US base in the city of Samarra’ with more than 50 mortar shells and Katyusha rockets in a sustained barrage that went on for more than an hour on Friday morning.

Yaqen reported witnesses as saying that explosions and the sounds of cries for help mingled with the wail of sirens as Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds "fell like rain" on the Samarra’ camp jointly occupied by American troops and their puppet Iraqi army. The Iraqi puppet police reported that 10 people were wounded in the attack, but had no information regarding deaths.

In a dispatch posted at 4:04pm Baghdad time Friday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men shot and killed Khalil Ridwan, a member of the puppet Kirkuk Municipal Council.

Yaqen reported Major Khalaf al-'Ubaydi of the puppet police in Kirkuk as saying that armed men opened fire on Ridwan as he drove his car between ar-Riyad and al-Huwayjah, some 45km southwest of Kirkuk. Ridwan was killed instantly.

In a dispatch posted at 8:55pm Baghdad time Friday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men blew up the al-Qayyarah steel bridge to the southwest of al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad, inflicting heavy damage on one area of the bridge.

Yaqen reported an official source in the puppet regime as saying that the attackers planted an explosive package in the middle of the bridge and blew it up.

The bridge links the provinces of Salah ad-Din and Ninwa and is a vital link between the rest of Baghdad and the US-backed Kurdish separatist enclave in the north of the country. It is also used for the shipment of oil within the country.

In a dispatch posted Friday, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a car bomb exploded by a puppet police patrol in the al-Mithaq neighborhood of northeastern al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad after noon on Friday.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet police as saying that the blast left two puppet policemen dead and six more of tem wounded by preliminary count. The source added that the puppet police patrol went to the area of the car bomb in response to an earlier bomb explosion nearby.

In a dispatch posted at 6:30pm Baghdad time Friday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the US-installed puppet "President" of the Kurdish separatist region in northern Iraq, Mas'ud Barzani had been wounded in an assassination attempt carried out by one of his aides.

Yaqen reported informed sources in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil as saying that the attempt took place near Barzani’s headquarters in the Salah ad-Din section of Irbil.

A source close to the so-called Kurdistan Democratic Party – the separatist Kurdish party of which Barzani is the head, disclosed that Barzani had been taken out of Iraq on Friday in order to receive medical treatment, but refused to confirm or deny reports that Barzani had been wounded in an assassination attempt. The source also refused to indicate where Barzani had been taken for treatment.

In a dispatch posted Friday, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a translator working for the US occupation forces was killed by unknown persons in the southern Iraqi city of al-Kut on Thursday night.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet police of Wasit Province as saying that a translator working for the Americans was intercepted by two armed men on a motorcycle who machine gunned him to death near his hom in the ad-Damawak neighborhood in the northeastern suburbs of al-Kut, 180km south of Baghdad on Thursday night. The puppet police source would only reveal that the first name of the translator was Sattar.