Security Summary: January 14 & 15, 2007

U.S. soldiers assume a defensive position during a firefight in Baqouba yesterday.

January 14, 2007

TIKRIT - A U.S. soldier assigned to an engineering group was killed and another was wounded in an explosion on Saturday in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said. It did not say what caused the explosion.

BALAD - Gunmen kidnapped two Iraqi army officers and a soldier at a fake checkpoint in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAIJI - Police found a severed head in Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Police in Baghdad found 40 bodies, many tortured and shot dead, in different parts of the capital in the past 24 hours, an interior ministry source said.

MADAEN - Four Iraqi policemen were killed in clashes with gunmen in Madaen, just south of Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - Two mortar rounds hit the Palestine Street district in Baghdad, wounding eight people, an interior ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi special forces soldiers detained 19 men during operations against a militant leader believed responsible for coordinating kidnappings, murders, roadside bombs and mortar attacks, the U.S. military said.

BASRA - Two policemen were killed and a police major was wounded by gunmen in Basra, police said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces captured 10 suspected insurgents, including a high value target, in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

FALLUJA - Iraqi soldiers detained six men in operations near Falluja aimed at al Qaeda members, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed seven suspected insurgents and detained three more in the Haifa Street area where they have kept a heightened security presence since a major operation to clear insurgents earlier this week, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi police and army backed by U.S. forces launched an operation Doura, in southern Baghdad, "to disrupt terrorist and illegally armed militia activity", the U.S. military said. Nine suspects were detained.

BAGHDAD - The Defence Ministry said Iraqi troops arrested 32 suspected insurgents in the Abu Ghraib area of Baghdad and 50 more in Diyala province, north of the capital. It said troops also found a weapons cache that included 1,969 Katyusha rockets during the operation in Diyala. It did not say when it happened.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed two people, including a lieutenant colonel in the former Iraqi army, in central Mosul, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed an army captain in central Mosul, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed two brothers working as guards for Iraqiya state television on Saturday in Doura district in southern Baghdad, an employee at Iraqiya said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed a dentist in Mosul, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire randomly and killed at least two people in the southern Saidiya district of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen opened fire at a gathering of people, killing three and wounded three in Mosul, police said.

KIRKUK - A member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan survived a roadside bomb attack in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - Police found the body of a man shot in the head, in Kirkuk, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed two men in two different incidents in Mosul, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed a person and wounded six near al-Tayaran Square in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

MOSUL - The bodies of nine people, with gunshot wounds, were brought to the morgue in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a source in the morgue said.

MOSUL - Several mortar rounds landed on a residential district, wounding five people on Saturday in Mosul, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - Gunmen attacked a private factory and killed three workers and wounded another on Saturday night in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet

January 15, 2007

MAHMUDIYA - The Iraqi army said it detained 92 "terrorist" suspects in Mahmudiya, just south of Baghdad, state television Iraqiya said in a newsflash.

MOSUL - A suicide car bomber killed at least five people and wounded 28 more in an attack on an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the northern city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles), police and a Kurdish official said.

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber blew himself up near an Iraqi army check point, killing four soldiers and wounding three others in Jamiaa district in western Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - Two people were killed and five wounded when a car bomb exploded near the Turkman Front Party in Kirkuk, police said.

KIRKUK - A car bomb exploded near the house of the owner of a car showroom, wounding 11 people, police said. Three days ago a car bomb exploded near his shop. His house was empty at the time of the explosion.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed a man in Mosul, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen wounded a former army colonel in Mosul, police said.

KUT - Gunmen killed a man who worked with the U.S. forces as a garbage contractor in Kut, 170 km (105 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. In a separate attack, a translator working with U.S. forces was shot dead by gunmen near Kut, police said.

YUSUFIYA - Three mortar rounds hit residents, killing two people and wounding four, in the town of Yusufiya, 15 km (9 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

BAQUBA - The bodies of 11 people were found shot in the head, bound and gagged in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. Nine of the victims were found in the west of the town and the other two in the city centre.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed three policemen and wounded two others in Rustumiya in southeastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

BAGHDAD - A bomb planted under a car wounded two people in al-Nidhal street in central Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.

KIRKUK - A Katyusha rocket landed in a house wounding two people in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - Gunmen opened fire at shops, wounding one person in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet