Winks Blog

Kidnappings, Killings and Demonstrations - Bush ready to cut troops

Good evening,

A Sudanese diplomat and five other Sudanese were kidnapped as they left prayers at a mosque Friday, their foreign ministry said. It identified the diplomat as Abdel Moneam Mohammad Tom, second secretary at Sudan's mission in Baghdad.

About 20,000 people took part in a mass demonstration organized by 35 Sunni Arab and secular Shiite political parties after Friday prayers. Demonstrators were claiming election fraud. Some in Mosul said that Iran had a hand in the election fraud.

The U.S. military said two American soldiers were killed Friday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Baghdad. It also reported a bomb killed another soldier in the capital Thursday. No other details were released.

Gunmen attacked an Iraqi army checkpoint in the city of Adhaim in religiously and ethnically mixed Diyala province, killing eight soldiers and wounding 17, an Iraqi army officer said on condition he not be identified for fear of reprisal.

In Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt outside a Shiite mosque, killing four people and wounding eight, police said. Among the dead was a policeman guarding the mosque.

Rumsfeld said President Bush had authorized new cuts below the 138,000-soldier level that has prevailed for most of this year.
He did not reveal a specific figure, but the top military commander in Iraq and the U.S. ambassador said in a statement that it would involve two combat brigades, or about 7,000 soldiers.

"That will bring down the total level from 17 brigades to 15," Gen. George Casey and Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said.

Have a nice evening

posted by Wink @ 11:39 PM