Security Summary: November 18 & 19, 2006

An Iraqi soldier guards a detainee in Basra today


November 19, 2006:

BAGHDAD - Police in Baghdad recovered 45 unidentified bodies in the 24 hours to Sunday evening, an Interior Ministry source said. Most had been bound, tortured and shot.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen in camouflage uniforms seized Iraqi deputy health minister Ammar al-Saffar from his home on Sunday evening, his aide and a neighbour said. Saffar is a member of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawa party.

BAGHDAD - U.S. military announces the death of a soldier from the 89th Military Police Brigade who was wounded by a roadside bomb in southeastern Baghdad on Saturday evening.

BAQUBA - A total of 11 bodies were brought to Baquba hospital, the victims of assassinations and executions in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, hospital and police sources said.

HAWIJA - A mortar round landed on a residential district and killed three boys and wounded another in Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

BAQUBA - Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint and wounded a policeman in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

RAMADI - U.S. forces killed eight suspected insurgents and arrested two on Saturday in Ramadi, 110 km (68 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed two suspected insurgents in an air strike on Saturday afternoon near Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement on Sunday.

KIRKUK - A suicide car bomb near a funeral procession killed three people and wounded 22 in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Sunday, police said.

HILLA - At least 22 people were killed and 49 wounded when a suicide bomber blew up his vehicle among day labourers waiting to be hired in Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Three near simultaneous explosions, at least two of them car bombs, killed at least six people and wounded 30 at a bus station in the eastern Mashtal district of Baghdad, police and Interior Ministry sources said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed three civilians and wounded three policemen in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen in four wheel-drive vehicles killed police colonel Yassin Ibrahim along with his guard and kidnapped his driver in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

KIRKUK - Gunmen opened fire at a gathering of people in the northern oil city of Kirkuk and killed two, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed an Iraqi soldier in Mosul, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen kidnapped a judge named Mudhafer al-Ubaidi in western Baghdad, police said.

HADITHA - A suicide car bomb at a police checkpoint in Haditha, west of Baghdad, killed one policeman and wounded another on Saturday, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi army killed one suspected insurgent and arrested 45 others over the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb wounded six people in Baghdad's southern Saidiya district, an Interior Ministry source said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Ganim from the Facility Protection Services (FPS) along with his driver in a drive-by shooting in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a hospital source said.

From Reuters/Alternet

November 18, 2006

BASRA - Three British security guards detained by Iraqi police near Basra on Friday after a clash at a police checkpoint were handed over to British officials, Major General Ali Humadi told Reuters in Basra. He said the men had been guarding a convoy that was stopped by customs police at Zubayr near the Kuwaiti border. In an exchange of fire, a policeman and a Briton were wounded and a British guard was killed, Humadi said. A British military spokesman said on Friday a Briton was wounded and declined comment on any other casualties in the incident.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen shot dead a leading member of Iraq's most powerful Shi'ite political party, Ali al-Adhadh of SCIRI, and his wife as they were driving through western Baghdad, police and a party official said.

BAGHDAD - Police found 20 bodies in different areas of western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - Insurgents killed one guard and wounded another as they attacked the residence of Iraq's Science and Technology minister in eastern Baghdad's Zayouna district, police said. It was not clear if the minister was present during the attack.

BAQUBA - Police imposed a curfew in Baquba, north of Baghdad, where Interior Ministry officials said two mortar rounds landed on a residential area, killing two people and wounding five. Residents later reported fierce clashes between U.S. troops and Sunni insurgents to the south of the city. The U.S. military declined comment on residents' reports of two U.S. patrol vehicles being destroyed in separate attacks around the city. Baquba is the scene of frequent sectarian bloodshed.

NASSIRIYA - A roadside bomb exploded in the town of Nassiriya in southern Iraq, killing one child, an Interior Ministry official said.

ISHAQI - Gunmen killed seven people, including Shi'ite tribal leader Asif al-Khazraji, near the town of Ishaqi, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday, police said. Khazraji was heading to his home town of Dujail.

TIKRIT - A car bomb wounded 20 people near a restaurant in the town of Tikrit on Friday, a police source said. The source said U.S soldiers had initially blown up the car after cordoning off the area but the car's fuel tank blew up as fire-fighters attempted to douse the flames.

NEAR LATIFIYA - A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol, killing one civilian and wounding two policemen near the town of Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

KUT - Gunmen attacked alcohol sellers in Kut, 170 km (105 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding a nine-year-old passer-by, police said.

KUT - Gunmen killed Sultan Salman, a tribal leader, in the town of Muwafaqiya, 25 km (15 miles) south of Kut, police said.

MOSUL - A suicide car bomber wounded seven Iraqi soldiers when he attacked an army checkpoint on the northern outskirts of Mosul, an ethnically mixed city in northern Iraq, an army major said.

FALLUJA - Gunmen killed Omar al-Falahi, a mosque preacher in Falluja, on Friday, policeman Mahmoud Abdullah said. Mosque preachers in the area have been killed by extreme Sunni militants after they have called for calm and unity.

From Reuters/Alternet