·       Nine huge transport planes ferry American casualties to al-Habbaniyah airbase from devastating Tuesday night Resistance strike on US Falcon arsenal, indicating heavy American losses.  US claims "no casualties," but Iraqi regime evacuates 90 injured puppet troops to ar-Ramadi hospital.

·       Remains of US Falcon arsenal described as "burned out wasteland with no buildings."  US helicopters continue to dump water on site Wednesday to extinguish last flames.  Puppet officials estimate US losses could exceed US$1 billion.  Iraqi puppet army orders two regiments to move to southern Baghdad to fill gap left by decimated American troops.

·       Resistance bomb blasts US vehicle near al-Baghdadi, reportedly killing four US troops late Wednesday night.

·       US air strike kills Iraqi family north of al-Fallujah Wednesday.

·       Three US troops reported killed in Resistance bombing in ar-Ramadi Wednesday morning.

·       Three US troops reported killed in Resistance attack in Baghdad’s al-A'zamiyah district late Wednesday night.

·       Four US troops reported killed in bold Resistance attack near "Green Zone" Wednesday afternoon.

·       New study in The Lancet reveals 655,000 Iraqis killed by US war in Iraq.

Al-Anbar Province.

Al-Baghdadi.

Resistance bomb blasts US vehicle near al-Baghdadi, reportedly killing four US troops late Wednesday night.

In a dispatch posted at 11:05pm Makkah time Wednesday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier, an Iraqi Resistance bomb had exploded by a US military column in the al-Madij area of al-Baghdadi, about 200km northwest of Baghdad.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the bomb destroyed one vehicle in the American column, killing the four US troops aboard it.  At the time of reporting, local residents were up on their rooftops, watching as flames and smoke rose from the wrecked vehicle.

Ar-Ramadi.

Three US troops reported killed in Resistance bombing in ar-Ramadi Wednesday morning.

In a dispatch posted at 2:20pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US military patrol in the at-Ta’mim neighborhood of ar-Ramadi, about 110km west of Baghdad at about 10am Wednesday morning.

The ar-Ramadi correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses in at-Ta’mim as saying that a bomb went off by a US patrol, destroying a Humvee and killing three US troops and wounding a fourth.

Resistance sharpshooter kills Iraqi puppet soldier in ar-Ramadi Tuesday.

In a dispatch posted at 1pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance marksman shot and killed an Iraqi puppet soldier in ar-Ramadi on Tuesday.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that the Resistance sharpshooter picked off the Iraqi puppet soldier as he was perched atop an observation tower at the ar-Ramadi Youth Center – a facility that US forces have occupied and turned into a base for themselves and their Iraqi puppet army allies.  The witnesses said that the puppet soldier took a direct hit from the sharpshooter’s bullet.

Al-Fallujah.

US air strike kills Iraqi family north of al-Fallujah Wednesday.

In a dispatch posted at 2:45pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that US aircraft had struck a house north of al-Fallujah in the Dhira' Dajlah area.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a medical source as saying that a US fighter plane fired a rocket at the home of al-Hajj Khalid 'Abd Shahudh in the area on Wednesday, killing four civilians – al-Hajj Khalid, his mother, his wife, and their small daughter.

Resistance men assault US camp in al-Fallujah late Tuesday.

In a dispatch posted at 1:57pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance men attacked a US military camp in al-Fallujah, about 60km west of Baghdad late on Tuesday evening.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that Resistance men armed with RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades and light weapons assaulted the US camp near the al-Mudallil Mosque that overlooks al-Fallujah Public Street.  The Resistance attackers surprised the Americans from behind.  No details on the nature or extent of loses were available, however, because US troops opened fire indiscriminately on houses in the area after the attack to prevent anyone seeing the outcome.

Resistance blasts US headquarters in al-Fallujah Tuesday afternoon for third straight day.

In a dispatch posted at 2:13am Makkah time before dawn Wednesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance forces fired a barrage of Katyusha rockets into the US "as-Simak" headquarters in al-Fallujah at 4pm local time Tuesday afternoon.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that plumes of smoke rose from the American-occupied facility after the bombardment.  Witnesses noted that "as-Simak" had been targeted by Resistance barrages at about the same time every day for the last three days.

The witnesses said that the most violent rocket attack came on Sunday, 8 October when the Resistance fired six rockets into the facility with about 10 minutes between each one.

Al-Habbaniyah.

Iraqi Resistance blasts US al-Habbaniyah base with three mortar shells Wednesday night.

In a bulletin posted at 10:10pm Makkah time Wednesday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier, Iraqi Resistance forces fired three mortar rounds at the US base in al-Habbaniyah, about 70km west of Baghdad.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses in the village of al-Bu Mar'i, which overlooks the US base, as saying that they could hear warning sirens wailing and saw US helicopters flying in over the facility.

Nine huge American transport planes unload casualties from devastating Resistance strike on US Falcon Base in Baghdad just before midnight Tuesday, indicating heavy American losses.

In a bulletin posted at 2am Makkah time before dawn Wednesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported its correspondent in al-Habbaniyah as saying that the US military hospital at the massive American-occupied air base there had begun to receive dead and wounded personnel from the devastating Resistance rocket assault on the US Falcon arsenal in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah.  Just before midnight Tuesday, the Iraqi Resistance fired barrages of Katyusha and Grad rockets into the arsenal, the largest such facility in occupied Iraq, causing the ordnance to begin to explode.  Western news reports stated that the blasts continued for hours lighting up the nighttime sky over Baghdad.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported at that hour that three huge US transport aircraft emblazoned with the red cross had flown into the base, and casualties were being unloaded and sent into the hospital at the al-Habbaniyah base, located some 70km west of Baghdad.

Later, in a dispatch posted at 2:45am Makkah time Wednesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that two more huge transport planes had arrived in the US-occupied al-Habbaniyah airbase, 70km west of Baghdad carrying casualties from the devastating Resistance assault on America’s Falcon Base in the US-occupied as-Saqr (Falcon) Forward Base in Sukkaniya located in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah.

The al-Habbaniyah correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses in the village of al-Bu Mar'i, about 2km from the US-occupied air base, as saying that as of that time, a total of five enormous transport planes had flown into the base emblazoned with the red cross.  The transports came in under fighter escort, the fighter planes remained aloft circling al-Habbaniyah as the transports set down.

The witnesses said that the US occupation forces illuminated the base – something they do not normally do – as swarms of American helicopters prowled the skies around the area, trying to prevent Resistance rocket attacks.

Then in a dispatch posted at 5:15pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that at 7am Wednesday morning the last of a total of nine huge transport planes had landed at the US-occupied al-Habbaniyah airbase, site of America’s largest military hospital in the country, during the night.

The al-Habbaniyah correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the transport planes continued to land and take off all night and into Wednesday morning ferrying back and forth under fighter escort from Baghdad loaded with dead and wounded Americans.

The correspondent reported eyewitnesses as saying that the aircraft did indeed fly into al-Habbaniyah from Baghdad.  The huge transport planes arrived over al-Habbaniyah with fighter escort and then would break away from the warplanes land at the airfield and then take off again after about 20 minutes.

A source in the Iraqi puppet army told Mafkarat al-Islam that the US forces transported more than 90 Iraqi puppet troops to hospital for treatment after the blasts began to shake the southern part of the city.  This number was confirmed by Dr. 'Umar 'Abdallah ar-Rawi of ar-Ramadi Hospital who told Mafkarat al-Islam that "90 wounded Iraqi troops were brought to us late in the night." He indicated that the Americans requested his hospital to clear a wing for them and they did so.

Residents of al-Habbaniyah agreed that nine massive transport planes arrived at various times during the night and into the morning bringing casualties to the US military hospital at the base.  The first three planes arrived at 1am local time, witnesses said.  The fourth plane landed at about 1:30am, then a fifth about 10 minutes later.  Then at 3:30am two more large transports arrived at al-Habbaniyah airbase, and the last two transports were seen coming in at 7am local time Wednesday morning.

Although the nighttime curfew is usually lifted at around 6am each morning, the correspondent reported that US forces only opened the roads and lifted the automobile curfew in al-Habbaniyah at 8am Wednesday morning.

In its announcements regarding the attack, US officials denied that the attack on the arsenal caused any casualties at all.  Mafkarat al-Islam observed, however, that the landing of nine massive transport planes carrying US casualties was an important indicator that the number of Americans killed or wounded in the Resistance assault on Falcon arsenal was very substantial.

The new American military hospital in al-Habbaniyah, reportedly the largest in occupied Iraq, was opened on 12 May this year in response to rising US casualties.

Baghdad.

Remains of US Falcon arsenal described as "burned out wasteland with no buildings."  US helicopters dump water on site during the day Wednesday to extinguish last flames.  Puppet officials estimate US losses could exceed US$1 billion.

In a dispatch posted at 4:15pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a source in the puppet "Iraqi Defense Ministry" had revealed that US forces and their Iraqi puppet allies would begin clearing and cleaning away the US Forward Base Falcon (as-Saqr Base) in Sukkaniya in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah on Wednesday.

The puppet "Defense Ministry" source told Mafkarat al-Islam that the base would never return to the way it had been prior to the attack and that it was now a "burned out wasteland with no buildings."

The source said that at the present time US helicopters were pouring water intensely on the remains of the arsenal to make sure that the last flames of the fire were finally extinguished.  Earlier on Wednesday, US forces announced that the fires were still burning in the arsenal which the Americans admitted was the biggest in Iraq and which they acknowledged had been destroyed.  The US military claimed that the devastating explosions that lasted for hours and lit up the skies over Baghdad caused no casualties.

Losses could top US$1 billion.

In a dispatch posted at 4pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi puppet officials expected that the losses sustained by the US military as a result of the destruction of the Falcon Arsenal would total more than a billion US dollars.

The Baghdad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Major General Bilal Ahmad al-'Ithawi, an adviser to the puppet "Iraqi Defense Minister" for transport and supply, visited ad-Durah on Wednesday morning and said that the attack had inflicted enormous losses on the US military that could total more than US$1 billion.

General al-'Ithawi said that the Falcon base was the biggest US arsenal in central Iraq and was the launching point for US military operations.  The arsenal contained more than 50 tanks; numerous artillery pieces; a landing strip for Chinook helicopters, some of which were parked there when the place exploded; in addition to armories containing weapons and ammunition.  He said that all the buildings and furnishings of the base had been totally destroyed, and the archive records of the US troops was completely wiped out.

General al-'Ithawi said however that the biggest fear among Iraqi puppet officials during the night was that the Americans might have stockpiled low grade nuclear arms or chemical weapons such as were used in the Second Battle of al-Fallujah in the base.  Had such weapons been there, the death toll of Iraqi residents of Baghdad could have been in the thousands.

US troops seen hauling away at least 30 burned out tanks and armored vehicles from ruined Falcon arsenal.

In a dispatch posted at 11:15pm Makkah time Wednesday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that as of 5:30pm Wednesday afternoon Baghdad time, at least 30 US Abrams tanks and Bradley armored vehicles were known to have been destroyed in the devastating Resistance attack on the Falcon Arsenal in southern Baghdad.

The Baghdad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses who lie in the ar-Rashid section of southern Baghdad as saying that the US had used 13 huge military transport trucks to haul completely charred American armored vehicles out of the remains of the American Falcon base.  The US forces hid the burnt wreckage of the vehicles behind the vegetable wholesale market known as the 'Ulwat ar-Rashid Commercial Market.

Witnesses reported that about 15 minutes before sunset Wednesday, the procession of vehicles under US helicopter air cover and escorted by Humvees took the wrecked vehicles, estimated to number at least 22 to the back wall of the 'Ulwah.  The Americans then set up a guard post to control access to the wrecked vehicles.

The Americans also set up a checkpoint 2km away where they confiscated cell phones with built-in cameras because travelers on their way to the village of as-Sa'idat would be able clearly to see the wrecked armored vehicles.

Meanwhile, residents of the al-Khadra’ neighborhood and a number of Iraqi traffic wardens told Mafkarat al-Islam that they had seen giant American trucks carrying charred US tanks.  The witnesses said that the vehicles had no apparent damage to their external shells, as usually is the case when they are burned in the explosion of a roadside bomb or shoulder-fired rockets.  Witnesses said that the number of burned tanks being hauled through their area was between eight and 12.

As of the time of reporting men of the American 4^th Engineering Division were still working together with a cleanup unit of Iraqi puppet army to haul away wrecked US vehicles and other wreckage of the American base with the help of American helicopters and cranes.

US forces have completely blocked the road that runs by the ruined base.  Residents of the al-Mahdiyah al-Ula section of the city whose houses are opposite the base reported that there were US vehicles that had been totally destroyed and were still inside the base waiting for the teams of cleanup troops to get to them.

The witnesses also told Mafkarat al-Islam that high-ranking American officials had visited the site during the first hours of Wednesday under very heavy guard.

Iraqi puppet army orders two regiments to move into southern Baghdad to fill gap left by decimated US forces.

In a dispatch posted at 10:20pm Makkah time Wednesday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the Iraqi puppet "Defense Ministry" had issued orders to two regiments of the Iraqi puppet army currently based in the city of al-Kut, 150km southeast of Baghdad in Wasit Province, to move out within 24 hours and take up positions in southern Baghdad.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the transfer of the forces was intended to fill the gap left by the heavy losses of US troops in the southern Baghdad area as a result of Tuesday night’s devastating attack on the Falcon arsenal.

Resistance rockets blast US camp in southern Baghdad before sunrise Wednesday.

In a dispatch posted at 2:17pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance forces fired a barrage of Katyusha rockets into the US base in ar-Ridwaniyah to the south of Baghdad at about 5am local time Wednesday morning.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that they saw thick clouds of smoke rising from the American camp, which occupies a home of the Iraqi President Saddam Husayn.

Thick smoke, the smell of gunpowder envelope Baghdad hours after Iraqi Resistance midnight rocket barrage destroys US Falcon arsenal in as-Saqr Base.

In a dispatch posted at 3am Makkah time before dawn Wednesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that hours after the devastating Resistance rocket attack that ignited the US Falcon arsenal in the occupied as-Saqr Base in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah, thick smoke was still rising into the sky over the occupied Iraqi capital.

The Baghdad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that thick smoke was enveloped large swathes of the city.  The distinct smell of gunpowder suffused the air in many parts of Baghdad, including ad-Durah, al-Bayya', al-Yarmuk, al-'Amiriyah, the al-'Amil neighborhood, al-Jihad, al-Mansur, Abu Dushayr, and many other places across the sprawling Iraqi capital.

The sky above was now black with smoke, the correspondent wrote, having been clear earlier that nigh before the Resistance blasted the arsenal.  About one-third of Baghdad was covered in smoke from the exploding American camp.

Resistance group Islamic Army of Iraq claims responsibility for rocket attack on Falcon arsenal.

In a dispatch posted at 11am Makkah time Wednesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the Iraqi Resistance group the Islamic Army in Iraq had issued a communiqué taking responsibility for the devastating attack on the US arsenal at the as-Saqr (Falcon) Forward Base Tuesday night.

Al-Jazeera satellite TV, as monitored by Mafkarat al-Islam, reported the communiqué as saying that "fire support units for rockets and mortars bombarded the base of the US occupying army with two Katyusha rockets and three mortar shells."

The communiqué, which al-Jazeera said had not been authenticated, said that the missiles "by the grace of God landed amongst mountains of munitions and began to explode and throughout Baghdad the thunder of the explosions could be heard."

Resistance attacks reported throughout Baghdad Tuesday night.

The patriotic Iraqi website albasrah.net reported early Wednesday morning that the pro-American Badr Brigades had reported on their news service that in addition to blowing up the massive US arsenal in Sukkaniya Tuesday night, Resistance forces had also fought battles in the Baghdad district of al-Mansur.  In addition, Resistance fighters blasted an-Nusur Square with mortars and attacked a puppet army checkpoint.  An Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded near a fuel station in al-Mansur and explosive devices were reported blasting targets in the Baghdad district of as-Sayyidiyah.

AlBasrah reported that the destruction of the American arsenal in Sukkaniya was the beginning of an Iraqi Resistance offensive.

Resistance mortars shelled puppet "Shock Troops" in al-Ghazaliyah on Tuesday.

In a dispatch posted at 1:40pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance forces fired several mortar shells into the headquarters of the puppet "Iraqi Interior Ministry Shock Troops (Maghawir)" in the western Baghdad district of al-Ghazaliyah on Tuesday.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that the shells scored direct hits setting off explosions inside the facility and sending plumes of smoke rising into the sky.

Three US troops reported killed in Resistance attack in Baghdad’s al-A'zamiyah district late Wednesday night.

In a bulletin posted at 11:40pm Makkah time Wednesday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance forces had a short while before completely destroyed a US vehicle in front of the Abu Hanifah an-Nu'man Mosque in Baghdad’s al-A'zamiyah district.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the puppet police in al-A'zamiyah as saying that three US troops were killed and a fourth probably mortally wounded in the Resistance attack.  Americn soldiers in the column responded by opening fire indiscriminately at the Abu Hanifah Mosque and nearby houses as fire continued to burn in the American vehicle.

Four US troops reported killed in bold Resistance attack near "Green Zone" Wednesday afternoon.

In a dispatch posted at 3:05pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a band of Iraqi Resistance men carried out a bold attack Wednesday on US forces just one kilometer from the high-security area around the Republican Palace in Baghdad, dubbed by the Americans the "Green Zone."

The Baghdad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier, a bomb exploded by a passing American patrol near the "Green Zone."  Immediately after the blast, about four Resistance men assaulted the vehicle, killing the survivors, according to shopkeepers in the nearby market.

The witnesses said that four US soldiers died in the attack and that at the time of reporting American troops had completely sealed off the area.

New study in The Lancet reveals 655,000 Iraqis killed by US war in Iraq.

A study to be published on the website of the British medical journal The Lancet on Wednesday reveals that an estimated 655,000 Iraqis have been killed as a result of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq since the spring of 2003.

The study supervised by Iraqi and American public health researchers said that deaths in Iraq rose sharply after the American invasion.

"Deaths are occurring in Iraq now at a rate more than three times that from before the invasion of March 2003," the lead author of the study, Dr. Gilbert Burnham, said in a statement quoted by the American Associated Press.  Burnham is a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Western supporters of the American occupation expressed disdain for the study because it revealed a death toll far in excess of the numbers they have been claiming.

The AP reported that Burnham said that the estimated death toll was much higher in this study because it was derived from a house-to-house survey, rather than on the basis of body counts and media reports which are notoriously incomplete.

For The Lancet study, researchers gathered data from a sample of 1,849 Iraqi households with a total of 12,801 residents from late May to early July 2006.  The sample was used to extrapolate the total figure and therefore covers deaths only up through July 2006.

Major funding for The Lancet study came from the American Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Two puppet policemen killed in double car bombing in eastern Baghdad Wednesday.

Iraqi Resistance forces mounted a double-car bomb attack on a patrol of Iraqi puppet police in eastern Baghdad on Wednesday.

The correspondent for Quds Press quoted a source in the puppet police as saying that an explosives-laden car that was parked near the building of the puppet "Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs" blew up  on Wednesday morning.  The source claimed that the explosion caused no casualties.  But then after puppet policemen gathered on the scene, a second explosives-packed car parked in the area blew up killing two puppet policemen and wounding at least 14 more.  The area was entirely closed off after the attack as the dead and wounded were evacuated.

Salah ad-Din Province.

Balad.

Resistance car bomber blasts US vehicle in Balad on Tuesday.

In a dispatch posted at am Makkah time Wednesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance fida’i fighter drove an explosives-laden car into a US patrol in the area of the train station in Balad, about 80km north of Baghdad on Tuesday.

The Balad correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the puppet police as saying that the attack set one US military vehicle ablaze but he declined to reveal the nature or extent of US casualties.  Eyewitnesses, however, said it was probable that all the Americans inside the vehicle had been killed, given the force of the explosion that struck their vehicle and caused it to burst into flame.

Tikrit.

Puppet army commander survives Resistance attack on Tuesday.

In a dispatch posted at 11:40am Makkah time Wednesday morning, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Iraqi Resistance fighters ambushed the motorcade of the commander of the 3^rd Brigade of the Iraqi puppet army in the area of the Hirbah Bridge in Tikrit, about 180km north of Baghdad, as he was returning from a meeting with the unit on Tuesday.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the Iraqi puppet army as saying that Resistance men armed with light and medium weapons attacked the motorcade but the commander survived while one of his soldiers was killed and two others were wounded.

Eyewitnesses said that a high-ranking officer was riding in a civilian car when Resistance men spotted him and attacked at a point near the headquarters of the brigade.  The witnesses said that the attack came so suddenly that the guards were unable to prevent it.

Babil Province.

Al-Musayyib.

Resistance bomb wounds US troops in al-Musayyib Wednesday morning.

In a dispatch posted at 2:07pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that an Iraqi Resistance bomb exploded by a US military column in al-Musayyib, about 70km south of Baghdad on Wednesday morning.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported a source in the puppet "Rescue Police" in al-Musayyib as syaign that the bomb disabled a US Humvee and wounded four American troops who were aboard it.

At-Ta’mim Province.

Kirkuk.

US forces arrest tribal leader south of Kirkuk Tuesday.

In a dispatch posted at 12:40pm Makkah time Wednesday afternoon, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that US troops accompanied by their Iraqi puppet army allies raided the home of the Shaykh of one of the Sunni Iraqi tribes near Kirkuk on Tuesday and arrested him along with several members of his family.

The Kirkuk correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported eyewitnesses as saying that US troops and Iraqi puppet forces raided the home of Shaykh Turki Hajim al-'Ubaydi, a shaykh of the al-'Ubayd tribe, in the village of ash-Shamsiyah, about 30km south of Kirkuk.  The Americans arrested him together with five other members of his family.

A source in the puppet security services confirmed that the shaykh and five relatives had been arrested in his home and taken to one of the American headquarters for interrogation.  The source would not disclose the reason for the arrest or what charges might have been made against Shaykh al-'Ubaydi.

Shaykh Turki is one of the most prominent leaders of the al-'Ubayd tribe whose members live in several Iraqi provinces, in particular at-Ta’mim and Salah ad-Din.

Ninwa Province.

Al-Mawsil.

Resistance pounds US al-Ghazlani base in al-Mawsil late Wednesday night.

In a dispatch posted at 11pm Makkah time Wednesday night, Mafkarat al-Islam reported that a short while earlier Iraqi Resistance forces unleashed a violent rocket barrage on the main US base in the northern city of al-Mawsil.

The correspondent for Mafkarat al-Islam reported that Resistance forces launched Grad and Katyusha rockets into the US-occupied al-Ghazlani base, sending up four plumes of black smoke. The wail of sirens coming from the base could be heard throughout the city.  Us helicopters flew into the area but at high, safe altitudes, scouring the environs looking for Resistance fighters.