86+ Killed 183+ Wounded in Bombings
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KIRKUK, Iraq - A suicide truck bombing followed by two smaller car bombs killed more than 80 people and wounded at least 180 Monday in what's believed to be the deadiest attack in this northern city since the start of the war, police said.
The blasts in this city of deep tensions between Kurds and Arabs came as Sunni insurgents were believed to be moving north, fleeing a U.S. offensive around Baghdad and consolidating to carry out deadly bombings.
The massive explosion from the truck bomb around noon blasted a 30-foot-deep crater and damaged part of the roof of the headquarters of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of President Jalal Talabani.
The main street outside the office was strewn with blackened husks of two dozen cars, and at least 10 shops were damaged, as well as part of the fence of the nearby Kirkuk Castle, a historic fortress that is one of the city's most prominent landmarks. The blast killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 183, according to police Brig. Burhan Tayeb Taha.
Twenty minutes later, a car bomb exploded about 700 yards away in the Haseer market, an outdoor souk frequented by Kurds, Maj. Gen. Jamal Tahir, the police chief, told The Associated Press. The market was largely empty after the first attack, and the explosion caused several injuries.
Hours later, a car bomb exploded in the Domiz region of southern Kirkuk, killing a police officer and wounding six other policemen, Tahir said.
Oil-rich Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, is a center of tensions between Arabs and Kurds, who want to include the area in the autonomous Kurdish region of the north. Violence in the city, though frequent, tends to be on a smaller scale of shootings, roadside bombs and kidnap-slayings. Monday's blasts came just over a week after one of the Iraq conflict's deadliest suicide attacks hit a village about 50 miles south of Kirkuk, killing more than 160 people.
Iraqi officials have said Sunni insurgents are moving farther north to carry out attacks, fleeing U.S. offensives in and around Baghdad, including in the city of Baqouba, a stronghold of extremists on the capital's northwestern doorstep. The month-old sweeps, fueled by 28,000 new U.S. troops sent to Iraq this year, aim to pacify the capital and boost the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
U.S. troops launched a new offensive south of Baghdad on Monday, aimed at stopping weapons and fighters from moving into the capital, the military said.
It did not say where the new sweep, codenamed Marne Avalanche, was taking place. In recent days, U.S. commanders have said they plan new operations to cut off an insurgent supply route southwest of the city, running from western Anbar province. An offensive has been ongoing for the past month in a region southeast of Baghdad.
Violence appears to have eased in Baghdad in recent weeks _ but attacks, including deadly car bombs, happen daily.
A string of attacks Monday morning in the capital killed at least 19 people.
In the deadliest, a roadside bomb exploded near a passing Iraqi army patrol on the northeastern outskirts, killing five soldiers and wounding nine, an army officer said.
A suicide car bombing in Baghdad struck a police checkpoint on a major road leading to a major Interior Ministry building inside the Green Zone. Five policemen were killed and 25 people wounded, a police official said.
Another car bomb exploded in the central district of Karradah, killing one person, wounding three and setting nearby shops ablaze, a police official said.
A third car bomb exploded in the garage of a man's home in eastern Baghdad, killing his two daughters. The man told police he had been kidnapped in the south of the capital Sunday night, but was released. When he returned home, the car exploded, a police official said. Investigators found a timer in the wreckage, the official said.
Other deaths in Baghdad were caused by mortars, shootings and roadside bombs, according to police. On Sunday, 22 bullet-riddled bodies were found dumped in various locations of Baghdad, the latest victims of apparent sectarian violence, police said. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the reports.
The military said an American soldier died from wounds received Sunday by a bombing in Ninevah province, northwest of Kirkuk. Another soldier died Sunday of a non-battle related cause in the southern city of Diwaniyah, the U.S. military said Monday.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he hoped Iraqi forces would have enough training by the end of the year to take over security duties from the Americans _ backing off comments Saturday insisting the Iraqi army and police were ready to do so at any time.
"I hope this here will be the end of the building of our forces so that we are prepared to take control of security. This needs the cooperation of everyone involved, both us and the coalition forces," he told NBC's "Today" show.
"As soon as we reach this level of readiness, the door will be open for dialogue between us and Americans about our future plans. Now we are thinking as politicians about how to maintain robust long-term relations with the Americans whether they remain on Iraqi soil or pull out from Iraq," he said.
On Saturday, al-Maliki said Iraqi forces were ready to take over from the Americans "whenever they want" to withdraw _ an apparent show of frustration with the turbulent debate in Washington over a pullout and criticism of his government.
The Iraqi parliament convened Monday as politicians tried to end boycotts of the legislature that are holding up work on crucial reforms sought by Washington. The slowness of the reforms has fueled U.S. calls for the withdrawal of American forces.
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8+ Killed Apartment Leveled, People Lined Up for Gas Car Bombed
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In new violence in Baghdad on Saturday, a car bomb leveled a two-story apartment building, and a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-packed vehicle into a line of cars at a gas station. The two attacks killed at least eight people, police officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorize to release details of the attacks.
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19 Killed 20 Injured In US Military Raid
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BAGHDAD - U.S. troops raided a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday in a hunt for militiamen linked to Iran, sparking exchanges of fire and a mortar attack. Officials said 19 people were killed, and residents said some of the casualties were caused by U.S. helicopter fire.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment on the violence in the eastern Amin district of the capital.
The violence began with a pre-dawn raid by U.S. forces that the military said captured two militants involved in kidnappings and planting roadside bombs against U.S. and Iraqi troops. Militants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the troops, hitting a nearby building, the military said.
U.S. troops later surrounded the neighborhood, announcing via loudspeakers to residents that they were seeking militants and that they should stay inside, said an Iraqi police official who was at the scene. As the Americans withdrew around 11 a.m., they came under fire, prompting troops to move back into the district, assaulting several buildings, the official said.
The result was an exchange of fire that included mortars and rockets, the official said. Residents _ many of them Shiites who fled to Baghdad from Baqouba, where U.S. forces have been waging a three-week-old offensive _ said that during the fighting, a U.S. helicopter hit several residential buildings and a minibus.
AP Television News video showed buildings riddled with holes from heavy machine guns and rockets, and a heavily damaged minibus.
Another police official involved in compiling casualties said 19 people were killed and 20 wounded, a toll confirmed by officials from the three hospitals where the victims were taken. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
An Iraqi photographer and driver employed by Reuters news agency were killed Thursday in eastern Baghdad, the London-based agency said. The hospital officials said the two Reuters staffers _ identified as photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40 _ were among the 19 dead in Amin.
"The cause of their deaths was unclear, although witnesses spoke of an explosion in the area," Reuters said. "Iraqi police said either a U.S. airstrike or a mortar attack had occurred."
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220+ Killed This Weekend + 29 Male Bodies Found Around Baghdad today
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BAGHDAD - Prominent Shiite and Sunni politicians called on Iraqi civilians to take up arms to defend themselves after a weekend of violence that claimed more than 220 lives, including 60 who died Sunday in a surge of bombings and shootings around Baghdad.
The calls reflect growing frustration with the inability of Iraqi security forces to prevent extremist attacks.
The weekend deaths included two American soldiers _ one killed Sunday in a bombing on the western outskirts and Baghdad and another who died in combat Saturday in Salahuddin province north of the capital, the U.S. command said. Three soldiers were wounded in the Sunday blast.
Sunday's deadliest attack occurred when a bomb struck a truckload of newly recruited Iraqi soldiers on the outskirts of Baghdad, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 20, a police official at the nearest police station said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
Also Sunday, two car bombs exploded near simultaneously in Baghdad's mostly Shiite Karradah district, killing eight people. The first detonated at 10:30 a.m., near a closed restaurant, destroying stalls and soft drink stands. Two passers-by were killed and eight wounded, a police official said.
About five minutes later, the second car exploded about a mile away near shops selling leather jackets and shoes. Six people were killed and seven wounded, said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The Karradah area includes the offices of the Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq, the biggest Shiite party in parliament, and is considered among the safest parts of the capital.
Elsewhere, a bomb hidden under a car detonated Sunday at the entrance of Shorja market _ a mostly Shiite area of central Baghdad that has been hit repeatedly by insurgents _ killing three civilians and wounding five, police said.
Police also reported they found the bodies of 29 men Sunday scattered across Baghdad _ presumed victims of sectarian death squads. Four other people were killed Sunday in separate shootings in Baghdad, police said on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information.
The string of attacks in the Iraqi capital showed that extremists can still unleash strikes in the city despite a relative lull in violence here in recent weeks amid the U.S. offensives in and around Baghdad.
But the bloodshed in the Baghdad area paled in comparison to the carnage Saturday, when a truck bomb devastated the public market in Armili, a town north of the capital whose inhabitants are mostly Shiites from the Turkoman ethnic minority.
There was still confusion over the death toll.
Two police officers _ Col. Sherzad Abdullah and Col. Abbas Mohammed Amin _ said 150 people were killed. Other officials out the death toll at 115. Abbas al-Bayati, a Shiite Turkoman lawmaker, told reporters in Baghdad that 130 had died.
Regardless of the precise figure, the attack was clearly among the deadliest in Iraq in months. It reinforced suspicions that al-Qaida extremists were moving north to less protected regions beyond the U.S. security crackdown in Baghdad and on the capital's northern doorstep.
During a press conference Sunday in Baghdad, al-Bayati criticized the security situation in Armili, saying its police force had only 30 members and that the Interior Ministry had finally responded to requests for reinforcements only two days before the attack.
In the absence of enough security forces, al-Bayati said authorities should help residents "arm themselves" or their own protection.
The call for civilians to take up arms in their own defense was echoed Sunday by the country's Sunni Arab vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, who said all Iraqis must "pay the price" for terrorism.
"People have a right to expect from the government and security agencies protection for their lives, land, honor and property," al-Hashemi said in a statement. "But in the case of (their) inability, the people have no choice but to take up their own defense."
He said the government should provide communities with money, weapons and training and "regulate their use by rules of behavior."
Another prominent Sunni lawmaker, Adnan al-Dulaimi, said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had failed to provide services and security but he stopped short of saying his followers would seek to topple the Shiite-led government.
"The situation has become terribly bad," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press. "All options are open for us. We are going to study the situation thoroughly, and we are going to look into the possible measures which go with the interests of the Iraqi people. We will also consider whether to keep on with the government or not."
The idea of organizing local communities for their own defense has caught on here in recent months following the success of Sunni Arab tribes in Anbar province that took up arms to help drive al-Qaida from their towns and villages.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have said they hope to replicate the "Anbar model" elsewhere in the country, albeit under government supervision and control.
On Sunday, Lt. Gen. Ali Gheidan said the Iraqi army planned to raise volunteer forces in Diyala province, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have driven al-Qaida fighters from part of the capital of Baqouba. He said more than 3,800 volunteers had already been recruited.
"Their mission will be like the police, working under the Iraqi police," Gheidan told reporters. "They work as a protection for each area, and they will only be from the residents of that area. Their role is to hold onto territory after it has been cleansed by the military."
U.S. commanders have long believed the key to restoring security was the ability of Iraqi forces to hold on to areas cleared by American troops. Several senior U.S. officers have questioned whether the Iraqi police and army were capable of preventing insurgents from returning once the Americans had left.
Local defense forces would offer a way to compensate for weaknesses in the Iraqi police and army, but without careful controls, the system could backfire by promoting more militias in a country already awash in weapons.
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More than 120 Killed
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TUZ KHORMATO, Iraq - A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives in the crowded outdoor market of a Shiite farm town on Saturday, killing more than 100 people and levelling houses and stores, police officials said.
The blast north of Baghdad, hours after a smaller suicide bombing in another Shiite village killed more than 20, suggested Sunni militants are regrouping to launch attacks in regions further away from the capital where security is thinner.
Saturday's blast ripped through a market in Armili around 8:30 am, destroying old mud-brick houses and setting cars on fire. Farmers' pickup trucks drove victims 30 miles to the nearest health facility, in Tuz Khormato.
Authorities and residents spent hours digging bodies out of the rubble of two dozen shops and houses, police said. Accounts of the final toll varied, hampered by the difficulty of the search and the farming town's remote location.
Col. Sherzad Abdullah, of the Tuz Khormato police, told The Associated Press that 115 were killed and some 200 wounded. An officer with the provincial security coordination center, which compiles casualty figures for the central government, said at least 100 died. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to release numbers.
Tuz Khormato's police chief, Col. Abbas Mohammed Amin, said 150 were killed and 245 wounded.
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Labels: Iraq
28 Killed
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A car bomb Thursday killed 17 people and wounded 28 when it blasted a photographers' shop in a Shiite part of Baghdad, where a bride and groom were inside getting their wedding photos taken as their relatives and friends waited outside, said an official at the nearest police station.
The bride and groom were among the wounded, with minor injuries, said an official at the hospital where the victims were taken. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.
North of Baghdad, insurgents attacked an Iraqi police convoy, killing five policemen. Other police in the convoy then opened fire, killing six civilian passers-by, said a police official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
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