Winks Blog

3+ People Killed, 4 Bodies Found On "Freedom Day"

Good Morning,

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Five roadside bombs killed at least three people in Iraq on Sunday _ the three-year anniversary of the Baghdad's fall to U.S. forces. Iraq police and soldiers bolstered security in the capital to prevent attacks on "Freedom Day."

The holiday marks the April 9, 2003 event in which a huge crowd of Iraqis cheered as U.S. Marines hauled down the statue of Saddam Hussein on Firdous Square, marking the collapse of his regime.

The "Freedom Day" holiday appeared to draw little public attention. The Iraqi Islamic Party, a the biggest Sunni party, issued a statement rejecting the day, saying it was "an anniversary of occupying Iraq, not liberating it."

"Iraqis are pleased and displeased," said Qassim Hassan, a soldier. "They are pleased because they got rid of tyranny and dictatorship, but they are displeased because they went from bad to worse. The Iraqi street is seething between sadness and terrorism."

Sunday's roadside bombs killed at least two civilians and a policeman. One targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed a passer-by in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of the capital, and another bomb meant for police killed a civilian when it exploded at Maysaloun Square in eastern Baghdad.

Other bombings around Baghdad killed a policeman and wounded about a dozen others, police said. One of the attacks targeted police near a Sunni mosque in the western neighborhood of Ghazaliyah, wounding at least three people, police said. Another targeted a convoy of American military police, but there were no casualties, the U.S. military said.

Police discovered four bodies, handcuffed and at least one shot in the head, in the Dora district of southern Baghdad.

In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, a man allegedly making a bomb was killed when it accidentally exploded inside a house, police said. Police arrested six others in the house after hearing the explosion, police Maj. Karim al-Tamimi said.

In Najaf, officials raised the death toll from last week's car bombing of the Imam Ali mosque to 13. Three Iraqis wounded in the bombing died Saturday, said Dr. Issa Mohammed, director of the morgue at Najaf General Hospital.

Police discovered four bodies, handcuffed and at least one shot in the head, in the Dora district of southern Baghdad.

Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 10:10 AM