US Troops Kills 2 Women, One Pregnant
Good afternoon,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. forces killed two Iraqi women _ one of them about to give birth _ when the troops shot at a car that failed to stop at an observation post in a city north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials and relatives said Wednesday. Nabiha Nisaif Jassim, 35, was being raced to the maternity hospital in Samarra by her brother when the shooting occurred Tuesday.
Jassim, the mother of two children, and her 57-year-old cousin, Saliha Mohammed Hassan, were killed by the U.S. forces, according to police Capt. Laith Mohammed and witnesses.
The U.S. military said coalition troops fired at a car after it entered a clearly marked prohibited area near an observation post but failed to stop despite repeated visual and auditory warnings.
"Shots were fired to disable the vehicle," the military said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. "Coalition forces later received reports from Iraqi police that two women had died from gunshot wounds ... and one of the females may have been pregnant."
Jassim's brother, who was wounded by broken glass, said he did not see any warnings as he sped his sister to the hospital. Her husband was waiting for her there.
"I was driving my car at full speed because I did not see any sign or warning from the Americans. It was not until they shot the two bullets that killed my sister and cousin that I stopped," he said. "God take revenge on the Americans and those who brought them here. They have no regard for our lives."
He said doctors tried but failed to save the baby after his sister was brought to the hospital.
The shooting deaths occurred in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians in the western city of Haditha.
Have a nice afternoon.
54 Killed In A Flurry Of Attacks Today
Good Afternoon,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs targeting Shiite areas tear through a car dealership in southern Iraq and a bustling outdoor market north of Baghdad Tuesday as attacks nationwide killed 54 people and wounded 120 in the bloodiest day in recent weeks.
In the southern city of Hillah, a car packed with explosives blew up at a dealership, killing 12 people and wounding 32. A bomb hidden in a plastic bag detonated outside a bakery in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday night, killing at least nine people and injuring 10, al-Mohamedawi said.
In central Baghdad, mortar rounds hit the heavily guarded Interior Ministry and a nearby park, killing two government employees.
A mortar round fired by remote control struck the Interior Ministry compound, killing two female employees and wounding a policeman and two janitors, said police Capt. Mohammed Abdul-Ghani said. Another round landed in a city park, wounding two city workers, he said. The Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry also was attacked in April.
Also in the capital, a roadside bomb killed one police officer and wounded four others, and police found the bodies of three blindfolded and handcuffed men who apparently had been tortured and shot in the head. A decapitated body was discovered floating in the river about 35 miles south of the capital.
The military said another U.S. soldier died Monday during combat in northern Iraq, and the bodies of two Marines missing after a helicopter crash in western Iraq over the weekend were recovered.
The AH-1 Cobra helicopter from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing was on a maintenance test flight when it went down Saturday in the volatile Anbar region. The military said hostile fire was not suspected as the cause, but the crash was under investigation.
On Monday, another 40 people were killed in various attacks, including two CBS journalists who died in a bombing that critically wounded a correspondent for the network. They were two of the bloodiest days in recent weeks.
Not including Tuesday's attacks, at least 4,066 Iraqis had been killed in war-related violence so far in 2006, according to Associated Press reports, which may not be complete because the reporting process does not cover the entire country. That figure includes 871 in May, surpassing the 801 killed in April.
The violence came as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held meetings aimed at finding new defense and interior ministers more than a week after his national unity government took office. Iraq's ethnic, sectarian and secular parties are struggling to agree on who should run the two crucial ministries, which oversee the army and the police.
Top Shiite officials said the U.S. Embassy had invited government representatives and the leaders of all the political blocs to a meeting, and they expected the names of new candidates to be discussed.
In the meantime, U.S. military commanders have moved about 1,500 combat troops from a reserve force in Kuwait into Anbar province to help local authorities establish order there. The province is an insurgent hotbed stretching from west of Baghdad to the Syrian border.
The military command described the new deployment as short-term. The plan is to keep the latest troops in Anbar no longer than four months, said one military official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the move.
Also Tuesday, officials said that a man who allegedly confessed to hundreds of beheadings has been captured.
The Iraqi government identified the suspected terrorist captured Monday as Ahmed Hussein Dabash Samir al-Batawi and said he had confessed to hundreds of beheadings. He was arrested by a terrorist combat unit, which also seized documents, cell phones and computers that contained information on other wanted terrorists and Islamic extremist groups, the prime minister's office said.
The government released a mug shot of the suspect, who is balding, has a mustache and was wearing a white T-shirt with an identifying placard dangling from his neck.
CBS reporter Kimberly Dozier, a 39-year-old American, was listed in critical but stable condition at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in southern Germany following Monday's car bomb attack that killed her cameraman, Paul Douglas, 48, and soundman James Brolan, 42, both Britons, as well as a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi contractor.
Dozens of journalists have been injured, killed or kidnapped in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Parliament on Monday debated the violence in the capital and outlying provinces but failed to set up a commission to deal with the problem because of al-Maliki's inability to appoint ministers of defense and interior.
The Interior Ministry, which controls the police, has been promised to the Shiites. Sunni Arabs are to get the Defense Ministry, overseeing the army.
It is hoped the balance will enable al-Maliki to move ahead with a plan for Iraqis to take over all security duties in the next 18 months. He wants to attract army recruits from the Sunni Arab minority, which provides the core of the insurgency.
The U.S. Embassy said al-Maliki, Cabinet members and political leaders were to meet at a social gathering organized by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. Some legislators said the matter of the unfilled Cabinet positions would be discussed.
Meanwhile, Deputy Justice Minister Busho Ibrahim Ali said 249 prisoners who had been suspected of ties to the insurgency were released from three U.S. detention centers. They were part of a group of 2,000 cleared for release by a joint committee from the Justice, Interior and Human Rights ministries, as well as Americans, Ali said.
Many of the detainees, who had been held at the Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca and Fort Suse prisons, kissed the ground and touched their foreheads to express thanks to God.
There are still 14,000 detainees, including five women, in prisons nationwide, Busho said.
Have a nice afternoon.
___
Associated Press reporters Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report.
4 Killed Today, 51 Killed Yesterday
Good Morning,
Insurgent attacks in Baghdad on Tuesday left four people dead, including a Sunni imam who was assassinated.
The attacks come a day after at least 51 people, including two members of a CBS News crew, were killed in violence across the country.
Two women were killed Tuesday when insurgent rocket fire hit the third floor of Iraq's Interior Ministry, an official with Baghdad Emergency Police said. Four Iraqi police were wounded.
According to police, at least three rockets were fired from a car in central Baghdad's Zayuna neighborhood, more than a mile away from the ministry building. One hit the building, and two other rockets landed short of the facility.
Ali Farhan Abdullah, the Imam of Ansar al-Muhajrin Sunni mosque, was assassinated Tuesday by gunmen in the northern Baghdad Shiite neighborhood of Shula, Baghdad police said. A number of gunmen stormed Abdullah's house adjacent to the mosque and shot him to death.
Also Tuesday, an Iraqi police commando was killed and three other commandos were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their convoy in the capital's Saydiya section.
Separately, Iraqi police found three unidentified bodies in various Baghdad neighborhoods Tuesday morning. All had been shot in the head and showed signs of torture.
In Hilla, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, an explosion Tuesday ripped through a used car lot, killing four and wounding six, according to a police spokesman.
Have a nice day.
30+ Iraqis Killed today and Iraqi Athletes Killed For Wearing Shorts
Good afternoon,
Folks, your tax dollars supporting the attack and subsequent occupation in the name of weapons of mass destruction or the spread of democracy are hard at work. Turns out that you can get killed in Iraq for wearing shorts. Yup, no need to adjust your glasses you read that right.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were shot to death this week in Baghdad because they were wearing shorts, authorities said Saturday, reporting the latest in a series of recent attacks attributed to Islamic extremists.
In the Baghdad incident, gunmen stopped a car carrying the Sunni Arab coach and two Shiite players, asked them to step out and then shot them, said Manham Kubba secretary-general of the Iraqi Tennis Union.
Extremists had distributed leaflets warning people in the mostly Sunni neighborhoods of Saidiyah and Ghazaliyah warning people not to wear shorts, police said.
"Wearing shorts by youth are prohibited because it violates the principals of Islamic religion when showing forbidden parts of the body. Also women should wear the veil," the leaflets said.
No one claimed responsibility for the slayings, which come amid worries that Islamic extremism is spreading in the war-torn country.
Sunni cleric Eid al-Zoubayi denounced the attack.
"Islamic religion is an easy religion and it allows wearing sport shorts as long as they don't show the forbidden parts of the body, so the acts that are targeting the sport are criminal," he said.
It was the second incident involving athletes in just over a week. Fifteen members of a taekwondo team were kidnapped in western Iraq while driving to a training camp in neighboring Jordan on May 17.
More than 30 people were killed in attacks across Iraq on Saturday, including four who died when a bomb in a parked car exploded near a busy bus station in southern Baghdad. Seven people also were wounded in the blast, which bloodied passers-by and damaged a local restaurant.
The Marine helicopter went down while on a maintenance test flight and search and rescue efforts were under way for the missing crew members, the U.S. command said in a statement.
"We are using all the resources available to find our missing comrades," said a Marine spokesman, Lt. Col. Bryan Salas.
The U.S. military also reported that a Marine was killed Friday by "enemy action" in Anbar province. The death raised to at least 2,466 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Iraqi politicians continued to bicker over candidates for the key defense and interior ministry posts, leaving Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government incomplete a week after it assumed office.
"We hope the agreement will be reached within two or three days," Sunni politician Adnan al-Dulaimi told reporters. "I think that to linger and take some time in choosing the ministers is better than rushing into it."
Filling the two posts is a contentious matter, especially after the recent surge in sectarian violence.
Political parties have agreed that a Sunni will head the Defense Ministry, which controls the army, and a Shiite will run the Interior Ministry, which oversees police forces. But they are struggling to find a consensus on who should get the jobs.
A senior Iranian official visited Iraq's Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf, where he met with Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and radical anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who was wrapping up the second high-level visit by an Iranian delegation since the ouster of Saddam Hussein three years ago, praised al-Sistani for his efforts to maintain unity in Iraq amid rising sectarian tensions.
Mottaki's trip to the southern cities after meeting with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad on Friday highlighted the warming ties between the two countries, both of which have Shiite majorities. Saddam's regime was dominated by Sunnis, and Iraqi Shiites were repressed during his reign.
In other developments Saturday, according to police and hospital officials:
_ Two roadside bombings in Baghdad killed four policemen and wounded five people.
_ In four separate shootings in the capital, gunmen killed a garden store owner; a grocer; a taxi driver and his son; and the owner of a glass store.
_ Gunmen and Iraqi soldiers fought at a checkpoint west of Baghdad, killing a teacher caught in the crossfire.
_ Attackers ambushed the convoy of the office manager of the Diyala police chief south of Baqouba, wounding the colonel and killing five of his guards.
_ A former Iraqi army colonel and his nephew also were fatally shot near Baqouba.
_ In Baqouba, drive-by shooters killed four policemen and one civilian, while masked gunmen killed four workers and wounded another at a metalworking shop.
_ A policeman was shot to death and two officers were wounded north of Tikrit.
_ Gunmen stopped a minibus carrying college students from Mosul, killing one of the students.
_ A man suspected of belonging to Saddam's former Fedayeen militia was slain west of Mosul.
_ The body of a man who had been shot in the chest was found floating in the Euphrates river near Hillah.
Have a nice day. Wear shorts.
15 Iraqi Civilian Deaths "Unjustified"
Good Afternoon:
BREAKING NEWS:
WASHINGTON - Investigators believe that their criminal investigation into the deaths of about two dozen Iraqi civilians points toward a conclusion that Marines committed unprovoked murders, a senior defense official said Friday.
The Marine Corps initially reported 15 deaths and said they were caused by a roadside bomb and an ensuing firefight with insurgents. A separate investigation is seeking to determine if Marines lied to cover up the killings.
The official, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the yet-to-be-completed investigation, said the evidence developed by investigators strongly indicates the killings last November in the insurgent-plagued city of Haditha in the western province of Anbar were unjustified.
The official did not disclose specific evidence. The incident, if confirmed, could be the most serious case of criminal misconduct by U.S. troops during three years of combat in Iraq.
In an indication of how seriously the Marines consider it, their top officer, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, flew to Iraq on Thursday to reinforce the need to adhere to Marine values and standards of behavior and to avoid the use of excess force.
A spokesman at Marine Corps headquarters in the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, declined to comment on the status of the investigation. He said no information would be provided until the probe was completed.
According to a congressional aide, lawmakers were told in a briefing Thursday that it appears as many as two dozen civilians were killed in the episode at Haditha. And they were told that the investigation will find that "it will be clear that this was not the result of an accident or a normal combat situation."
Another congressional official said lawmakers were told it would be about 30 days before a report would be issued by the investigating agency, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Both the House and Senate armed services committees plan to hold hearings on the matter.
Hagee met with top lawmakers from those panels this week to bring them up to date on the investigation.
"I can say that there are established facts that incidents of a very serious nature did take place," Sen. John Warner, chairman of the Senate panel, said Thursday. He would not provide details or confirm reports that about 24 civilians were killed. He told reporters he had "no basis to believe" the military engaged in a cover-up.
In the Haditha case, videotape aired by an Arab television station showed images purportedly taken in the aftermath of the encounter: a bloody bedroom floor, bullet holes in walls and bodies of women and children. An Iraqi human rights group called for an investigation of what it described as another deadly mistake that had harmed civilians.
On May 17, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a decorated former Marine, said Marine Corps officials told him the toll in the Haditha attack was far worse than originally reported and that U.S. troops killed innocent women and children "in cold blood." He said that nearly twice as many people were killed than first reported, maintaining that U.S. forces are "overstretched and overstressed" by the war in Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman Eric Ruff said Friday he believes the investigation is winding down, but he would not comment on what the evidence shows.
Ruff would not characterize the extent of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's concern about the matter, but said he is being kept apprised of the investigations.
Ruff said he did not expect any announcements in the next few days.
3 Killed, Tennis Coach and 2 Players
Good Afternoon,
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen have killed the coach of Iraq's national tennis team and two of his players while they were driving through Baghdad, Ministry of Interior and police sources said on Friday.
It is not clear why Hussein Rasheed and the two players, Nasir Hatem and Wissam Ouda, were shot on Tuesday in a country where violence is based mostly on sectarian motives or carried out by insurgents, criminal gangs or tribes.
Victims have included everyone from young children to labourers lining up for work to top government officials facing a rebel campaign of bombings, shootings and kidnappings and sectarian tit-for-tat killings.
Police sources said gunmen in a car blocked the three on a street and opened fire.
Iraq's athletes, who rarely travelled abroad during long years of United Nations sanctions under Saddam Hussein, looked forward to international competitions and better funding after a U.S.-led invasion toppled the president in 2003.
Many were also relieved because Saddam's feared son Uday, who athletes said tormented and physically abused them when they failed at competitions, was removed from the picture.
He and his brother Qusay were killed when U.S. soldiers stormed their house in the northern city of Mosul in 2003.
But athletes are paying a new price in postwar Iraq's chaos.
Iraq's government is hoping to secure the release of 15 members of a martial arts squad who were kidnapped in an insurgent stronghold region west of Baghdad this month.
Gunmen abducted the tae kwondo experts near the city of Ramadi as they were travelling by bus to neighbouring Jordan to attend a training course, an official of the Youth and Sports Ministry said. Their driver was also seized.
A ransom was paid to help free Iraq's Olympic Committee Director-General Teres Odesho after he was kidnapped north of Baghdad last year.
Thousands of Iraqis and more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped since 2003.
Have a nice day.
18 Iraqis Killed, 9 Corpses Found
Good Evening,
I have been away for about a week but am now back to reporting Iraqi deaths.
The killing of at least 18 people around Iraq was a reminder of the lack of security in a country where drive-by shootings and roadside bombings are so commonplace they fail to elicit any official reaction.
The U.S. military announced that a soldier was killed in action, and Iraqi police said they found the bodies of nine people who had been tortured. The slayings pointed to the sectarian death squads in Baghdad and Iraq's major cities
Have a nice evening.
Aprox 3,706 Iraqis Killed since 1/06, and 3,978 Wounded
Good afternoon,
As you know, I cannot possibly account for all the Iraqi deaths that occur every day, but I do try to record the information that is available to me at the time I can post.
In summary, and according to the AP, as of today, attacks, at least 3,706 Iraqis had been killed in war-related violence so far in 2006 and at least 3,978 wounded based on Associated Press reports, which may not be complete because the report process does not cover the entire country. During May, at least 511 Iraqis have been killed and at least 537 wounded.
Have a nice afternoon.
28 Killed, 35+ Injured In Iraq Violence
Good Morning,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen raided a parking lot and blew up a parked oil tanker in northeastern Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 18 people and injuring at least 37, police said.
Fighting between suspected insurgents and Iraqi police killed at least six civilians in Baghdad and officials said roadside bombs had killed three U.S. soldiers.
The gunmen at the parking lot and small market in the Shaab neighborhood first shot five guards, police Capt. Ali al-Obeidi said.
As bystanders rushed to the scene, a car bomb detonated next to an oil tanker, which exploded and engulfed the area in a fireball. AP Television News video showed the remnants of an exploded car and sandals and clothes of the many dead and injured.
The attack seemed to be organized and aimed at killing as many people as possible.
The motivation for the attack was unclear, but it may have been sectarian. The Shaab neighborhood is mainly Shiite.
Another bomb destroyed a liquor store in Baghdad in what appeared to be the third attack on the shop by militants determined to impose Islamic customs by closing down such establishments. The blast, one of three heard just past dawn, shook much of central Baghdad.
The gunbattle in Baghdad broke out about 10:30 a.m. between suspected insurgents riding in three cars and Iraqi police in Dora, one of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods.
At least six civilians were killed and four wounded in the crossfire, said police 1st Lt. Maithem Abdel-Razaq.
At 6:10 a.m., a roadside bomb exploded in central Baghdad's Karradah shopping district, destroying the liquor store and damaging two nearby shops. None of the stores in the area had opened yet, and the blast caused no casualties, police said.
"This liquor shop has been targeted three times," said Falah Hassan, 50, the owner of one of the two damaged shops. "The first time it was hit by a grenade. The second time gunmen stormed it, hurt its workers and stole their money. Today, militants placed a bomb beside it," Hassan told AP Television News.
Some Muslim religious leaders have tried to ban the drinking of alcohol, even though it is legal under Iraq's new constitution. Many of Baghdad's liquor stores are operated by Iraq's Christian minority, and some have been threatened or closed by Islamist militants, who also often demand that women wear veils while in public.
In other violence, according to police:
_ Suspected insurgents attacked a police patrol Tuesday in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, killing two policeman.
_ A drive-by shooting in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, killed a man who had served as a secret agent in Saddam Hussein's government.
_ A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in western Baghdad, wounding one policeman.
_ Gunmen in eastern Baghdad killed a policeman who worked in Interior Ministry intelligence.
_ Amir Latif Ali Yahya, the Electoral Commission director in Diyala province, escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded near his car in Buhriz, 35 miles north of Baghdad.
_ Gunmen killed the manager of a local soccer team near his home in the southern city of Basra on Monday night. Suspected insurgents also fired rockets at the Shat al-Arab Hotel, headquarters of the British army in Basra, causing no casualties.
Iraq's Interior Ministry also said it had arrested two al-Qaida in Iraq members on Monday in Baghdad.
Have a nice day.
Good morning.
The picture appears to be authentic and is one of many that were sent to friends and family back home from soldiers in Iraq after a spectacular dust storm on April 26, 2005.
The dust storm is said to have moved at 60 miles per hour and engulfed everything in its path.
When I saw this picture, I thought it was a good metaphore for the US invasion of Iraq. However, in the case of our attack, we question if the dust will ever settle.
Have a nice day.
13 Killed 4 Wounded
Good morning,
Today tribesmen killed eight Iraqi police officers and injured another 10 in clashes just outside Basra. The clashes broke out when the tribesmen took over a police station just outside the city after a group of men wearing police uniforms allegedly gunned down a local leader from the Garmasha tribe, said police Cap. Mushtaq Khazim.
A drive-by shooting killed four teachers who were heading to their school in a village near Balad Ruz, a town 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said. The attackers and the victims were both riding in minibuses, the private vehicles that charge small fees to transport the general public.
In central Baghdad, a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol missed the officers but killed one civilian, wounded four and set fire to an oil tanker parked nearby. "The explosion caused a huge fire," said police Capt. Ziyad Naji.
Three drive-by shootings and three other roadside bombs in Baghdad and other cities killed six Iraqis and wounded seven, police said.
Have a nice day.
24 Killed, At Least 6 Wounded
Good morning,
Near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Iraqi civilians to work, then planted a bomb aboard the vehicle that exploded when rescue workers arrived. In all, 11 Iraqis were killed and six wounded.
Elsewhere, 13 Iraqis were killed in other attacks, including four off-duty policemen in Ramadi, officials said Wednesday.
Casualties from a suicide truck bombing in the northern city of Tal Afar on Tuesday night rose to 22 dead and 134 wounded. The U.S. military flew some of the wounded to other cities when the local hospital was overwhelmed.
Current information upgrades the number of killed in yesterdays violence. Casualties from a suicide truck bombing in the northern city of Tal Afar on Tuesday night rose to 22 dead and 134 wounded. The U.S. military flew some of the wounded to other cities when the local hospital was overwhelmed.
President Jalal Talabani said Wednesday that nearly 1,100 people were killed in Baghdad alone last month and urged Iraq's feuding factions to unite against surging crime and terrorism.
Talabani, a Kurd, said in a statement that the 1,091 bodies found in the Baghdad area in April were the tip of the iceberg.
"We feel shock, dismay and anger over the daily reports of the discovery of unidentified corpses and those of others killed" around the capital, he said.
At least
3,525 Iraqis have been killed in war-related violence this year. These numbers include civilians, government officials, and police and security officials, and are considered only a minimum based on Associated Press reporting.
Have a nice day.
At Least 17 Killed 35 Injured in Talafar
Good Morning,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A martyr truck bomber hit a crowded public market in the northern city of Tal Afar Tuesday, killing at least 17 people and wounding 35, police said.
The attack occurred about 8:30 p.m. in the center of Tal Afar, according to Col. Abdul-Karim Mohammed of the Nineveh provincial police, who gave the casualty figures. Officials said the blast occurred near closing time as people packed the market to finish their shopping.
Lt. Col. Ali Rasheed of Iraq's Interior Ministry said the death toll was between 15 and 20 and the attack occurred near a police station within the market area.
In March, President Bush cited Tal Afar, a mostly Turkomen city 260 miles northwest of Baghdad, as a success story after U.S. troops regained control there last year.
U.S. and Iraqi forces launched an operation in September aimed at cleansing the city of insurgents - the second such attempt in a year.
However, by the end of September, a woman suicide bomber slipped into a crowd of recruits, killing at least six people and wounding 30.
Since then, the city has been hit by several martyr attacks. In October, a martry bomber plowed his explosives-packed vehicle into a crowded outdoor market, killing 30 and wounding 45.
In March, another suicide bomber struck a joint U.S.-Iraqi military base near the city, killing at least 15 and wounding as many as 30.
A month later at least six people were killed in the city in another martyr attack.
Have a nice afternoon.
34 Killed, 19 Corpses Found
Good afternoon,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Violence killed at least 34 people including a U.S. soldier as efforts to finish choosing the new Cabinet bogged down Monday in a web of conflicting interests.
The deadliest attack Monday occurred when a car bomb exploded near an Iraqi court in central Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians and wounding 10, police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.
Two Iraqi policemen died and 12 people were wounded when another car bomb went off near a police patrol traveling down busy Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, police Lt. Ahmed Qassim said.
The American soldier was killed when a roadside bomb struck a military convoy Monday southeast of Baghdad, according to a U.S. statement. The command did not specify the location, but Iraqi police reported a bombing damaged a U.S. convoy between the Shiite holy cities of Karbala and Najaf.
In a separate statement, the U.S. command said one American soldier was killed and another wounded during a clash Sunday near Tal Afar, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.
The fatalities raised to at least 2,421 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Two Iraqi television journalists were found dead Monday, a day after they were stopped by men wearing police uniforms on a road southwest of Baghdad, according to Abdul-Karim al-Mehdawi, general manager of Al-Nahrain TV. The bodies of Laith al-Dulaimi and Muazaz Ahmed were taken to a morgue in Kut.
At least 70 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. About three-fourths of them were Iraqis.
At least 19 other bodies were found Monday, including 12 in Baghdad and seven in Kut, according to police. They appeared to have been victims of sectarian death squads.
In other violence Monday:
_ Gunmen stopped a bus carrying Higher Education Ministry employees to work in western Baghdad, killing the driver and wounding a guard, police Capt. Jamil Hussein said.
_ Two gunmen were killed in a clash with Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood.
_ One person was killed and another wounded in a drive-by shooting in a west Baghdad market.
_ A pharmacist was slain in Mosul by gunmen who set fire to his drug store.
Have a nice day.
42 Killed Or Found Dead, 52+ Wounded
Good Evening,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs killed at least 16 people and injured dozens Sunday in Baghdad and a Shiite holy city, casting doubt on U.S. hopes that formation of a new government alone would provide a quick end to the country's violence.
At least 26 others were killed or found dead Sunday, including a U.S. Marine mortally wounded in the insurgent bastion of Anbar province in western Iraq, police and the U.S. military said.
Some of the victims appeared to have been abducted and killed by sectarian "death squads" that target members of rival religious communities. The dead included three brothers whose charred bodies were found before dawn in Baghdad's Dora district, a mixed Sunni-Shiite area and one of the city's most violent.
The deadliest single attack occurred at midmorning when a suicide driver detonated his vehicle near an Iraqi army patrol leaving its base in the Sunni Arab neighborhood of Azamiyah, killing 10 people and injuring 15, most of them Iraqi soldiers, police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.
A half-hour earlier, a car bomb exploded near the Baghdad offices of the state-run al-Sabah newspaper, killing an employee, police Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali said. Officials believed the target was a police patrol that passed by shortly before the blast.
In Karbala, a Shiite holy city 60 miles south of Baghdad, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle near the main provincial government building, killing five people and wounding 19, police spokesman Rahman Mishawi said.
The bomber was unable to reach the government building because of concrete barricades and a police cordon and instead set off his explosives about 300 yards away, police said.
Elsewhere, three policemen were killed in a roadside bombing in the northern city of Mosul, police said. Two bodies with gunshot wounds were found in the center of Mosul late Sunday, police said.
In Baghdad, police and unknown gunmen battled for nearly an hour Sunday in the capital's Saydiyah district. Three policemen were wounded and three gunmen were arrested, police said.
One man was killed and another injured in an explosion Sunday evening at a bombmaking factory in the basement of a Sunni mosque in central Baghdad, the U.S. military said. A bomb exploded in a restaurant late Sunday in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, injuring dozens, provincial police said.
American troops also fired on a disused train station south of Ramadi, described in a U.S. statement as "a known hub of insurgent activity."
U.S. officials have long contended that violence would subside if Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds believed they had a stake in a new unity government representing all the nation's religious and ethnic communities.
The framework of Iraq's new unity government was put in place last month with the selection of a president, vice presidents, prime minister and parliament speaker. Incoming Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, hopes to present his Cabinet to parliament by Wednesday.
However, a top Shiite official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deliberations, said al-Maliki would probably not meet that target because of differences among the parties over who will run the ministries of interior and defense.
Those posts control the police and army, and U.S. and British officials have insisted that the new ministers have no ties to militias believed responsible for kidnappings and killings of civilians.
Sectarian violence has forced about 14,700 Iraqi families _ or about 88,000 people _ to flee their homes, a senior Iraqi official said Sunday. The official, Suhaila Abed Jaafar, doubted they could return without "concerted military action" to restore order in their communities.
"The solution is in the hands of the interior and defense ministries," Jaafar, the minister responsible for caring for displaced Iraqis, said.
Have a nice day.
On Iraqi Mothers Day
Happy Mother's Day women in Iraq.
2nd Annual Iraqi Mother’s Day,
Last year, on this day May 6th, I proclaimed the first Iraqi Mother’s Day. The mom’s in Iraq need special acknowledgement not just for what they have been going through, but for who they are. With well over 35,000 Iraqis killed since the US invasion, one can only imagine what these women have had to endure to survive. I cannot imagine a single mom that has not been seriously affected by the atrocities that occur on a daily basis.
To the women in Iraq, I want to send you my heartfelt care and once again dedicate this day to be only your special day.
In a few days the US will have its own annual Mother’s Day. On that day families and friends lavish the special mother’s in their life by taking them to or making a special dinner or brunch, bringing them gifts of flowers and candy etc. In Iraq this should happen too, but unfortunately for most women, there are no gifts and there is no peace.
Here is a recount of what happened on your Mother's Day:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A British military helicopter crashed in Basra on Saturday, and Iraqis hurled stones at British troops and set fire to three armored vehicles that rushed to the scene. Clashes broke out between British troops and Shiite militias, police and witnesses said.
Police Capt. Mushtaq Khazim said the helicopter was apparently shot down in a residential district. He said the four-member crew was killed, but British officials would say only that there were "casualties."
British forces backed by armored vehicles rushed to the area but were met by a hail of stones from the crowd of at least 250 people, who jumped for joy and raised their fists as a plume of thick smoke rose into the air from the crash site.
The crowd set three British armored vehicles on fire, apparently with gasoline bombs and a rocket-propelled grenade, but the soldiers inside escaped unhurt, witnesses said.
British troops shot into the air trying to disperse the crowd, then shooting broke out between the British and Iraqi militiamen, Khazim said. At least four people, including a child, were killed, he said. Two of the victims were adults shot by British troops while driving a car in the area, Khazim said.
_ A bomb in a parked car exploded, killing two policemen and an Iraqi soldier and wounding four civilians about 30 miles north of Baqouba, police said.
_ Suspected insurgents kidnapped seven Iraqis, including three paramilitary policemen, south of Baghdad in an area where a roadside bomb killed three U.S. service members the day before.
_ Roadside bombs hit two Iraqi police patrols in Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding two policemen and six civilians.
_ Two rockets or mortar shells were fired in northern Baghdad, one hitting a home and killing two children and wounding a woman.
_ Police in Baghdad found the bodies of 13 Iraqi men, five of them relatives from Iraq's Sunni Arab minority, who had been kidnapped and brutally killed, police said.
_ A drive-by shooting killed two brothers in Baghdad, police Capt. Firas Queti said.
_ A roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul wounded two Iraqi policemen. Police also found the bullet-ridden bodies of a father and son who had been kidnapped earlier in the day.
_ Iraqi and U.S. forces searched shops for weapons and imposed a curfew in Rawah, a Sunni city 175 miles northwest of Baghdad.
For you mother's of Iraq, my wish is peace, and I know that is something that will not happen for years to come, if ever. I wish you the continued strength to endure what we have ignited, and for those of you who have lost loved ones, I mourn with you and can only apologize for our actions that lead to your pain.
5 Corpses Found, 2 Killed and 7 Kidnapped
Good afternoon,
The bodies of five Iraqis who apparently were kidnapped and killed also were found today, four in Baghdad and one on the outskirts of the city, police said. Such sectarian killings by "death squads" have become common in Iraq, especially in the capital.
Outside the capital, a drive-by shooting killed a policeman, a roadside bomb killed an Iraqi soldier, and gunmen stopped a minibus and kidnapped seven employees of the state-owned North Oil Co., which runs the Kirkuk oil fields in the north.
Have a nice day.
31 Iraqis Killed 52 Wounded
Good Morning,
BAGHDAD, Iraq May 4, 2006 (AP)— A martyr bomber attacked a crowd of people waiting outside a heavily guarded court building in Baghdad on Thursday, killing 10 Iraqis and wounding 52, police said. Two U.S. soldiers also died in a roadside bomb attack.
Police first said the attack near the court was caused by a car bomb targeting a police convoy, but later said it was caused by a man with explosives hidden under his clothing.
The man detonated them off in a crowd of police officers and civilians waiting outside the civil court, said police Lt. Thair Mahmoud. The officers were guarding the building and many of the civilians were meeting just outside it with paralegals writing the petitions the civilians planned to submit to the court.
The blast occurred at 9:45 a.m. on Palestine Street, a major road in a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of eastern Baghdad, said. It was powerful enough to smash the windows of nearby shops.
Firefighters rushed to the scene and used hoses to clean bloodstains from the sidewalk and street outside the court. Mahmoud said all the casualties were civilians, except for two wounded policemen.
The roadside bomb that killed the two U.S. Army soldiers exploded about two hours later in south-central Baghdad, the military said.
The attack raised to at least 2,409 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Shootings in Baghdad and other areas, and a roadside bomb south of the capital, also killed eight Iraqis, including a Shiite tribal leader and an Iraqi army officer, police said.
In Ramadi, police Lt. Ahmed al-Dulaimi and Dr. Ali al-Obeidi at Ramadi General Hospital said U.S. aircraft bombed two houses, killing 13 Iraqis and wounding four. But the U.S. military said it had no information about such an attack in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad.
U.S. Army Sgt. Dan Schonborg, of the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, said no coalition aircraft launched bombing runs in Ramadi on Thursday.
Have a nice day.
15 Killed Today, 10 Killed Yesterday, 4 Bodies Found
Good Morning,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents stepped up their campaign to stop Sunni Arabs from joining government security forces, killing 15 police recruits in a suicide attack Wednesday and fatally shooting three soldiers who recently had entered the Iraqi army, officials said.
Both attacks occurred in Anbar province, a mostly Sunni area west of Baghdad where some of Iraq's worst terrorist attacks and battles between Sunni-led insurgents and U.S. forces have taken place since the Iraq war began more than three years ago.
Recruiting Sunni Arabs for the security forces is a key goal for Iraqi officials and the U.S. military. Most members of the Iraqi military are Shiites and Kurds, and having a sectarian balance is seen as a way to quash the Sunni-dominated insurgency.
On Tuesday, Anbar Gov. Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani narrowly escaped a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy as he headed to work in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. The attack killed 10 Iraqi civilians and wounded five of al-Alwani's bodyguards, the U.S. military said.
On Wednesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up while standing in a line of recruits outside Fallujah's police headquarters, killing 15 people and wounding 30, said police 1st Lt. Omar Ahmed. Thirteen of the dead were recruits and two were policemen, Ahmed said.
The bomber, dressed in civilian clothes, struck outside the entrance of the police building, police said. His hidden bomb exploded several minutes after he joined the crowd of recruits waiting to enter the building and apply for jobs, Ahmed said.
At about the same time, police found the bodies of three soldiers from Fallujah who had been shot and dumped in Khaldiyah, a city west of their hometown, said Dr. Rafie Mahmoud.
On Sunday, the three men had graduated from basic training as part of the first all-Sunni class in the Iraqi army. On Tuesday, the bodies of four other Iraqi soldiers from that class were found in Ramadi, officials said.
Have a nice day.
Iraqi Mothers Day On The Horizon
Good morning,
As I approach the first full year anniversary of this blog, I continue to feel saddened. Every single day horrific murders grip the people, like an ever spanning steel grey cloud covering, strangling the soul. The most conservative estimate says that about 35,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the US occupied Iraq. We all know that this figure is VERY low.
I reflect back now, one year later, on the very first article I posted on May 4, 2005. I asked in this article if we are "numbified". Have I become numbified though this process of near daily posting? In no way do I feel numbified, however I do feel a bit "routinized" if there such a word. I wake up, make coffee, feed the dog, have an English muffin, and then skim over the headline news. I find the information that relate to the subject upon which I am predominately focused, Iraqi deaths, and then post the article. That is my routine. That is how I usually start off the day.
Every day I begin my blog with a " Good Morning ".... Because you know what? We are having a good morning. Even if you just had the worst night of your life, your morning is good compared to what the Iraqi's have. It's OK, you're still entitled to moan and groan that your coffee is a little too bitter, or that the guy forgot to drop off your paper, or that you woke up with bug bites or whatever! My intention is to not make myself feel bad for possibly feeling bad one morning (Self inflicted guilt), or for others to feel like their bad morning really isn't all that bad compared to the Iraqis.
My intention is:
* To honor Iraqi Civilians in my own way by always be mindful of and continue to shine the light on the Iraqi condition (Which is often lost in the news),
* Share my personal thoughts and observations when possible,
* Appreciate everything and take nothing for granted.
You are going to think I'm a crack pot (well maybe you already think I am), but every day, I say thank you outloud to something other than a person. For example if I'm out on a beautiful trail, I'll thank the mountains for being there and thank the universe for allowing me to enjoy the time right there in that space. Folks, we have it good, very good.
Last year, I honored Iraqi women with proclaiming May 6, Iraqi Mother's Day. I am looking forward writing that special post in just a few days.
Today, Iraqi women in the majority, rallied against the insurgency, outside the Green Zone. A couple of (one civilian and one military) men briefly came outside with notepads writing down their demands. They demanded that U.S. and Iraqi forces do more to stop insurgent attacks in the capital and help Iraqis who are fleeing their homes because of sectarian violence (Est. 100,000 have had to relocate).
I was so glad to hear that the women are speaking up and demanding to be heard.
Very brave women.
Have a good day, and thank you.
3 Corpses Found, Grocer Killed In His Shop
Good Morning,
The bullet-ridden, handcuffed and blindfolded bodies of three Iraqi men were found in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood, said police Capt. Jamil Hussein. A drive-by shooting also killed a Shiite grocer in his shop, Hussein said.
Elsewhere, three roadside bombs exploded in Baghdad, wounding two civilians, police said.
The first bomb exploded at 8 a.m. in the Mashtal district of eastern Baghdad, wounding two civilians, said police Maj. Mahir Musa.
The second blast, targeting an Iraqi police convoy, occurred at 9:45 a.m. on a highway in the nearby district of Kamsara, causing no casualties, said police Lt. Bilal Ali Majid.
About five minutes later, a fuel can being used as a roadside bomb exploded about 500 yards behind a U.S. military convoy in Al-Bayaa, a neighborhood of southern Baghdad, causing no injuries or damage, the U.S. military said.
In other violence Monday:
_ Insurgents fired two mortar shells at a U.S. military base in Haqlaniyah, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, prompting soldiers to search surrounding houses and shops for suspected militants, witnesses said. No casualties were reported.
_ In Tikrit, the hometown of former Prime Minister Saddam Hussein, roadside bombs aimed at American convoys exploded in two nearby neighborhoods, police said. No casualties were reported, but U.S. and Iraqi forces to searched homes in both areas.
Have a nice day.
