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Defense Industry
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Current Operations

• MARINE KILLED IN AL ANBAR PROVINCE
• TASK FORCE BAGHDAD SOLDIERS KILLED

• TF Baghdad Soldiers, Iraqi Police destroy car bomb MNF-I/MNC-I 26 Mar 2005 -- Task Force Baghdad Soldiers assisted Iraqi Police in detonating a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device shortly after 6 a.m., March 26, in south central Baghdad.
• Iraqi Forces Seize 120 Suspected Insurgents RFE/RL 26 Mar 2005 -- Iraqi officials say Iraqi soldiers backed by U.S. helicopters captured at least 120 suspected militants in a raid just outside the Shi'a Muslim holy city of Kerbala early today.
• Task Force Baghdad Soldiers uncover cache MNF-I/MNC-I 26 Mar 2005 -- Task Force Baghdad Soldiers found a weapons cache in 55 gallon drums buried near a septic tank on March 25 in west Baghdad.
• 155th BCT soldiers seize weapons caches MNF-I/MNC-I 26 Mar 2005 -- Soldiers of the155th Brigade Combat Team, a U.S. Army unit assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force, discovered two weapons cache sites near Forward Operating Base Dogwood on Monday.
  
  
• FOUR SOLDIERS KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN MINE BLAST CENTCOM 26 Mar 2005 -- Four U.S. Soldiers died March 26 when their vehicle struck a mine while traveling in Logar Province, approximately 40 kilometers south of Kabul.

Defense Policy / Programs

• India, US Agree to Boost Defense VOA 26 Mar 2005 -- India and the United States have announced plans to boost defense relations, after Washington unveiled plans to sell an undetermined amount of F-16 fighter jets to India's rival, Pakistan.
  
  
• Pakistan welcomes US decision on F-16s aircraft sale IRNA 26 Mar 2005 -- Pakistan on Saturday welcomed the decision of the U.S Administration to sell F-16 aircraft to Pakistan.
• Pakistan PM lauds US fighter planes decision IRNA 26 Mar 2005 -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday lauded the US decision to sell F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan and described it as a "red-letter day" for the Pakistan Air Force.

Defense Industry

Other Conflicts

• IVORY COAST/ SECURITY VOA 26 Mar 2005 -- An international peace advocacy group warns that a return to war in Ivory Coast could spark a regional conflict, drawing in Guinea, Mali, and Burkina Faso, and will put the Liberian peace process into jeopardy.

News Reports

• LEBANON EXPLOSION VOA 26 Mar 2005 -- A bomb exploded in an industrial zone of a predominantly Christian neighborhood of Beirut Saturday night, injuring at least eight people.

• RUSSIA/KYRGYZSTAN VOA 26 Mar 2005 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly offered his help to the new Kyrgyz leadership. Meanwhile, reports in Moscow say that ousted Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev has taken refuge in Russia.
• Less Rioting In Kyrgyzstan As Situation Normalizes RFE/RL 26 Mar 2005 -- Bishkek is reportedly quieter today, as police are patrolling the Kyrgyz capital in an attempt to stop a repeat of rioting the previous night.
• Uzbekistan Ready To Work With Authorities In Bishkek RFE/RL 26 Mar 2005 -- The Uzbek government today said it is ready to work with authorities in Kyrgyzstan.
• Kyrgyz Legislators Set New Date For Elections RFE/RL 26 Mar 2005 -- Kyrgyz parliamentarians today took further steps to erase the remnants of ousted President Askar Akayev's rule as they set 26 June as the date for new presidential polls.
• China: Border Crossing With Kyrgyzstan Closed RFE/RL 26 Mar 2005 -- The semi-official China News Service announced in Beijing on 25 March that the Irkeshtam border trading station with Kyrgyzstan is closed and will remain so until 28 March, Reuters reported.

• Criminal Inquiry Opens After Rally In Minsk RFE/RL 26 Mar 2005 -- Belarusian authorities have opened a criminal inquiry one day after a rally in Minsk called for the resignation of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka.