Winks Blog

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.

posted by Wink @ 9:15 AM