Winks Blog

27+ Killed 80 Wounded

Good Morning,

A series of bombings and mortar attacks - including two suicide bombings in the northern city of Kirkuk, killed at least 27 people and wounded another 80 Sunday.

A suicide truck bomb exploded in the morning in the center of Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, killing 18 and wounding 55, said police Brig. Sarhat Qadir. A few hours later, a suicide car bomb rammed into a joint U.S.-Iraqi army patrol in the south of the city, killing at least three bystanders and wounding eight others, Qadir said.

He said there were also casualties among the soldiers, but would not provide further details.

A series of near simultaneous mortar and bomb attacks in Fallujah, 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of Baghdad, killed four people and wounded 10 in the center of the city.

In the truck suicide bombing in Kirkuk, a gunman sitting beside the bomber opened fire on civilians before the truck exploded near the city's criminal court and the headquarters of two main Kurdish political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Qadir said.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is run by Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, while the president of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani, runs the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Barzani recently angered many in Baghdad when he ordered the Iraqi national flag to be replaced with the Kurdish banner on all government buildings in the autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Kirkuk is located just outside the autonomous region. His decision Sept. 1 led to an outcry, particularly among Sunni Arab lawmakers who fear that Kurds are pushing for secession under the nation's new federal system.

In separate attacks in Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in the south of the city, killing two civilians and wounding four, while another roadside bomb also targeting a police patrol in another part of the city wounded three civilians, Qadir said.

In Fallujah, a roadside bomb detonated in the center of the city, followed a few minutes later by a car bomb attack and a blast from an explosives-rigged motorcycle in separate areas of the city. All three attacks targeted police patrols, said police Lt. Mohammed Ismail.

The attacks killed a total of four people, including two policemen, and wounded 10 others, including four policemen, he said. He would not provide details of which attack the casualties resulted from.

Shortly afterward, a mortar round hit the area of a U.S. and Iraqi police base in the center of the city, and clashes erupted between gunmen and police nearby. Another mortar fell in an Iraqi army base in western Fallujah but did not cause any casualties, Ismail said.

U.S. military authorities used loudspeakers to announce a vehicle ban in the city.

Violence across Iraq has killed hundreds of people in recent weeks.

In Baghdad, the bloodshed has escalated sharply in the past week, with more than 180 people killed since Wednesday - either slain by bombs and gunfire or tortured and shot before being dumped on city streets or in rivers, a hallmark of reprisal killings being waged between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

On Sunday, the bullet-riddled bodies of four unidentified men were found in separate neighborhoods in east Baghdad. All were blindfolded and had their hands and legs tied, said police Maj. Mahir Hamad Mussa.

Another two bodies were found in the Tigris river in central Baghdad. Both had been shot, and one had been decapitated, said police 1st Lt. Ahmed Mohammed Ali.

In the city of Kut, 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad, a blindfolded and bound body was taken to the morgue after being found dumped in a river, said morgue official Maamoun Ajeel.

Have a nice day.

posted by Wink @ 9:46 AM