29+ Killed In Baquoba Blast
Good afternoon,
BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber rode his bicycle into a crowd of police recruits Monday in Baqouba, killing at least 29 people in the deadliest in a series of blasts that rocked the capital and towns to the north.
Suicide bombings, normally viewed as the work of al-Qaeda radicals, have taken a mighty toll among police and army recruits and are carried out to discourage Iraqi men from joining the country's struggling security forces. At least 19 people were wounded in the Monday attack.
Virtually all the dead and wounded Monday were felled by ball-bearings packed in the suicide bomber's explosive vest, police and hospital officials said.
Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari, meanwhile, said a group of Diyala province tribal sheiks had been released by their captors one day after they were waylaid.
The ten men — seven Shiites and three Sunnis — were kidnapped as they drove out of Baghdad after meeting with the Shiite-dominated government's adviser for tribal affairs. They had discussed how to coordinate efforts against al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Police found the bullet-riddled body of one of the Sunni sheiks, Mishaan Hilan, about 50 yards away from where the ambush took place, according to an officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The Sheik was identified through the mobile phone found on his body.
Al-Askari refused to give further details on the men's release.
The U.S. military issued a statement Monday accusing rogue Shiite militia leader Arkan Hasnawi, a former brigade commander in the Mahdi Army militia, for the kidnapping.
The breakaway Shiite fighters have battled al-Qaeda in Iraq for control in Diyala province since the terrorist organization moved into the region and sought to make it a headquarters. Baqouba, the provincial capital, is 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Al-Qaeda was largely driven out of its stronghold in Iraq's westernmost province, Anbar, after Sunni tribes rose up against the organization's brutal tactics and austere version of Islam. The U.S. military, seeking to build on success in Anbar, have assiduously courted both Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders in across Diyala province and Baqouba, hoping for a similar outcome.
The ten sheiks were snatched in Baghdad's northern Shaab district, a predominantly Shiite enclave.
A member of the Shiite Ambagyah tribe based east of Baqouba said the seven Shiites were from that tribal organization. Before the sheiks' release, the tribal spokesman said the kidnappers had made contact and offered to release the Shiites.
The spokesman said the captive sheiks refused to leave without their two remaining Sunni colleagues because they feared it "would create more violence and revenge operations."
The tribal spokesman declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Three months ago, radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his Mahdi Army fighters to lay down their arms for as long as six months, but thousands of followers dissatisfied with being taken out of the fight have broken off to form their own groups. The U.S. military says the so-called rogue fighters are funded and armed by Iran to foment violence. Iran denies the allegations.
The military said Hasnawi's actions demonstrated that he has violated the cease-fire order and "joined forces with Iranian-supported special groups that are rejecting Muqtada al-Sadr's direction to embrace fellow Iraqis."
The kidnapping and the Baqouba bombing occurred during the first two days of Maj. Gen. Mark Hertling's command in the volatile region north of the capital. His 1st Armored Division took over Sunday from the 25th Infantry Division under the command of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon
One of the police recruits wounded in the suicide bombing, 25-year-old Shiite Saadulden Mohammed, said he had only decided to join the force after his father was killed in sectarian violence and he was left as the large family's sole provider.
He cried as he spoke to an Associated Press reporter as he received a blood transfusion in a Baqouba hospital. He was wounded in the back and legs.
"This was an al-Qaeda operation, and they were after both Shiites and Sunnis. I was standing at the end of the platoon, suddenly I saw explosion and fire. If I would had been killed if I was standing with my Sunni friend. He died. We had breakfast together today," Mohammed said.
Akram Salman, a 22-year-old Sunni, said he, too, was among the approximately 60 recruits waiting outside the police station for a day of training.
Salman declared the bombing an inside job because the suicide attacker penetrated heavy security surrounding the police camp without being searched.
He said police failed to stop the bomber when he changed course suddenly from the main road toward the recruits.
"The police are infiltrated. Many people join the police but they have affiliations with al-Qaeda. These infiltrators made it easy for the bomber to attack us," he said. "There are two main checkpoints on the main road leading to the camp, it would be impossible for a man on a bicycle to pass without being properly searched."
Mohammed al-Kirrawi, a doctor at the Baqouba general hospital, said most of the victims were struck by ball-bearings and the hospital lacked equipment to save many of the wounded.
Hertling, the new Multi-Division-North commander acknowledged violence remained high in the area but expressed confidence that the military has al-Qaeda on the run.
"The levels are still high," he said at a hand-over ceremony Sunday. "But while they're still high ... they have been decreasing significantly."
"We are in, I believe, a pursuit operation with al-Qaeda," he said. "They are targeting the concerned local citizens, the police stations and some of the gathering places of sheiks ... specifically to try and deter the Iraqi people from moving forward."
Three large bombs exploded in Baghdad but caused no fatalities. About a dozen people were wounded.
A bomb also hit in Siniyah, a town west of Beiji, an oil hub 155 miles north of Baghdad.
Police said the explosive apparently targeted on a police patrol but missed. Four members of one family were killed as they headed to a market for the day's food supplies. Thirteen people were wounded.
In southern Iraq, meanwhile, the U.S. military turned over security responsibilities to Iraqi authorities in the mainly Shiite Karbala province, the eighth of the nation's 18 provinces to revert to Iraqi control.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Basra, the southernmost province, would be transferred to the Iraqis in mid-December. British-led forces overseeing the area already have begun drawing down and pulled back from the center Basra city to the airport on the outskirts.
"This is the proof of the strong will and resolve of the good citizens of this nation," al-Maliki said at the handover ceremony in Karbala, 50 miles south of Baghdad. "The reconstruction of Iraq does not hinge on security alone, but security is the key to everything."
Have a nice day.
50 Killed
Good afternoon:
Saturday 27 October: 50 dead:
Baghdad: roadside bomb kills 8, Jisr Diyala; 4 bodies.
Zanbour: 4 policemen killed in dual attack.
Mosul: 4 killed in attacks; 1 killed by US fire during clashes; body of 17-year-old is found.
Falluja: woman and child shot dead by US forces when they open fire at passing car.
Thar Thar: 17 decomposing bodies found.
Suwayra: 2 bodies.
The number of civilians killed by US forces in October has now gone up to 86, including 23 children.
Have a nice day.
247 Killed between 10/17/07 - 10/22/07, US Forces Killed 67 Iraqi Civilians so Far in October
Good afternoon,
Here is the Iraqi killing summary for the last few days:
Monday 22 October: 81 dead
Baghdad: roadside bomb in Zafaraniya, Karrada kill 7; during clashes with insurgents, 7 National Accord members have been killed, Fadhil; the driver of Radio Free Europe journalist has been found murdered, while the journalist is missing; 5 bodies.
Mahaweel: roadside bomb kills 2.
Iskandariya: an engineer is killed by gunmen; a man dies when a mortar hits his house.
Mosul: roadside bomb kills policeman; 6 bodies.
Kirkuk: 3 bodies.
Baquba: 3 bodies.
Anbar: mass grave containing 25 bodies is found.
Near Falluja: 15 bodies.
Sunday 21 October: 35 dead
Baghdad: 17 reported dead in US raid (ground and air attack) over Sadr City -among the dead 3 children; mortar kills 3 inside a car, east Baghdad; 3 bodies.
Mosul: gunmen kill coach; 2 policemen are killed in clashes with gunmen; a former officer in the Iraqi Army is shot dead; a cement factory worker is shot dead.
Saklawiya: suicide car bomber attacks police checkpoint, kills 2 policemen, near Falluja.
US forces have killed 67 Iraqi civilians (including 19 children) so far in October.
Saturday 20 October: 31 dead
Baghdad: roadside bombs kill 2, Ghadir, Tobchi; 3 policemen killed during operations; 5 bodies; also 3 decomposing bodies of women found buried in Amiriya.
Iskandariya: roadside bomb strikes minibus, kills 3; roadside bomb strikes police patrol, kills 4 policemen.
Mosul: child killed in clashes between gunmen and Iraqi Army; 2 bodies.
Muqdadiya: US forces open fire at car, kill the driver.
Baquba: 3 bodies.
Basra: body found.
Baiji: body found.
Friday 19 October: 16 dead
Baghdad: 6 bodies.
Mosul: 2 bodies.
Muwailha: 2 bodies.
Mussayab: mortars kill 3 women.
Thursday 18 October: 26 dead
Baghdad: 5 bodies.
Baiji: US forces kill 4 civilians inside their car.
Basra: bomb blows up at school, kills 2 pupils.
Mosul: 2 policemen and a civilian killed by roadside bomb; another policeman shot dead by sniper; 2 bodies.
Dhuluiya: gunmen kill 3 tribesmen, members of 'Awakening' council.
Wednesday 17 October: 21 dead
Baghdad: bomb explosion kills 2, Zafaraniya; 4 bodies.
Baquba: bombs kill 2.
Efach: roadside bomb kills 7 policemen.
Qaim: bomb kills 5 people in market.
Riyadh: policeman's body found.
Tuesday 16 October: 37 dead
Baghdad: car bomb kills 5, Al-Naser square; roadside bomb kills 1, Arasat; gunmen fire at police checkpoint, kill 3 policemen, Maysaloon square; gunmen open fire at group of cleaners, kill 1; 4 bodies.
Mosul: suicide bomber blows up truck at police station, kills 7; policeman is shot dead; 2 bodies thrown out of a car.
Falluja: gunmen shoot dead member of 'Awakening Council', his son and his nephew.
Baquba: roadside bomb kills father and 2 sons; 2 bodies.
Kirkuk: 2 bodies.
Abbasi: body found, beheaded and loaded with
Have a nice day.
Riverbend Leaves Iraq
Hello all, and good morning (again),
One of the links I have posted is to that of Riverbend. Riverbend is a woman who lives in Iraq and has an extensive accounting of life there. Please click on the Riverbend link I have embedded to the right of this screen, if you would like to read her posts. She stopped posting her entries in April of this year, but did finally resume her writing, to tell us about her experience of leaving/escaping from Baghdad into Syria. Her entry is excellent and I am taking a huge liberty of copying and posting that here for all to see:
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Leaving Home...
Two months ago, the suitcases were packed. My lone, large suitcase sat in my bedroom for nearly six weeks, so full of clothes and personal items, that it took me, E. and our six year old neighbor to zip it closed.
Packing that suitcase was one of the more difficult things I’ve had to do. It was Mission Impossible: Your mission, R., should you choose to accept it is to go through the items you’ve accumulated over nearly three decades and decide which ones you cannot do without. The difficulty of your mission, R., is that you must contain these items in a space totaling 1 m by 0.7 m by 0.4 m. This, of course, includes the clothes you will be wearing for the next months, as well as any personal memorabilia- photos, diaries, stuffed animals, CDs and the like.
I packed and unpacked it four times. Each time I unpacked it, I swore I’d eliminate some of the items that were not absolutely necessary. Each time I packed it again, I would add more ‘stuff’ than the time before. E. finally came in a month and a half later and insisted we zip up the bag so I wouldn’t be tempted to update its contents constantly.
The decision that we would each take one suitcase was made by my father. He took one look at the box of assorted memories we were beginning to prepare and it was final: Four large identical suitcases were purchased- one for each member of the family and a fifth smaller one was dug out of a closet for the documentation we’d collectively need- graduation certificates, personal identification papers, etc.
We waited… and waited… and waited. It was decided we would leave mid to late June- examinations would be over and as we were planning to leave with my aunt and her two children- that was the time considered most convenient for all involved. The day we finally appointed as THE DAY, we woke up to an explosion not 2 km away and a curfew. The trip was postponed a week. The night before we were scheduled to travel, the driver who owned the GMC that would take us to the border excused himself from the trip- his brother had been killed in a shooting. Once again, it was postponed.
There was one point, during the final days of June, where I simply sat on my packed suitcase and cried. By early July, I was convinced we would never leave. I was sure the Iraqi border was as far away, for me, as the borders of Alaska. It had taken us well over two months to decide to leave by car instead of by plane. It had taken us yet another month to settle on Syria as opposed to Jordan. How long would it take us to reschedule leaving?
It happened almost overnight. My aunt called with the exciting news that one of her neighbors was going to leave for Syria in 48 hours because their son was being threatened and they wanted another family on the road with them in another car- like gazelles in the jungle, it’s safer to travel in groups. It was a flurry of activity for two days. We checked to make sure everything we could possibly need was prepared and packed. We arranged for a distant cousin of my moms who was to stay in our house with his family to come the night before we left (we can’t leave the house empty because someone might take it).
It was a tearful farewell as we left the house. One of my other aunts and an uncle came to say goodbye the morning of the trip. It was a solemn morning and I’d been preparing myself for the last two days not to cry. You won’t cry, I kept saying, because you’re coming back. You won’t cry because it’s just a little trip like the ones you used to take to Mosul or Basrah before the war. In spite of my assurances to myself of a safe and happy return, I spent several hours before leaving with a huge lump lodged firmly in my throat. My eyes burned and my nose ran in spite of me. I told myself it was an allergy.
We didn’t sleep the night before we had to leave because there seemed to be so many little things to do… It helped that there was no electricity at all- the area generator wasn’t working and ‘national electricity’ was hopeless. There just wasn’t time to sleep.
The last few hours in the house were a blur. It was time to go and I went from room to room saying goodbye to everything. I said goodbye to my desk- the one I’d used all through high school and college. I said goodbye to the curtains and the bed and the couch. I said goodbye to the armchair E. and I broke when we were younger. I said goodbye to the big table over which we’d gathered for meals and to do homework. I said goodbye to the ghosts of the framed pictures that once hung on the walls, because the pictures have long since been taken down and stored away- but I knew just what hung where. I said goodbye to the silly board games we inevitably fought over- the Arabic Monopoly with the missing cards and money that no one had the heart to throw away.
I knew then as I know now that these were all just items- people are so much more important. Still, a house is like a museum in that it tells a certain history. You look at a cup or stuffed toy and a chapter of memories opens up before your very eyes. It suddenly hit me that I wanted to leave so much less than I thought I did.
Six AM finally came. The GMC waited outside while we gathered the necessities- a thermos of hot tea, biscuits, juice, olives (olives?!) which my dad insisted we take with us in the car, etc. My aunt and uncle watched us sorrowfully. There’s no other word to describe it. It was the same look I got in my eyes when I watched other relatives and friends prepare to leave. It was a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, tinged with anger. Why did the good people have to go?
I cried as we left- in spite of promises not to. The aunt cried… the uncle cried. My parents tried to be stoic but there were tears in their voices as they said their goodbyes. The worst part is saying goodbye and wondering if you’re ever going to see these people again. My uncle tightened the shawl I’d thrown over my hair and advised me firmly to ‘keep it on until you get to the border’. The aunt rushed out behind us as the car pulled out of the garage and dumped a bowl of water on the ground, which is a tradition- its to wish the travelers a safe return… eventually.
The trip was long and uneventful, other than two checkpoints being run by masked men. They asked to see identification, took a cursory glance at the passports and asked where we were going. The same was done for the car behind us. Those checkpoints are terrifying but I’ve learned that the best technique is to avoid eye-contact, answer questions politely and pray under your breath. My mother and I had been careful not to wear any apparent jewelry, just in case, and we were both in long skirts and head scarves.
The trip was long and uneventful, other than two checkpoints being run by masked men. They asked to see identification, took a cursory glance at the passports and asked where we were going. The same was done for the car behind us. Those checkpoints are terrifying but I’ve learned that the best technique is to avoid eye-contact, answer questions politely and pray under your breath. My mother and I had been careful not to wear any apparent jewelry, just in case, and we were both in long skirts and head scarves.
Syria is the only country, other than Jordan, that was allowing people in without a visa. The Jordanians are being horrible with refugees. Families risk being turned back at the Jordanian border, or denied entry at Amman Airport. It’s too high a risk for most families.
We waited for hours, in spite of the fact that the driver we were with had ‘connections’, which meant he’d been to Syria and back so many times, he knew all the right people to bribe for a safe passage through the borders. I sat nervously at the border. The tears had stopped about an hour after we’d left Baghdad. Just seeing the dirty streets, the ruins of buildings and houses, the smoke-filled horizon all helped me realize how fortunate I was to have a chance for something safer.
By the time we were out of Baghdad, my heart was no longer aching as it had been while we were still leaving it. The cars around us on the border were making me nervous. I hated being in the middle of so many possibly explosive vehicles. A part of me wanted to study the faces of the people around me, mostly families, and the other part of me, the one that’s been trained to stay out of trouble the last four years, told me to keep my eyes to myself- it was almost over.
It was finally our turn. I sat stiffly in the car and waited as money passed hands; our passports were looked over and finally stamped. We were ushered along and the driver smiled with satisfaction, “It’s been an easy trip, Alhamdulillah,” he said cheerfully.
As we crossed the border and saw the last of the Iraqi flags, the tears began again. The car was silent except for the prattling of the driver who was telling us stories of escapades he had while crossing the border. I sneaked a look at my mother sitting beside me and her tears were flowing as well. There was simply nothing to say as we left Iraq. I wanted to sob, but I didn’t want to seem like a baby. I didn’t want the driver to think I was ungrateful for the chance to leave what had become a hellish place over the last four and a half years.
The Syrian border was almost equally packed, but the environment was more relaxed. People were getting out of their cars and stretching. Some of them recognized each other and waved or shared woeful stories or comments through the windows of the cars. Most importantly, we were all equal. Sunnis and Shia, Arabs and Kurds… we were all equal in front of the Syrian border personnel.
We were all refugees- rich or poor. And refugees all look the same- there’s a unique expression you’ll find on their faces- relief, mixed with sorrow, tinged with apprehension. The faces almost all look the same.
The first minutes after passing the border were overwhelming. Overwhelming relief and overwhelming sadness… How is it that only a stretch of several kilometers and maybe twenty minutes, so firmly segregates life from death?
How is it that a border no one can see or touch stands between car bombs, militias, death squads and… peace, safety? It’s difficult to believe- even now. I sit here and write this and wonder why I can’t hear the explosions.
I wonder at how the windows don’t rattle as the planes pass overhead. I’m trying to rid myself of the expectation that armed people in black will break through the door and into our lives. I’m trying to let my eyes grow accustomed to streets free of road blocks, hummers and pictures of Muqtada and the rest…
How is it that all of this lies a short car ride away?
- posted by river @ 12:06 AM
Have a good day.
At Least 9 Killed today, 18 Killed yesterday
Good Morning,
BAGHDAD - A parked car bomb struck worshippers heading to a Shiite mosque Sunday in Baghdad, killing at least nine people as Iraqis celebrated a Muslim holiday. Authorities said 18 others died the day before when a suicide truck bomber followed by a swarm of gunmen attacked a regional police station.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents who had promised an offensive during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan to undermine U.S.-Iraqi claims of success in quelling the violence in the capital with an 8-month-old security operation.
The fasting month culminated this weekend with the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival that began on Friday for Sunnis and Saturday for Shiites.
After the bombing in Baghdad, police banned cars from the area surrounding the shrine in the Kazimiyah district in northwestern Baghdad until further notice, a police officer said.
Earlier Sunday, police found a parked booby-trapped minibus in the same area _ home to Baghdad's holiest Shiite shrine _ but were able to detonate it without casualties, added the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release the information.
In other violence in Iraq, an Iraqi soldier was killed Sunday and four others were wounded when a roadside bomb targeted their patrol in Khan Bani Saad, just northeast of Baghdad in the volatile Diyala province. Near the southern town of Hilla, a police officer was fatally shot by gunmen from a speeding car.
Also Sunday, police raised the casualty toll from a suicide truck bombing a day earlier in the northern city of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. Police fatally shot a suicide bomber Saturday but his explosives-laden fuel tanker blew up near Samarra's police headquarters, killing 18 and wounding 27 others.
Immediately after the blast, about 20 vehicles with at least 60 gunmen drove up to the site and fought with police, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.
At least three police officers were wounded in the ensuing fighting, which ended after U.S. military helicopters flew overhead.
An American military official in the area said the gunmen were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. The official credited Iraqi police with preventing further casualties.
Although no one claimed responsibility for the attacks Sunday and Saturday, they bore the hallmarks of the al-Qaida terror network.
Samarra lies in the heartland of the Sunni-led al-Qaida insurgency in Iraq and was the scene of the Feb. 2006 bombing that destroyed the golden dome of a famous Shiite shrine there. That bombing set in motion relentless bloodletting along the sectarian fault line that has threatened to divide the country.
Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI made a public appeal in Rome on Sunday for the release of two Catholic priests kidnapped a day earlier on their way home from a funeral in northern Iraq.
Gunmen ambushed the priests' car, dragged them out and took them away, Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, Mosul's head of the Syrian Catholic Church, one of the branches of the Roman Catholic Church.
Casmoussa himself was kidnapped in January 2005 and released a day later without ransom after the abductors realized his identity.
The pope asked the kidnappers to "let the two religious men go" during his traditional Sunday blessing to pilgrims and tourists gathered in St. Peter's Square.
The Christian community in Iraq is about 3 percent of the country's 26 million people.
In Saddam-era Iraq, the country's estimated 800,000 Christians were generally left alone, but after U.S. forces toppled the regime and sectarian clashes broke out, their situation grew more precarious.
In the summer of 2004, insurgents launched a coordinated bombing campaign against Baghdad churches. A second wave of anti-Christian attacks hit in September 2006 after Benedict made comments perceived to be anti-Muslim. Church bombings spiked and a priest, also in Mosul, was kidnapped and later found beheaded.
Many churches are now nearly empty, with their faithful either gone or too scared to attend.
Have a nice day.
11 Killed
Good morning,
In Thursday's violence, clashes between suspected al-Qaida gunmen and police at checkpoints near Baqouba killed at least one officer and wounded two others, according to a police official who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
The pre-dawn attacks lasted about three hours and occurred at two checkpoints in Abbara, north of Baqouba, which is about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, according to police. One gunman was killed and several others fled, police said.
Just east of Baqouba, suspected al-Qaida gunmen took control of five Sunni villages, killing six people, including two police officers and wounding five others, a police official said. The attacks, which began Wednesday evening and continued until Thursday morning, happened two days after locals, supported by U.S. forces, had cleared the village of insurgents, the official said.
Elsewhere in Diyala province, gunmen killed five Iraqi civilians and wounded four in a morning attack on a minibus making its way from Khalis to Kirkuk, police said. Khalis is about 50 miles north of Baghdad. An ophthalmologist, the son of the local head of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, also was shot to death Thursday in Mosul, about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
On Wednesday, Iraqi officials demanded answers of an Australian-owned security company blamed in the killing of two Iraqi Christian women amid rising calls for a crackdown on private bodyguards used by the U.S. government.
The scrutiny of Unity Resources Group began a day after its guards allegedly gunned down the two women in their car, and less than a month after 17 Iraqis died in a hail of bullets fired by Blackwater USA contractors at a busy Baghdad intersection.
At a funeral in Baghdad's Armenian Orthodox Virgin Mary church on Wednesday, the Rev. Kivork Arshlian urged the government to punish those responsible. The immunity enjoyed by foreign security contractors in Iraq should be lifted, he said.
"This is a crime against humanity in general and against Iraqis in particular. Many other people were killed in a similar way," he said. "We call upon the government to put an end to these killings."
His comments reflected growing anger here against the contractors _ nearly all based in the United States, Britain and other Western countries.
As the largest security firm operating in Iraq, much of that rage has been directed at Blackwater, which protects U.S. diplomats as they move about on Baghdad's dangerous streets. An Iraqi investigation into the Sept. 16 killings recommended that the State Department sever all contracts for the company's operations in Iraq within six months.
A top aide to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told The Associated Press that Washington was considering meeting the demand, "but so far there has been no concrete answer from the U.S. Embassy showing it was definitely going to drop Blackwater."
The embassy declined to comment.
According to witnesses and police, the Armenian Christian women died when their white Oldsmobile was struck by bullets from two Unity guards as the convoy was returning to a company compound in the Karradah district. They said the woman driving the car appeared to be trying to stop when she was killed.
"We cannot say the guards shot at random, but we rather say that they used deadly force in a situation where they shouldn't have," said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. "The preliminary investigation has shown that there was no threat to the convoy. The families of the victims will be summoned according to the legal procedures. They can file a law suit against the security company."
Unity Chief operating officer Michael Priddin said company officials were cooperating with Iraqi authorities in their investigations. He said the security team feared a suicide attack and fired only after issuing appropriate warnings for the vehicle to stop, including signs, strobe lights, hand signals and a signal flare.
Unity, which is owned by Australian partners but with headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, provides protection for USAID contractor RTI International. According to the USAID Web site, RTI has about $450 million in U.S. government contracts to work on local governance projects in Iraq. USAID is a semiautonomous arm of the State Department that manages American aide programs.
Have a nice day.
Funeral For 2 Killed by US Gov. Financed Security Firm
Good morning,
BAGHDAD - Weeping mourners called for justice Wednesday at a funeral for two Armenian Christian women killed while driving in Baghdad _ the second shooting of civilians involving a security firm linked to U.S. government-financed work in Iraq in less than a month.
The funeral Mass for Marou Awanis and Geneva Jalal, who died in Tuesday's shooting, was held at the Virgin Mary Church. Awanis' three daughters cried and other female relatives wailed over the caskets, adorned only with a golden cross.
Iraqi authorities blamed the deaths on guards working for Unity Resources Group, a security company owned by Australian partners but with headquarters in the United Arab Emirates.
Unity, which provides protection for USAID contractor RTI International, said an investigation was under way, but initial findings showed its security team fired after a car failed to stop despite "an escalation of warnings which included hand signals and a signal flare."
Statements from both Unity and RTI have made clear the guards were not escorting RTI clients when the shooting occurred.
Witnesses and police said it appeared that Awanis, who was driving, was trying to stop when the shooting began.
The Rev. Kivork Arshlian urged the government to punish those responsible despite the immunity that has generally been enjoyed by foreign security contractors in Iraq.
"This is a crime against humanity in general and against Iraqis in particular. Many other people were killed in a similar way," he said. "We call upon the government to put an end to these killings."
He demanded that those responsible be held accountable in Iraq.
"This security company should leave the country. Those who committed this crime should be punished because they claimed the lives of two people," he said. "We do not want a trial in Australia, which we would know nothing about."
His comments reflected the growing anger against the private security companies _ nearly all based in the United States, Britain and other Western countries _ as symbols of the lawlessness in Iraq since the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
"What is the use of the word 'sorry?'" screamed Nora Jalal, Awanis' daughter and a student at Baghdad's Technology University.
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the shooting was "part of a series of reckless actions by some security companies."
The deaths of the two women _ including one who used the white car as a taxi to raise money for her family _ came a day after the Iraqi government gave U.S. officials a report demanding hefty payments and the ouster from Iraq of embattled Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater USA for a shooting last month that left at least 17 civilians dead.
The Blackwater guards implicated in the Sept. 16 shooting also were protecting American specialists working under USAID contracts on development projects in Iraq, highlighting the difficult balance facing Western agencies trying to help rebuild Iraq while keeping their own staff safe.
Tuesday's killings were certain to sharpen government demands to curb the expanding array of security firms in Iraq watching over diplomats, aid groups and others.
Unity provides security services to RTI International, a group based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., that promotes governance projects in Iraq for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Both Unity and RTI acknowledged a security contract between them but said RTI staffers were not present at the shooting in Baghdad's Karradah district.
A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said RTI was under contract by USAID but was responsible for its own security. "USAID does not direct the security arrangements of contractors," Mirembe Nantongo said.
According to the USAID Web site, RTI has about $450 million in U.S. government contracts to work on governance projects in Iraq. USAID is a semiautonomous arm of the State Department that manages U.S. aid programs.
Michael Priddin, chief operating officer of Unity, told The Associated Press the firm was working with Iraqi authorities "to find out the results of the shooting incident. ... We are trying to work out a true picture of what happened."
In a statement Tuesday night, Priddin said, "We deeply regret this incident."
Iraqi government officials, police and witnesses said guards working for Unity fired on a white Oldsmobile as it approached their convoy, killing the two women before speeding away. The incident occurred near a Unity facility in Karradah.
Four armored SUVs _ three white and one gray _ were about 100 yards from a main intersection in the Shiite-controlled district, according to Iraqi accounts. As the car moved into the crossroads, the Unity guards threw a smoke bomb in an apparent bid to warn the driver not to come closer, said policeman Riyadh Majid, who saw the shooting.
Two of the Unity guards then opened fire. The driver tried to stop, but was killed along with her passenger. Two of three people in the back seat were wounded.
Police said they collected 19 spent 5.56 mm shell casings, ammunition commonly used by U.S. and NATO forces and most Western security organizations. The pavement was stained with blood and covered with shattered glass.
Majid said the convoy raced away after the shooting. Iraqi police collected the bodies and towed the car.
A second policeman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution, said the guards were masked and wore khaki uniforms. He said one left the vehicle and started to shoot at the car, while another opened fire from the open back door of an SUV.
Awanis' sister-in-law, Anahet Bougous, said the woman had been using her car to drive government employees to work to raise money for her three daughters after her husband died during heart surgery last year.
An Iraqi investigation of the Blackwater shooting on Sept. 16 was ordered by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and called for the company to pay $8 million in compensation to the families of each of the 17 victims. The commission also said Blackwater guards had killed 21 other Iraqis since it began protecting American diplomats.
Unity also has come under scrutiny before.
In March 2006, the company issued an statement of sympathy after one of its guards was blamed for shooting a 72-year-old Iraqi-born Australian, Kays Juma, at a Baghdad checkpoint.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Juma was killed because he was in a car that failed to stop. Unity said multinational forces and Iraqi police also were present at the checkpoint at the time.
Unity provides armed guards and security training throughout Iraq. Its heavily armed teams are Special Forces veterans from Australia, the United States, New Zealand and Britain _ as well as former law enforcement officers from those countries.
In other violence Wednesday, a roadside bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad, killing an Iraqi bystander and wounding three others, police said.
The explosion in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Karradah also damaged a Humvee, a police officer said. The U.S. military had no immediate comment and no American casualties were reported.
U.S. soldiers quickly sealed off the area and U.S. Apache helicopters circled to provide support.
Another roadside bomb targeted a U.S. convoy in eastern Baghdad, police said, but no casualties were reported.
In northern Iraq, a suicide bomber slammed his minibus into blast walls at the offices of a key Kurdish political party, killing a party official and a guard, and wounding five other guards, the party said.
The attack targeted a regional office of the Kurdish Democratic Party, or KDP, some 13 miles outside the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, according to party spokesman Ahmed Tawfiq. KDP is led by Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been a hotbed of guerrilla activity, and the scene of many bombings, drive-by shootings and assassination attempts.
Also Wednesday, a parked car bomb exploded near a market in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, killing a policeman and a civilian, and wounding another policeman and three civilians.
Have a nice day.
At least 44 Killed
Good morning,
BAGHDAD - Guards in a security convoy opened fire on a car at an intersection in central Baghdad on Tuesday, killing two Christian women, police said. Separately, suicide car bombings targeting a local police chief and a Sunni sheik working with U.S. forces killed at least 19 people.
Across Iraq, violence claimed the lives of at least 44 people.
Police and witnesses could not immediately give more details about the gunmen in Baghdad except to say they were in a convoy of four SUVs commonly used by private security companies and the Iraqi Ministry of Interior.
While there was no indication Blackwater USA was involved, the attack threatened to increase calls for limits on the security firms that mounted after the Sept. 16 shooting deaths of as many as 17 Iraqi civilians allegedly that company's guards. The American security company said its employees were acting in self-defense.
The women were in a white car that drove into the Masbah intersection in the central Karradah district as the convoy of three white and one gray SUVs was stopped about 100 yards away, according to a policeman who witnessed the shooting from a nearby checkpoint.
The men in the SUVs threw a smoke bomb in an apparent bid to warn the car against coming forward, said Riyadh Majid, the policeman. The woman driving the car tried to stop, but was killed along with the passenger when two of the guards in the convoy opened fire, Majid said.
The pavement where the attack occurred was stained with blood and covered with shattered glass from the car windows.
He said the convoy then raced away and Iraqi police came to collect the bodies and tow the car to the local police station.
Another policeman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution, said the guards were masked and wearing khaki uniforms. He said one of them left the vehicle and started to shoot at the car while another opened fire from the open back door of a separate SUV.
The victims were identified by relatives and police as Marou Awanis, born in 1959, as Geneva Jalal, born in 1977.
"These are innocent people killed by people who have no heart or consciousness. The Iraqi people have no value to them," said a man who was part of a group of relatives gathered with a Christian priest at the local police station.
The man said Awanis had three daughters. "Who will now raise the girls? They are now motherless," he said.
Awanis' sister-in-law, Anahet Bougous, said the woman was using her car to taxi government employees to work to help raise money for her three daughters.
"May God take revenge on those killers," Bougous said, crying outside the police station. "Now, who is going to raise them?"
The nearly simultaneous attacks in Beiji were the deadliest in a series of bombings in recent days as the terror network apparently steps up its promised Ramadan offensive as the end of the Islamic holy month draws near.
The attackers in the oil hub 155 miles north of Baghdad drove a minibus laden with explosives into the house of a local police chief and detonated an explosives-packed Toyota Land Cruiser outside the home of a leading member of the local Awakening Council, a group of Iraqis who have turned against extremists in the area.
A Sunni mosque about 100 yards away from the police chief's house was damaged and three of its guards were among at least 19 people killed, according to police and hospital officials.
Iraqi officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, said the police chief, Col. Saad al-Nifoos, and the Sunni tribal official, Sheik Hamad al-Jibouri, survived.
The U.S. military said the targeted Awakening Council leader was Samir Ibrahim, not Sheik Hamad. It also said Ibrahim and the police chief had survived.
Saleh Jassim Moussa said two of his relatives from the neighborhood were killed.
The force of the blast was so strong, it shattered all the windows and ripped the doors from their frames in his home, only 100 yards away from the first explosion.
"It was a really huge explosion, we panicked and ran out but for minutes, we couldn't see anything because of the heavy smoke," said Moussa, 38, a government employee, who was reached by phone. "We're still digging through the rubble, looking for others."
Beiji is in the Sunni province of Salahuddin, which along with the vast Anbar province to the west is part of Iraq's Sunni heartland. The heartland has been the home base for the Sunni-led insurgency, but the U.S. military has cited recent success in getting local tribal leaders to join forces against the terror network.
"This is yet another failed attempt to break the will of the Iraqi people who just want to go on with their lives without violence, raise their children, earn a living and coexist together in a peaceful manner," said Lt. Col. Michael O. Donnelly, military spokesman for northern Iraq.
Have a nice day.
