Security Summary: December 22-23, 2006

Aftermath of a car bomb in Samaraa yesterday

December 22, 2006:

BAGHDAD - One civilian was killed and seven wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near the national theatre in central Baghdad, police said.

BASRA - British troops backed by tanks seized a leader of a rogue police unit suspected of being behind the killing of 17 people in an ambush near the southern city of Basra in October, the British military said.

BAGHDAD - Three U.S. Marines and a sailor were killed in action in the western Anbar province on Thursday, the U.S. military said in a statement on Friday.

SUWAYRA - A bomb planted in a vegetable market in the town of Suwayra, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, wounded five people, police said.

KUT - Police found the body of a hospital employee after gunmen abducted him on Thursday in Aziziya, 75 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad.

SAMARRA - Two policemen were killed when a roadside bomb targeted their patrol in central Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

SAMARRA - Ahmed al-Yaseen, brother of Sunni Accordance Front parliament member Abdel Kareem al-Yaseen, was killed along with his wife when a car bomb exploded in front of his home in Samarra. His four children were also wounded, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet

December 23, 2006:

SAMAWA - Clashes between Iraqi security forces and a powerful Shi'ite militia left five people, including four policemen, dead and wounded 17 others in Samawa, police sources said.

HAWIJA - A roadside bomb killed two civilians as their car passed a road just outside the town of Hawija, 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

DIWANIYA - Gunmen killed an Iraqi intelligence officer in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya, police sources said.

DIWANIYA - Police said they found two bodies, blindfolded and with their hands tied, in Diwaniya on Friday, police said.

SAMARRA - A policeman was shot dead by insurgents in the town of Samarra, police said.

DOUR - An Iraqi soldier was killed by insurgents in the small town of Dour, near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen assassinated Wathaah Abid-Rabbuh, a tribal figure from the large mainly Sunni Jubour tribe, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a hospital official there said. It was not clear why the tribesman was targeted.

From Reuters/Alternet