Winks Blog

At Least 12 Killed, 25 Injured, & 1 Corpse Found

Good morning,

In todays bloodshed:

At least 12 Iraqis died in a car bombing near a Baghdad restaurant and other attacks.
A car bomb near a restaurant frequented by police in eastern Baghdad exploded at lunchtime, killing at least seven civilians and wounding nearly 25 people, including four policemen, officials said.

The blast damaged nearby shops and cars in the commercial district, where firefighters used hoses to wash away the debris in the street.

"When I pulled up to this place, the fire approached my car," said a witness, Sattar Jabbar, adding the flames burned his shirt.

Meanwhile, some Iraqi police missing after insurgents ambushed their convoy as they left a U.S. base Thursday evening began to return home to Najaf. By Saturday, about 75 of the 109 men who were attacked had returned, Brig. Gen. Abbas Maadal, the Najaf police chief, said. More than 30 policemen were still unaccounted for.

Policemen tried to call their missing colleagues but said their cell phones were being answered by men who laughed and said, "If you want them, come and get them."

The large convoy went to the U.S. Taji base north of Baghdad to pick up new vehicles. On their way home, they were ambushed near the base by insurgents who opened fire and triggered a roadside bomb. At least nine police were killed in the attack, according to the U.S. military, which helped provide air and ground support to end the assault.

Elsewhere, a roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, killing three soldiers and wounding three others, the army said.

A gunfight between insurgents and Iraqi forces operating a checkpoint in northwest Baghdad's Shula district killed at least two civilians and wounded four, police said.

At least one civilian was killed and two others wounded in fierce fighting between insurgents and the army in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, police said. Several cars were set on fire in the clash.

In the southern city of Basra, four gunmen killed the director of traffic police as he was driving to work, police said.

Police discovered a body, shot in the head, floating on a small river in Mahawil about 45 miles south of Baghdad.

Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 11:22 AM