IRAQ ON HIGH ALERT FOR TERROR ATTACKS

Iraq’s prime minister has put his nation on its highest level of alert for terror attacks, warning of plots to sow fear and chaos as the U.S. combat mission in the country ends on Tuesday.

The Iraqi security forces who will be left in charge have been hammered by bomb attacks, prompting fears of a new insurgent offensive and criticism of the government’s preparedness to protect its people.

Still, President Obama left no doubt Saturday in his weekly address that the United States is sticking to its promise to pull out of Iraq despite the uptick in violence. “The bottom line is this: The war is ending,” Obama said. “Like any sovereign, independent nation, Iraq is free to chart its own course.”

In a statement to state-run television, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Iraqi intelligence indicated an Al-Qaida front group and members of Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath party are collaborating to launch attacks “to create fear and chaos and kill more innocents.”

“We direct the Iraqi forces, police and army and other security forces, to take the highest alert and precautionary measures to foil this criminal planning,” he said.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official said security forces believe suicide bombers have entered the country with plans to strike unspecified targets in Baghdad by month’s end. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. BASES ATTACKED IN AFGHANISTAN

Insurgents disguised as American soldiers attacked two U.S. bases in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday and managed to breach the perimeter of one of them before being repelled, according to NATO and Afghan officials.

The assault began about 4 a.m., when dozens of Taliban fighters, some wearing U.S. military uniforms, launched simultaneous attacks on Forward Operating Base Salerno, in Khost Province, and nearby Forward Operating Base Chapman, where a suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees in December.

The assaults on the sprawling Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost province
and nearby Camp Chapman, took place at 3am local time.

Camp Chapman was the scene of a major attack in December, when a suicide
bomber entered the base and killed seven CIA employees.

Major Wazir Pacha of the provincial police headquarters said insurgents used
rifles, heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and other heavy
weapons, but had been repelled.

“The area is under control, but we still need to find those hiding,” he said.

Small arms fire could still be heard in the area mid-morning, witnesses said,
while Nato helicopters patrolled overhead.

Police discovered a vehicle laden with ammunition and another packed with
explosives that had become stuck in deep mud. Major Pacha said the second
vehicle was probably intended to be used as a suicide truck bomb.

On Friday, homemade bombs killed three US soldiers in southern and eastern
Afghanistan, bringing the total number of foreign troops killed in
Afghanistan this month to 55.

KABUL, Afghanistan
- One of two U.S. sailors missing in Afghanistan since last week has been confirmed dead and his body recovered, a NATO spokesman said Tuesday.

The search continues for the other missing sailor, said Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

The two Navy personnel went missing Friday in the eastern province of Logar, after an armored sport utility vehicle was seen driving into a Taliban-held area. NATO officials were unable to say what they were doing in such a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan.

The Taliban have said previously that they killed one of the two men in a firefight and captured the other.

Jim Kerr, a Colorado legislator from the Denver suburb of Littleton, said the sailor killed was his wife’s nephew, Justin McNeley, 30. He said the family learned of his death Monday. He said McNeley’s mother is in Kingman, Arizona, but declined to give her name.

Kerr told The Denver Post that McNeley, a noncommissioned officer and father of two sons, was due to return to the U.S. in August.

The Taliban have said the captured sailor is in a “safe place” where he will not be found.

In a statement, the NATO-led command said the body was recovered Sunday after an extensive search and that the coalition “holds the captors accountable for the safety and proper treatment of our missing service member.”

The only other American service member in Taliban captivity is Spc. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho, who disappeared June 30, 2009, in Paktika province, also in eastern Afghanistan. That area is heavily infiltrated by the Haqqani network, which has deep links to al-Qaida. Bergdahl has since appeared on videos posted on Taliban websites confirming his captivity.

New York Times reporter David Rohde was also kidnapped in Logar province while trying to make contact with a Taliban commander. He and an Afghan colleague escaped in June 2009 after seven months in captivity, most of it spent in Taliban sanctuaries in Pakistan.