Security Summary: December 24, 25 & 26, 2006

A father wheels his child to a hospital following bombings in Baghdad today.

December 24, 2006:

BAGHDAD - Sixteen kidnap victims were rescued by the Iraqi army in the Sunni area of Mansour on Friday, the U.S. military said on Sunday. They included two men, four women and 10 children.

BAGHDAD - Six mortar rounds landed in central Baghdad, wounding 12 people, Interior Ministry sources said.

BAGHDAD - Three U.S. military police were killed and one was wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi troops killed one insurgent and arrested 54 during the previous 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - A total of 47 bodies were found shot dead and mostly showing signs of torture in different districts of Baghdad on Saturday, police said.

BAGDHAD - A roadside bomb killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded three on Saturday in Nahda district in central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military patrol on a mission hunting insurgents southeast of Baghdad on Saturday, killing one soldier, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military patrol on a resupply mission southwest of Baghdad on Saturday, killing one soldier, the U.S. military said.

TAL AFAR - A roadside bomb wounded two policemen in Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.

BAQUBA - The U.S. military said an Iraqi army patrol with U.S. advisers was fired on by snipers in Baquba on Friday. The patrol then exchanged fire with insurgents, killing and wounding several gunmen. A U.S. statement said there were no reports of civilian casualties. Residents and a hospital source had said on Saturday civilians were among five people killed and 17 wounded in an attack they blamed on U.S. forces.

NEAR BAQUBA - Gunmen in army uniforms kidnapped five Sunni Arabs on Saturday night from a town near Baquba, police said.

SAMAWA - The death toll from fighting since Saturday between Iraqi security forces and militias loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in Samawa, 270 km (170 miles) south of Baghdad, rose to eight, including four policemen, and 32 more people were wounded, a hospital source said. The city was under a vehicle curfew on Sunday as sporadic clashes continued.

DIWANIYA - Police retrieved the bodies of three people from the river on Saturday in the southern city of Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

QANAQIN - A rocket landed on a residential district, wounding 18 people, in the town of Qanaqin, about 160 km (100 miles) northeast of Baghdad, police said.

MUQDADIYA - A suicide bomber killed seven police and wounded 30 more on Sunday in an attack on a police station in Muqdadiya, 90 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, a police source said.

From Reuters/Alternet

December 25, 2006:

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol in southern Baghdad, killing one soldier and wounding two, the U.S. military said in a statement.

ANBAR - Two U.S. soldiers were killed in action in Iraq's western Anbar province on Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed at least 10 people and wounded 15 when it exploded on a busy commercial street in the mainly Shi'ite New Baghdad district of the Iraqi capital, police said.

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed three people and wounded 20 others when he blew himself up aboard a crowded bus in the Shi'ite Talibiya district in northeastern Baghdad, Interior Ministry sources said.

RAMADI - A suicide bomber targeting a police checkpoint near the main entrance of Anbar University killed three policemen and wounded two students in the city of Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, police Lieutenant Kareem al-Rishawi said.

The U.S. military said one student and one police man were killed, and five police wounded. The bomber was also killed. A U.S. statement said the reports of three policemen dead were a deliberate inflation of the casualties in an effort to intimidate the police and dissuade people from enlisting.

BASRA - British forces seized a major police station in the city of Basra suspected of militia activity and transferred prisoners to another station before planting explosives and destroying the building.

MAHAWEEL - Gunmen killed a police lieutenant colonel and wounded three other policemen in a drive-by shooting in the town of Mahaweel, 75 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. An Interior Ministry source said two of the policemen with the officer also died in the attack.

MUSSAYAB - Gunmen killed one civilian after they stormed his house on Sunday night in Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

JURF AL-SAKHAR - Gunmen wounded three policemen when they attacked a police checkpoint on Sunday in Jurf al-Sakhar, about 85 km (50 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

HAWIJA - Gunmen killed two Shi'ite brothers on Sunday in the town of Hawija, 190 km (120 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces killed three insurgents on Sunday in northern Baghdad during a raid targeting foreign fighters and local insurgents who were building car bombs in the area.

BAGHDAD - A total of 29 bodies were found shot dead, with most showing signs of torture, in different districts of Baghdad on Sunday, an Interior Ministry source said.

RUMAITHA - Clashes between security forces and militiamen loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr killed six people and seriously wounded one on Sunday in the southern Iraqi town of Rumaitha, 25 km (16 miles) north of Samawa, police said. Three days of clashes have killed at least eight people in Samawa.

MOSUL - A total of seven bodies, including three policemen, were found in different districts of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a hospital source said.

From Reuters/Alternet

December 26, 2006:

BAGHDAD - A car bomb in the mainly Sunni Arab district of Adhamiya in Baghdad killed 15 people and wounded 30, hospital sources said.

BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier was killed and two injured when their vehicle rolled over during a combat mission south of Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Three simultaneous car bombs exploded in southwestern Baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding 70, Interior Ministry and police sources said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed five people and wounded 15 others in a crowded area in central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Three U.S. soldiers looking for roadside bombs were killed northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. One soldier was wounded.

BAGHDAD - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and one wounded in a roadside bomb attack southwest of Baghdad on Monday, the military said. Another roadside bomb in the same area killed one U.S. soldier and wounded two on Monday.

BAGHDAD - Three roadside bombs in quick succession killed a police lieutenant colonel and wounded nine people in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - A total of 40 bodies were found, shot dead and most of them showing signs of torture, on Monday in different districts of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen kidnapped Muhanad Ahmed Saleh, director of the Baghdad International Fair, on his way to work in Amiriya district in western Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces captured a suspected leader of a murder and kidnapping cell along with four suspected insurgents near Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - A mortar round killed two people on Monday in northern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - A bodyguard of Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi was killed by a "foreigner assailant" on Sunday near the office of Abdul Mahdi in Baghdad, the vice president's office said.

BAIJI - A car bomb near a police station wounded a policeman and four civilians in the oil refining city of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

NEAR KIRKUK - Gunmen wounded two policemen in a drive-by shooting in a town near Kirkuk, police said.

BAQUBA - The bodies of six people, gagged and bound, were found in two districts in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, a hospital source said.

KIRKUK - A roadside bomb killed a child and an elderly man and wounded three university students in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

RIYADH - Police found the body of a policeman, shot dead and tortured, on Monday in the town of Riyadh, 70 km ( 40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

BASRA - Gunmen kidnapped a bank manager and two employees and stole $750,000 on Monday in the southern city of Basra, police said.

MOSUL - The bodies of a soldier and a civilian were found shot dead on Monday in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet