IRAQ INSURGENCY TAKES TO THE SEAS

For the first time in the Iraqi occupation, insurgents have struck at sea.

"Three boats launched an apparently coordinated suicide strike Saturday on Iraqi oil installations in the Persian Gulf, killing three American troops," the Los Angeles Times reports.

Three other U.S. troops were wounded when their craft approached one of the attacking boats and the vessel exploded, flipping the coalition craft and throwing the crew into the water, a statement from the U.S. 5th Fleet said...

The boat attacks recalled the assault on the U.S. destroyer Cole in Yemen four years ago, when an explosives-laden boat rammed the ship, killing 17 U.S. sailors. The CIA has concluded that Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist network planned and executed that operation.