Security Summary: January 1, 2007

Sandals lie in a pool of blood following a U.S. raid in Baghdad today

DIYALA - Two U.S. soldiers were killed and two more wounded in an explosion in Iraq's Diyala province northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces said they were fired on from an office building belonging to Sunni Arab politician Saleh al-Mutlaq during a raid on a suspected al Qaeda safehouse in Baghdad in which six insurgents were killed. Mutlaq said U.S. forces had targeted his office, killing two security guards and wounding two more. He also said a family of four, including two children, were killed in an adjacent building. The U.S. said it was not aware of any civilian casualties.

BAGHDAD - Police found 40 bodies in Baghdad in the past 24 hours, including 15 in one place near the Sheikh Maa'rouf cemetery in western Baghdad, an interior ministry source.

MAHMUDIYA - A roadside bomb exploded near Mahmudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, near an Iraqi army patrol, killing one soldier and wounding three, police said.

MOSUL - Prisoners in a jail near Mosul in northern Iraq smashed cell doors, burned furniture and broke cameras during a riot that left at least seven guards and three inmates injured before Iraqi police and army ended the fighting, a witness and and prison authorities said.

HABANIYA - A mortar attack killed an Iraqi woman and wounded another civilian on Thursday northwest of Habaniya, 85 km (50 miles) west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet