Security Summary: December 8, 2006

An Iraqi woman weeps next to the bodies of relatives who where killed during a US attack in Ishaqi today

BAGHDAD - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and two others were wounded south of Baghdad on Thursday by a roadside bomb, the U.S. military said on Friday.

BAGHDAD - Brigadier General Humam Nuri, head of customs in the city of Najaf, was killed along with his brother in Baghdad on Friday, Interior Ministry sources said.

BAGHDAD - Police said they found 18 bodies dumped in different areas of Baghdad, all with gunshot wounds and many with signs of torture, an Interior Ministry official said.

BAGHDAD - Four people were killed and eight wounded in a mortar attack on the religiously mixed Naharwan neighbourhood in southeastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said.

BAGHDAD - One person was killed and three wounded when gunmen attacked a crowd in the religiously mixed area of Amil in southwestern Baghdad, police said.

TAL AFAR - A car bomb targeting an Iraqi army checkpoint in the town of Tal Afar, 420 km (260 miles) north of Baghdad, killed three civilians and wounded 15 people, police said.

ISHAQI - The U.S. military said ground forces with air support killed 18 men and two women in the Thar Thar area of Salahaddin province, all suspected al Qaeda militants. But Iraqi officials, including police, said they found the bodies of 17 civilians. Journalists were shown the bodies of five children.

From Reuters/Alternet