US Troops Accused Of Killing Iraqi Family, and Rape
Good Morning,
BEIJI, Iraq - Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official said Friday.
The soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of assaulting in the March incident, the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
The U.S. command issued a sparse statement, saying Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of coalition troops in Baghdad, had ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged killing of a family of four in Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad. The statement had no other details.
The case represents the latest allegations against U.S. soldiers stemming from the deaths of Iraqis. At least 14 U.S. troops have been convicted.
The United States also is investigating allegations that two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. Marines in the western town of Haditha on Nov. 19 in a revenge attack after one of their own died in a roadside bombing.
"The entire investigation will encompass everything that could have happened that evening. We're not releasing any specifics of an ongoing investigation," military spokesman Maj. Todd Breasseale said of the Mahmoudiyah allegations.
"There is no indication what led soldiers to this home. The investigation just cracked open. We're just beginning to dig into the details."
However, a U.S. official close to the investigation said at least one of the soldiers, all assigned to the 502nd Infantry Regiment, has admitted his role and been arrested. Two soldiers from the same regiment were slain this month when they were kidnapped at a checkpoint near Youssifiyah.
The official told the AP the accused soldiers were from the same platoon as the two slain soldiers. The military has said one and possibly both of the slain soldiers were tortured and beheaded.
The official said the mutilation of the slain soldiers stirred feelings of guilt and led at least one of them to reveal the rape-slaying on June 22.
One of the accused soldiers already has been discharged and is believed to be in the United States, two U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. The others have had their weapons taken away and are confined to Forward Operating Base Mahmoudiyah.
The official said the killings appear to be unrelated to the kidnappings. He said those involved were all below the rank of sergeant.
Senior officers were aware of the family's death but believed it was due to sectarian violence, common in the religiously mixed town, he said.
The killings appeared to have been a "crime of opportunity," the official said. The soldiers had not been attacked by insurgents but had noticed the woman on previous patrols.
Have a nice day.
46 Deaths From Violence Reported Across Iraq Today
Good afternoon.
The following news flash just came in. I will fill in as details unfold:
-- Iraqi police say a suicide car bomber has struck a funeral in Kirkuk, killing 17 people and wounding 50, The Associated Press reports
More information about today's killings:
Iraq's bloodshed continued. At least 46 deaths from violence were reported across the country, including nine bullet-riddled bodies pulled from rivers _ apparent victims of sectarian death squads.
Shooting and bombings Thursday killed 12 people in Baghdad, including a Shiite trash collector, a university security chief, a baker, two merchants and an electrical worker.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, a suicide car bomber struck the funeral of a Shiite soldier in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing four people and wounding 27, police and hospital officials said.
Police in Kirkuk also found the body of a 15-year-old girl who had been kidnapped five days ago in the oil-rich city.
Seven bullet-riddled bodies were found floating in the Tigris River in Suwayrah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, while two men who had been shot to death and showed signs of torture were found in the Euphrates River in Musayyib, 40 miles south of the capital.
Have a nice day.
Quick Commentary
Good afternoon,
I am sure that folks out there wonder why I am so bent on re-counting the morbid news of Iraqi deaths. I just feel that these innocent victims of the American occupation, and subsequent violence as a result of the occuption, is something that needs to be highlighted. This is my personal way of honoring those Iraqi's who have lost their lives, been injured, or otherwise damaged, who are very under reported or lost in the news.
I have been doing this blog for just over a year. By no means have I been completely accurate, nor have I highlighted ALL the news. I can only invest so much time. A year ago, I would not have imagined what it would look like to have a near daily blog of new clippings. But as I look back, month by month, day by day, of my clippings, I feel that my goal is being achieved.
Day after day, we are bombarded with tons of news. I promise to do the very best I can to continue to report the lists, death counts counts, and personal stories when possible, of those Iraqi's who have been so devistated. Once in a while I'll inject my own thoughts. For now, these blogged news clipping and pictures should amply speak for themselves.
Have a nice afternoon.
13 Killed, 17 +Injured 5 Bodies Found
Good morning,
The following bloodshed occured in Iraq today:
_ A suicide car bomb struck a busy gas station in the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least three people and wounding 17.
_ A parked car packed with explosives blew up at an open-air market in a Shiite section of Baghdad's predominantly Sunni Dora neighborhood, killing three people and wounding 10, police said.
_ A university professor was killed in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad's upscale Mansour neighborhood. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Studies said it will stage a sit-in at all universities Wednesday to protest kidnappings and violence against its employees.
_ Gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying a tribal leader in Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing him and four drivers.
_ A tribal chief in the southeastern town of Amarah was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt. Sheik Kadim al-Sebahawi's 22-year-old son died in the attack.
_ Five bodies found dumped in Baghdad
Have a nice day.
40 Die In 3 Bombings, 93 Wounded
Good morning,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A bomb exploded Monday in the central marketplace in Hillah, killing at least 15 people and wounding 56, police said. The marketplace in the predominantly Shiite city about 65 miles south of Baghdad was crowded with predinner shoppers buying vegetables and other goods when the bomb exploded.
Ambulances ferried the injured to hospitals.
Angry survivors shouted "Down, down with the police" and threw stones to express their anger over the lack of security in the city near ancient Babylon.
Hillah was the site of one of the deadliest attacks on Shiite targets. On Feb. 28, 2005, a suicide car bomber targeted police and national guard recruits in the town, killing 125 people.
The next attack was a bicycle bombing in Baqouba, the Sunni insurgent stronghold 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The bombing killed at least 25 and wounded 33, according to Dr. Ahmed Fouad, director of the morgue at Baqouba General Hospital.
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A bomb also exploded near a house in the village of Khernabat, wounding four residents, in the same area where the bicycle attack occurred, police said.
Have a nice day.
Good Evening
An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web video Sunday showing the killings of three Russian embassy workers abducted earlier this month in Iraq. A fourth also was said to have been killed.
Have a nice evening
4 Killed Including Iraqi Chief of Intelligence, One Body Found, Several Wounded
Good Morning:
Defense Ministry official Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Mohamed Jassim initially said all Baghdad residents must be off the streets from 2 p.m. until 6 a.m. Saturday, but al-Maliki later declared the ban would end after three hours.
Jassim also said the city was under a state of emergency that included a renewed prohibition on carrying weapons and gave Iraqi security forces broader arrest powers to prevent civilian casualties. He did not give a timeframe for those measures, and the prime minister's office said Saturday that no state of emergency was in place.
In violence Saturday, according to police:
_ A roadside bomb struck a police patrol near the al-Sadiq University for Islamic Studies in a predominantly Shiite area in northern Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding three others.
_ Police found an unidentified body of a man who had been handcuffed, bound by the legs and shot to death in the capital.
_ A roadside bomb aimed at a patrol of police commandos missed its target but killed a civilian and wounded four others in western Baghdad, police said.
_ In the northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb killed the local chief of intelligence, Maj. Gen. Mussa Hatam, along with two of his guards.
Have a nice day.
34+ Killed, 33 Wounded, 5 Bodies Found, State of Emergency Claimed on Baghdad. 81 Workers Possibly Slain but Unverified
Good Afternoon,
A car bomb ripped through a market and nearby gas station in the predominantly Shiite city on Friday, killing at least five people and wounding 18, including two policemen, police said.
A bomb also struck a Sunni mosque in the town of Hibhib northeast of Baghdad, killing 10 worshippers and wounding 15. Al-Qaida chieftain Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was slain there in a U.S. airstrike earlier this month.
At least 19 other deaths were reported in Baghdad. The bodies of five men apparently slain after a mass factory kidnapping Wednesday were among Friday's toll. The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization linking seven insurgent groups including al-Qaida in Iraq, claimed it killed 81 workers who were "building a new American base." It was not clear if the group was referring to the factory kidnap victims, and the Internet claim could not be independently verified.
Iraq's government clamped a state of emergency on Baghdad and ordered everyone off the streets Friday after U.S. and Iraqi forces battled insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades and rifles near the heavily fortified Green Zone.
U.S. and Iraqi authorities also released 500 more detainees from American detention centers, the latest to be freed as part of al-Maliki's promise to release 2,500 by month's end as part of his reconciliation efforts.
Have a nice day.
25 Bodies Found, Executed
Good afternoon,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - At least 25 people have been executed gangland-style in Iraq's third-largest city this week, with residents gunned down in ones and twos and bodies found scattered throughout Mosul.
Elsewhere, five U.S. troops were killed in operations south and west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Thursday, and police stormed a farm and freed 17 victims of a factory kidnapping.
The police raid north of Baghdad that freed the 17 captives came a day after the mass kidnapping, believed to have been organized by Sunni extremists at the close of a factory shift.
Initial reports said as many as 85 people, including women who had taken their children to work, were initially taken.
But Industry Minister Fowzi Hariri told state-run Iraqiya TV on Thursday that 64 people were abducted, two of whom were killed trying to escape. Thirty people, mainly women and children, were freed shortly after the kidnapping, leaving 15 still believed in captivity.
A National Security Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, told The Associated Press that several insurgents holding the kidnap victims were captured during the raid.
Police raided the farm on a tip from a kidnap victim who said he was freed after showing his captors a fake ID with a Sunni tribal family name.
"As we were leaving the factory we were stopped by gunmen. They got on our buses and told us to put our heads down. Then they took us to a poultry farm," said the man who was released. He refused to allow use of his name, fearing retribution.
"One of the gunmen told us to stand in one line and then asked the Sunnis to get out of the line. That's what I did. They asked me to prove that I am a Sunni, so I showed the forged ID and three others did the same. They released us," the man said.
The workers were grabbed as they boarded company buses for the trip home after work at the al-Nasr General Complex, a former military plant that now makes metal doors, windows and pipes. The plant is about 20 miles north of the capital.
There has been rampant sectarian violence in the region, where tit-for-tat kidnappings and revenge killings are common, but nothing on the scale of Wednesday's abduction. The al-Nasr plant is between Baghdad and Taji, a predominantly Sunni Arab area.
Have a nice day.
Seven US Marines Charged with Murder of Iraqi Civilian
Breaking News:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Seven U.S. Marines and a Navy medical corpsman have been charged with murder in the April killing of an Iraqi civilian near the town of Hamdaniya, the Marine Corps announced Wednesday.
The eight also are chaged with kidnapping and conspiracy, Marine Col. Stewart Navarre said at Camp Pendleton, California.
The troops are accused of killing 54-year-old Hasham Ibrahim Awad, a disabled veteran of Iraq's war with Iran in the 1980s, on April 26. His family told CNN the Marines were pressuring him to act as an informer, hoping to learn who was planting roadside bombs and carrying out other attacks around Hamdaniya, on Baghdad's western outskirts.
The Americans carried Awad from his home to the main road through town, said his brother, Sadoon. Police turned over Awad's body to relatives the next day, along with an assault rifle and shovel his family says were planted to make him look like an insurgent.
U.S. troops offered $2,000 in compensation for his brother's death, then $10,000, said Sadoon Awad. He said he considered the offers an attempt to buy his family's silence.
"But I refused," he told CNN. "I told them, 'I don't need money.' I told them, 'The truth is that you took my brother, you tortured him, and you killed him, although he was disabled and old.'"
Iraqi officials brought the allegation to Marine commanders at a May 1 meeting, prompting the commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer, to call for an investigation.
Some Marines have admitted the circumstances of the man's death were staged, a military officer with direct knowledge of the Navy's preliminary findings told CNN earlier this month.
Investigators recently returned Awad's body after exhuming it and taking it to the United States for tests, his brother said. He said he expects to attend the trial but did not know whether he would be called as a witness.
Meanwhile, defense lawyers have decried information leaks from the probe, while their clients are being held in pretrial confinement.
The incident is unrelated to a criminal investigation into the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in the Anbar province town of Haditha in November.
Investigations into both incidents spurred the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Mike Hagee, to lecture his 180,000 Marines on what he called "the American way of war" during a trip to Iraq in early June.
Have a nice day.
Saddam's Lawyer Killed, 85 Workers Abducted, And Bombings Kill Several
Good afternoon,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants went on a hunger strike Wednesday to protest the killing of a top attorney on the ousted Iraqi leader's defense team. Meanwhile, gunmen about 85 workers north of Baghdad, forcing them into a bus and a minivan. Later, 30 of them were released.
Saddam's lawyers said they were not deterred by the brutal slaying of Khamis al-Obeidi and would forge ahead with their closing arguments when he again takes the stand next month on charges of crimes against humanity.
Khalil al-Dulaimi, Saddam's chief defense lawyer, said the ousted leader and his seven co-defendants "went on a hunger strike today to protest the killing of Khamis al-Obeidi."
"They pledged not to end the strike until international protection is provided to the defense team," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press in Amman. He said he received "the information directly from inside the green zone," but declined to elaborate.
The assassination of al-Obeidi came as violence escalated with the abduction of about 85 workers as they left work at an industrial plant north of Baghdad, police and a witness said.
Police later said about 30 people, all women and children, were later released. The motive for the mass kidnapping was unclear, but police said the assailants apparently looked at peoples identity cards. They gave no other details, but in Iraq, you can often determine someone's ethnic, sectarian and tribal affiliation from their names.
The workers were thought to be mostly Shiite while the plant is located in a predominantly Sunni Arab area that has seen a great deal of insurgent activity.
The workers were taken at the al-Nasr General Complex in Taji, a former military plant that now makes metal doors, windows and pipes.
Kamel Mohammed, an engineer at the plant, said by telephone he saw two of the factory's buses and a minivan being intercepted by gunmen in three sedans. The buses are used ferry workers from the plant to the Shiite areas of Shula and Hurrayah in Baghdad.
It was the most recent case involving mass abductions. On June 6, gunmen in police uniforms raided a business district in central Baghdad, seizing 50 people, including travelers, merchants and vendors selling tea and sandwiches. Both Shiites and Sunnis worked in the area. Little has been heard about them since then.
The assassination of al-Obeidi, a Sunni Arab who represented Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim in their eight-month-old trial, was just one in about a dozen killings.
In one of those acts of violence, Iraqi Trade Minster Abdul Falah al-Soudani called for the suspension of all trade with Australia because he said Australian security guards had killed two people _ including one of his guards _ and wounded three others after a misunderstanding inside his ministry's parking lot.
An al-Qaida-led insurgent group said in a Web statement that decided to kill four Russian diplomats kidnapped in Baghdad on June 3 after a deadline for meeting its demands passed.
The statement, which did not say whether the decision has been carried out, came a day after the same group claimed responsibility for killing two abducted U.S. soldiers whose bodies were found south of Baghdad.
In other violence today according to police:
_ A parked car bomb also exploded near an ice cream shop in Sadr City on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding eight.
_ A roadside bomb missed a police patrol in central Fallujah, west of Baghdad, killing two people civilians and wounding another four.
_ Gunmen killed police Maj. Rahim al-Alousi as he was standing near his house in Hit, 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of Baghdad.
_ A policeman was killed during clashes between Iraqi police and insurgents in the northern city of Mosul. Two other men, including an Iraqi army officer, were also killed in a Mosul drive-by shooting. Three unidentified bullet-ridden bodies were also found.
Have a nice day.
8 Killed
Good Morning,
In violence Monday:
_ A former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party was gunned down as he was going to work in downtown Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad.
_ Gunmen killed a police colonel heading to work near Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad.
_ Gunmen trying to kill a former army major in the northern city of Mosul killed a civilian and wounded their target.
_ A sniper killed an Iraqi soldier 25 miles west of Baghdad.
_ Roadside bombs in Fallujah and Hillah killed four civilians.
Have a nice day.
10 Kidnapped, 4 Killed, 19 Wounded, 17 Corpses Found
Good morning,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen seized 10 workers from a bakery Sunday in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad, while a car bomb exploded near a university in the northern city of Mosul, killing a woman and wounding 19 other people, police said.
A small parked truck bomb exploded in southwestern Baghdad, killing three people inside the vehicle, police said. In Baqouba, north of Baghdad, gunmen killed three people, including one carrying an Iranian passport, police said.
The scattered attacks came after a day of unrelenting violence that killed more than two dozen people as insurgents foiled heightened security measures, dealing a blow to the Iraqi government's pledge to bring peace to the capital.
In Baghdad, gunmen arrived in two cars, broke into the bakery and abducted the 10 workers in the northern suburb of Kazimiyah, police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said. It was the same neighborhood where a mortar shell struck a well-known market Saturday, killing four people and wounding 13.
A mortar shell Sunday hit the al-Sadiq University for Islamic Studies on Palestine Street, one of the capital's main thoroughfares, wounding five students and a teacher, police Lt. Ahmed Qasim said.
The Mosul car bomb was apparently directed at U.S. convoy. It exploded near Mosul University, and most of the 19 wounded were female students, police Brig. Abdel-Hamid Khala said.
Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of 10 men who showed signs of torture in several areas of Baghdad, and the body of a man who was shot in the head was found in Karbala, 50 miles south of the capital.
UPDATE as of 2:43PM: Men kidnapped 10 bakery workers in Baghdad, and a mortar attack killed four people in the capital. Police also found 17 bodies around the city, including four women and a teenager handcuffed and shot in the head _ apparently the latest victims of sectarian death squads.
Have a nice day.
At Least 29 Killed , 108 Injured Around Iraq. 7 Bombs within 5 Hours Kill 23, Injure 72+ In Baghdad
Good Morning, as the violence continues:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A series of explosions struck commercial areas in Baghdad within hours Saturday, killing at least 17 people and dealing a blow to a huge government operation to secure the capital.
The blasts _ seven within five hours _ brought the death toll around Iraq to at least 23 people. The bombings also wounded at least 72. A day earlier, a suspected shoe bomber blew himself up inside one of Baghdad's most prominent Shiite mosques, killing 13 people.
The U.S. military said a soldier was killed Friday and two others were missing after an attack on a checkpoint near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad. The area is known as the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent ambushes and attacks against U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops.
"We are currently using every means at our disposal _ on the ground, in the air and in the water _ to find them," military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.
Dive teams are in the nearby canal and river, Caldwell said.
Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle as it was being towed near a police checkpoint, killing four civilians, said Capt. Rashid al-Samarie. He said the bomber claimed his car had broken down and hired a tractor to tow it while he rode inside.
The attack happened in the mainly Sunni city of Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad, which was also hit by a mortar barrage that killed one civilian and wounded three others, all from the same family, al-Samarie said.
The first attack in the capital occurred shortly before 10 a.m., when a mortar shell was fired at one of its oldest markets in the predominantly Shiite suburb of Kazimiyah, Capt. Mohammed al-Waili said. At least four people were killed and 13 wounded.
About 30 minutes later, a bomb in a plastic bag exploded at an outdoor market for secondhand goods, killing two people and wounding 24, police Lt. Ahmed Mohamed Ali said.
A roadside bomb also missed a police patrol about 10:40 a.m. in Karradah, a popular shopping area in downtown Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding two, police Col. Abbas Mohammed said.
About 20 minutes later, a suicide car bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol near Wathiq Square in the same neighborhood, killing seven people, including four soldiers, and wounding 10 people, including two civilians, police Lt. Ali Mitab said.
In the New Baghdad area, a bomb left aboard a minibus exploded, killing three passengers and wounding 15 others, police Maj. Maher Mousa said.
The incessant violence shattered a brief period of calm imposed by the security crackdown launched Wednesday in the capital.
On Friday, a suspected shoe bomber targeting a Shiite imam who criticized terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi blew himself up inside the Buratha mosque during the main weekly religious service, killing 13 people and wounding 28. That attack was carried out despite a four-hour driving ban intended to prevent suicide car bombs during Friday prayers.
The mosque's imam, a leading Shiite politician, blamed al-Qaida in Iraq. He said the terrorist group was trying to reassert itself after the death of its leader in a U.S. airstrike last week.
"Al-Qaida is trying to restore some respect after the killing of the terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi by targeting one of the leading Shiite clerics, but they will fail," said the imam, Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer.
The imam, who was not injured, said the bombing came after guards found two pairs of shoes containing explosives outside the mosque. The guards entered the mosque and began searching everyone who had carried their shoes inside, he said.
When they approached the attacker, he detonated what would have been a third pair of explosives-laden shoes, he said.
But the Interior Ministry, noting the scale of destruction, suggested the attacker may have detonated a vest rather than shoes. Police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said the attacker was indeed wearing a suicide vest.
The device contained metal balls and fragments, according to an Interior Ministry police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Metal balls and fragments could fit into either shoes or a vest.
It was the second attack on the Buratha mosque in just over two months. On April 7, four suicide bombers, including a woman, set off their explosives during Friday prayers, killing at least 85 worshippers. The U.S. military blamed al-Zarqawi.
Al-Sagheer said the terrorist group had threatened to kill him in an Internet posting this week. A similar warning preceded the April attack, he said.
He said al-Qaida accused him in the latest posting of being behind deaths squads targeting Palestinians living in Baghdad. For years, a large contingent of Palestinians, who are Sunni Arabs, has lived in Baghdad.
On Friday, Al-Jazeera aired an audiotape of a key insurgency leader calling al-Zarqawi's death a "great loss" but saying it would strengthen the militants' determination.
The broadcaster identified the voice as Abu Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, the head of the Mujahedeen Shura Council, which groups five Iraqi insurgent organizations including al-Qaida in Iraq. The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be verified.
Significantly, the speaker does not mention the man identified by the United States as al-Qaida in Iraq's choice to replace al-Zarqawi _ Abu Ayub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. The lack of such a reference may suggest that al-Baghdadi does not support him.
There has been a slight decrease in the number of Iraqis reported killed since al-Zarqawi died June 7. In the nine days before the airstrike, 307 Iraqis were killed, compared with 262 in the nine subsequent days, according to an Associated Press tally.
In other violence Saturday, according to police:
_ Gunmen attacked the house of Iraqi army Col. Makki Mindil, killing him after engaging his guards in a gunfight. Four guards also were wounded in the attack in Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad. The bullet-riddled body of another Iraqi soldier was found elsewhere in the city.
_ Police also found two bodies, handcuffed and shot in the head, in separate areas of eastern Baghdad.
_ Gunmen in a speeding car killed a College of Nursing student in northern Mosul as he walked near his dormitory, police said.
Have a nice day.
15 Killed 44 Injured So Far Today In Iraq
Good Morning. Violence continues in Iraq:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A shoe bomber blew himself up inside an important Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, killing at least 13 people and wounding 28, as violence persisted in the capital despite a massive security operation aimed at restoring order.
The imam of the Buratha mosque in northern Baghdad, a leading politician and deputy with the governing Shiite coalition who often spoke out against the late terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed al-Qaida in Iraq for the attack.
The security operation in Baghdad has imposed a driving ban during Friday prayers to prevent suicide car bomb attacks, as well as a curfew. About 75,000 troops are in the streets of the capital.
"They were targeting me for the second time and the prayers also," said the imam, Jalal Eddin al-Sagheer, in an interview with The Associated Press.
It was the second time the Buratha mosque has been hit in just over two months. It also was attacked during Friday prayers on April 7, when four suicide bombers, including a woman, killed 85 worshippers as they left the mosque after the main weekly service.
The U.S. military blamed that attack on al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida in Iraq leader who was killed June 7 in a U.S. airstrike. The group issued a statement Tuesday vowing to avenge al-Zarqawi's death and threatening horrific attacks "in the coming days."
A mortar barrage struck a commercial area near the Taji air base in the northern Baghdad suburb of Saaba al-Bour, killing at least two people and wounding 16, police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said.
Have a nice day.
4 Killed, 6 Injured in Baghdad, Another 4 Killed in Seperate Shootings In Iraq
Good Morning,
The Iraqi government, since Bush's unexpected visit yesterday, has decided to put a security circle around Baghdad to get a grip on the security, or should I say lack of security situation there.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers searched cars and secured roads in Baghdad on Wednesday as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched a major security crackdown aimed at ending the violence that has devastated the capital.
Despite the stepped up security measures, however, a parked car bomb struck the northern district of Qahira, killing at least four civilians and wounding six, police Lt. Ali Mitaab said. Another four people died in separate shooting incidents around Iraq.
Have a nice day.
8 Killed and 12+ Injured , Several Bodies Found
Good Morning,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents set a fire in a vegetable market to lure British soldiers into a gunbattle Sunday that left five civilians dead and more than a dozen hurt by the crossfire, Iraqi police said.
The fighting was part of a string of violent incidents Sunday amid a government stalemate and threats of continued violence from insurgents after the death of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Police Capt. Hussein Karim said insurgents started the blaze in the market in south Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad, to draw the troops into an ambush.
The British Defense Ministry offered a different account, saying soldiers were sent to search the suspected launch site of a rocket attack and came under small-arms fire.
The ministry said there were reports of "a small number of terrorist casualties," but full details of the incident remained unclear. It could not confirm that civilians were among the dead and wounded.
In other violence Sunday:
_ Drive-by gunmen fired on a civilian car, killing the driver, police said.
_ Police in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora found four unidentified bodies, all of which had been tortured and shot.
_ Baghdad police said they separately found the body of a Health Ministry security guard who appeared to have been shot in the head after being tortured and the corpse of a taxi driver who was reported kidnapped yesterday in Dora.
_ Unidentified gunmen in Mosul shot and killed a former Iraqi Army officer, police said. The assailants were in a speeding car and killed Ali Ahmed Abdullah with a machine gun as he was walking in one of the city's commercial centers.
_ A roadside bomb in western Mosul killed one bystander and injured six others, police Col. Abdul-Karim Ahmed said.
___
Have a nice day.
An Iraqi's Perspective
Good afternoon.
You have probably noticed the link that I provide to Riverbend's website (To the right)... I'd suggest that if you have a moment that you check out her perspective on what has been going on there. I imagine that it reflects the feelings of a very large body in Iraq:
http://www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
Have a nice day.
24 Killed, 3 Beheadings Shown On Video
Good Morning.
Violence persisted in Iraq persisted on Saturday,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents signaled the fight is still on after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death, posting an Internet video Saturday showing the beheading of three alleged Shiite death squad members in revenge for killing Sunnis.
The video _ as grisly as any the al-Qaida in Iraq leader issued _ was clearly designed to quash hopes that the Sunni-dominated insurgency might change tactics by ending attacks on Shiite civilians and institutions, especially the police.
With its gruesome killings and militants chanting "Allahu Akbar", or "God is Great," the 15-minute video illustrates the depth of Shiite-Sunni rivalries.
It shows three men in military uniform, sitting on the ground with their hands bound behind their backs in a small concrete room with gunmen standing around them.
Under questioning, the men say they are members of the "Wolf Brigade," a special Iraqi police commando unit that Sunnis accuse of being a front for Shiite militiamen who kill Sunni Arabs.
Text in the video says the three were part of a "Shiite death squad" that kidnapped and killed Sunnis at checkpoints south of Baghdad in March and April. It says they were among 10 police commandos captured by Ansar al-Sunnah last month.
A militant off-camera asks them about the incident and other alleged slayings of Sunnis. The men reply in low voices, looking terrified. One mostly stares with his mouth hanging open.
"They (the Sunnis) were beheaded by those who took and detained them," one of the three says. Next the video shows the three captives lying on the ground outdoors. A militant sharpens a knife before he, with the help of others, beheads the men one by one.
At the end of the tape, the group warns Iraqis against joining the security forces: "Otherwise, you will live in terror until we eliminate you and your fate will be in Hell
Across Iraq, at least 24 people were killed in violence Saturday _ including a number of sectarian attacks.
Gunmen stopped a minivan carrying Sunnis on a highway near Baghdad, ordered the passengers off and opened fire, killing four and wounding one. In Baghdad, gunmen in two cars shot dead a Shiite metal worker and wounded two others. Also in the capital, a roadside bomb exploded in the mainly Shiite Karadah area, targeting a police patrol; five people were killed and 14 wounded, including three officers.
In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen killed three Shiite butchers.
The Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi was the defining face of Iraq's insurgency. His tirades against the nation's majority Shiites and calls on the once-dominant minority Sunni Arabs to rise up and kill them were matched by the killing of thousands of Shiites in attacks.
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More Killed, Bodies and Heads Found, Kidnapped Director General For State Oil Projects
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Violence continued in Iraq on Thursday and Friday:
_Gunmen kidnapped Muthanna al-Badri, director general of state company for oil projects, or SCOP, while he drove Thursday in his predominantly Sunni Arab neighborhood of Baghdad, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said Friday.
_A fire fight Friday west of Baqouba killed five civilians and wounded three, and demolished five houses, according to regional authorities.
_The torso of a man wearing a military uniform was found floating in a river Friday morning near Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, a morgue official said.
_Police found five unidentified bodies late Thursday of men who had been shot in the head in eastern Baghdad.
_Gunmen opened fire on Friday's funeral procession for the brother of the governor of the northern city of Mosul. Zuhair Kashmola was killed by gunmen on Thursday.
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19 Killed, 40 Injured, US Kills Al-Zarqawi In Airstrike
Al-Zarqawi and several aides, including spiritual adviser Sheik Abdul Rahman, were killed Wednesday evening in a remote area 30 miles from Baghdad in the volatile province of Diyala, just east of the provincial capital of Baqouba, officials said.
"Al-Zarqawi was eliminated," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
At the White House, President Bush hailed the killing as "a severe blow to al-Qaida and it is a significant victory in the war on terror."
But he cautioned: "We have tough days ahead of us in Iraq that will require the continuing patience of the American people."
The news came amid more reports of violence in Iraq, with two bombs striking a market and a police patrol in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 40.
Al-Qaida in Iraq confirmed al-Zarqawi's death and vowed to continue its "holy war," according to a statement posted on a Web site.
"We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence in continuing holy war so that the word of God will be supreme."
Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the hunt for al-Zarqawi began two weeks ago, and his body was identified by fingerprints and facial recognition. The U.S. military showed a picture of al-Zarqawi's face after the airstrike, with his eyes closed and spots of blood behind him.
Casey said an American airstrike targeted "an identified, isolated safe house."
U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell showed a videotape of an attack in which he said F-16 fighter jets dropped two 500-pound bombs on the site.
"We had absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Zarqawi was in the house," Caldwell said.
Casey said tips and intelligence from senior leaders of al-Zarqawi's network led U.S. forces to al-Zarqawi as he was meeting with associates. Iraqi police were first on the scene after the airstrike, he said.
6000 Bodies Delivered to Morgue So Far this year
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister promised Tuesday to release 2,500 prisoners and to press ahead with a security plan aimed at ending sectarian violence as he sought to quell public anger over a series of brazen attacks.
His comments came a day after the abductions of 50 people in downtown Baghdad by gunmen wearing police uniforms and the shooting deaths of 21 Shiites north of the capital, including students pulled from their minivans.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed a desire by insurgents to cripple the political process for the spike in violence since he took office just over two weeks ago.
They "have increased their bloody operations to derail and bring down the national unity government, but, God willing, they will lose," he told reporters.
Hours after he spoke, a parked car bomb exploded outside a Shiite funeral ceremony in southwestern Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding 20. Gunmen also killed one student, wounded another and kidnapped three at Baghdad University's business school.
Underlining the toll of Iraq's bloodshed, the Health Ministry said that during the first five months of this year, Baghdad's main morgue had received 6,000 bodies, most of whom had died violently.
The Sunni Arab minority provides the backbone of the insurgency that has kept Iraq in chaos.
Al-Maliki, who announced a plan last month for restoring order in Baghdad and has pledged to take over security in the country from U.S. and other foreign troops within 18 months, acknowledged the deteriorating security situation in the capital and other areas.
He offered condolences to the families of those killed Sunday when masked gunmen ordered passengers off two minivans carrying students north of Baghdad, separated Shiites from Sunni Arabs and then killed the Shiites.
But he made no mention of the bold daylight kidnappings Monday, in which gunmen in police uniforms raided a business district in central Baghdad, seizing 50 people, including travelers, merchants and vendors selling tea and sandwiches. Both Shiites and Sunnis work in the area.
Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abdul Azizi Mohammed Jassim, in charge of Defense Ministry operations, told reporters that two of the captives had been freed but would provide no other details.
The Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry, which oversees police, denied its forces were behind the kidnappings.
Suspicion fell on militias, which are believed to have infiltrated police forces and have killed hundreds in sectarian violence, personal vendettas and kidnappings for ransom.
The Iraqi Islamic Party, a major Sunni Arab political party, accused the Interior Ministry of trying to cover up police involvement in the latest abductions and appealed to religious and political leaders to intervene to end the violence.
Adnan al-Dulaimi, a prominent Sunni politician, called for the government and U.S.-led forces to step up action against such attacks.
"The killing operations have become a phenomena," al-Dulaimi said. "Fifty Iraqis have been abducted and the Iraqi officials have done nothing to stop those behind these terrorist acts."
He also urged the speedy appointment of interior and defense ministers _ key security posts that al-Maliki has been unable to fill because of disagreement among Iraqi's fractured ethnic and religious parties.
The Bush administration also is eager for the security posts to be filled, hoping a broad-based government will drain support for the insurgency and restore order in Baghdad and elsewhere, enabling U.S.-led forces to go home.
The U.S. military said Monday that it had handed over responsibility for operating patrols in the volatile, Sunni-dominated Anbar province to an Iraqi army unit. It said the Iraqi army's 1st Division officially took control of a military base between Ramadi and Fallujah on Friday from U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 110th Infantry Regiment.
Al-Maliki said his government was asking the U.S. military about two incidents that involved the killing of civilians _ an alleged massacre of civilians by Marines in Haditha on Nov. 19 and the deaths of 13 people in the town of Ishaqi on March 15.
"We are still asking about these dossiers," he said. "We are still following it up and we are still waiting for the results of the investigations. We have a committee investigating these painful incidents. We condemned these practices, as they are against human rights."
U.S. authorities are investigating the deaths of two dozen people in Haditha after a bomb killed a Marine. The military has cleared U.S. troops of wrongdoing in Ishaqi, saying those deaths occurred during a battle with insurgents in the village.
The Iraqi government plans to set up its own committee to investigate the killings.
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50 Iraqis Kidnapped
Good Morning,
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen in police uniforms raided bus stations Monday in central Baghdad, kidnapping at least 50 people, including drivers and passengers preparing to travel outside Iraq, an Interior Ministry official said.
The attackers also grabbed people working in the area, where several travel agencies are based and buses pick up passengers traveling mostly to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohamedawi said.
The victims, including two Syrians, were herded into more than a dozen vehicles, according to witnesses. It was not known who was behind the attack.
"They took all workers from the companies and nearby shops," said Haidar Mohammed Eleibi, who works for the Swan Transportation Co. in the Salihiya business district.
He said his brother and a cousin were among those seized, along with merchants, passers-by and even a vendor selling tea and sandwiches.
"They did not give any reason for it," he said. "Police came afterward and did nothing."
Another transportation worker, Amjad Hameed, said 15 cars belonging to police rushed into the area and began randomly seizing people. "We asked them why but nobody replied," he said, adding that Iraqi forces and Americans came to the site afterward.
The Interior Ministry denied any police involvement.
"The chief of the Iraqi national police, Maj. Gen. Adnan Thabit, has denied the involvement of Iraqi police in the abduction of 50 persons from the Salihiya area," it said in a statement.
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21 Killed Including 12 Students
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen dragged passengers off buses northeast of Baghdad and killed 21 people, including a dozen high school students. The attackers spared four Sunni Arabs in one the worst sectarian atrocities in recent weeks.
Serwan Shokir, the mayor of Qara Tappah, said one other person was wounded in the early morning attack. He said there were 26 people on three mini headed from his town to Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The 12 slain students were apparently headed for Baqouba to take exams.
Of the dead, 19 were Shiite Turkomen and two were Kurds.
The four Sunni who survived were being question at Qara Tappah police station, Shokir said.
The attack occurred on the outskirts of Diyala province, a mixed region that in recent weeks has been transformed into a sectarian powder keg, with attacks against Sunni Arab and Shiite Shrines.
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Bombing in Basra 15 + Killed, 30+ Injured, 8 Severed Heads Found, More Bodies Found and Others Killed
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - A car bomb exploded at the main outdoor market in the southern city of Basra on Saturday, killing 15 people and wounding 30, Iraqi police said.
Police also found eight severed heads north of Baghdad with a note indicating they were killed in retaliation for the slaying of four Shiite doctors, while a Russian diplomat was shot to death and four colleagues were abducted in the capital.
In Basra, the country's second biggest city, police Capt. Mushtaq Kadhim said a suicide attacker blew up the car bomb in late afternoon when many people were shopping. The blast left the square drenched in blood and set several vehicles on fire.
It wasn't known who staged the attack, but Basra has seen growing violence and unrest recently, leading Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last week to declare a monthlong state of emergency in the mainly Shiite city.
The attack in the predominantly Shiite city also came a day after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq released an Internet harangue seeking to enflame tensions between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites.
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's four-hour audiotape railed against Shiites, accusing them of killing Sunni Arabs and raping Sunni women. He urged Sunnis to defend themselves.
Al-Zarqawi's Sunni followers have staged some of the deadliest suicide bombings in Iraq's conflict and have frequently targeted Shiite civilians and mosques in an attempt to spark civil war. In his statements, the Jordanian-born militant often vilifies Shiites as infidels.
The grisly discovery of the heads in a village near Baqouba came as at least 11 other people were killed in that volatile city 35 miles northeast of the capital.
Five of those whose heads were found were security guards at a hospital complex in Baghdad who were arrested by Iraqi police Thursday, Lt. Col. Adil Al-Zihari of the Diyala police said.
Notes with the heads said one of the dead men was Abdul Aziz al-Sheik Hamad and accused him of killing four Shiite doctors and a former governor during the administration of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
The heads were taken in fruit boxes to the morgue in Baqouba, a mixed Sunni-Shiite city that has recently seen an increase in sectarian violence.
Gunmen also attacked a police checkpoint in Baqouba on Saturday, killing seven officers and wounding five pedestrians, while six mortar rounds hit a central square and killed a child, police said. Two car parts salesmen and a mechanic were shot to death while working.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said its diplomat was killed and four other employees were kidnapped when assailants ambushed a Russian Embassy car carrying "workers of the Russian foreign service who were performing their official duties."
The statement said authorities were investigating the incident and were working with Iraqi and international authorities to secure the release of the captives. It did not identify the victims.
At least 439 foreigners, including some diplomats, have been abducted in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago, according to figures provided this month by a U.S. anti-kidnapping task force. Russia opposed the invasion and has no troops here.
Also in Baghdad, gunmen in a car shot up a vehicle carrying two people, killing a car salesman and wounding the second person in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Dora, police reported.
Gunmen also ambushed an ambulance in Dora, killing the driver and wounding a passenger, police Lt. Muhammed al-Baghdadi said.
At least four other bodies were found across Baghdad. One man had been shot to death with his hands and legs bound, then dumped behind a hospital in the Shiite district of Sadr City. Three other men who also were bound and fatally shot showed signs of torture. Two were left near a ditch in Sadr City; the other was found at an intersection in eastern Baghdad.
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Russian Diplomat Killed, 4 Abducted
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen attacked a car belonging to the Russian Embassy in Baghdad on Saturday, killing one diplomat and kidnapping four employees, police and the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
In a statement issued in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said assailants attacked a diplomatic car carrying "workers of the Russian foreign service who were performing their official duties," killing one person and abducting four. The attack occurred at about 1:45 p.m.
The statement said authorities were working with Iraqi and international authorities to secure the hostages' release. The statement did not give the names or the positions of the people killed or abducted.
According to police, witnesses at the scene said gunmen opened fire on the car in west Baghdad's upscale Mansour district. Interior Ministry Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohamedawi said one person was killed in the incident, which took place just outside the embassy.
AP Television News footage showed a white SUV with tinted windows, diplomatic licenses plates and a small tag that said "Russian Embassy" in English and Arabic. The sign had a bullet hole in it.
An ambulance was seen driving into the embassy.
There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
An official at the Russian Embassy in Baghdad confirmed the attack.
"Yes, I can confirm this. One diplomat killed, four employees kidnapped. That's all I can say. No commentary," the official told The Associated Press in Moscow. He refused to give his name or elaborate.
At least 439 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion three years ago, according to figures provided earlier this month by a special U.S. anti-kidnapping task force. Diplomats have been the targets of abductions previously.
In May 2004, gunmen ambushed Russian electrical engineers at Musayyib, kidnapping two and killing one. The two hostages were released.
That same month, rebels also ambushed Russian technicians heading to a Baghdad power plant, killing two and an Iraqi. The violence prompted Moscow-based Interenergoservis to pull out its 241 employees.
Russia opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and has not contributed any troops but maintains a diplomatic presence.
The most recent attack on diplomats occurred last month, when a United Arab Emirates diplomat was seized by gunmen in Mansour and held for more than two weeks before being released late last month.
In July, two Algerian diplomats and an Egyptian colleague were kidnapped and killed in separate incidents.
In October, two Moroccan Embassy workers were abducted and killed. The insurgent group al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for all the abductions.
Associated Press reporters Sinan Salaheddin and Kim Gamel in Baghdad, and Mike Eckel in Moscow contributed to this report.
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