Security Summary: January 20, 2007

A boy receives treatment after being wounded in a mortar attack which killed at least 5 people in Baghdad today.

KERBALA - A local official in the provincial governorate building in the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala said U.S. troops and Iraqi special forces raided the building and searched the offices of the governor and other senior officials. He told Reuters the reason for the raid, which followed an exchange of fire in the area shortly after dark, was unclear. The search was continuing close to midnight (2100 GMT). A U.S. military spokeswoman said there had been an "attack" in the area but could give no details. Elsewhere in the city, thousands of pilgrims were gathering at the start of the 10-day rite of Ashura, one of the highpoints of the Shi'ite Muslim calendar. Kerbala lies 110 km (70 miles) south of Baghdad.

MOSUL - Five unidentified bodies were delivered to the morgue in the northern city of Mosul on Saturday, a hospital source said.

ISKANDARIYA - Gunmen who set up a fake security checkpoint killed two people and wounded four at Iskandariya, just south of Baghdad, police said. The town lies on the main route from Baghdad to the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala, where hundreds of thousands of Shi'ite pilgrims are expected to converge by the end of the 10-day rite of Ashura, which began on Saturday.

BAGHDAD - Police found 29 bodies with gunshot wounds to the head and signs of torture in various parts of Baghdad in the 24 hours to Saturday evening, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed police Major Salim Sattar in his car in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - An employee of Iraqiya state television was killed by gunmen in an attack on his car in the Jihad district of southwestern Baghdad, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi forces backed by six U.S. helicopters killed 15 suspected insurgents from the Omar Brigade, which was formed by slain al Qaeda leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, in a raid in south Baghdad, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul-Karim Khalaf said. Five suspected insurgent leaders were detained.

KHALIS - A judge named Mohammed Zeinel Abdin was killed with his 20-year-old brother when gunmen opened fire on their car in Khalis, 80 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - A roadside bomb wounded five policemen, two of them seriously, in Kirkuk, police said.

BAGHDAD - Five mortars hit a residential area in northern Baghdad, killing four people and wounding six more, a police source said. One resident said he saw as many as 25 wounded.

The police source said another mortar attack nearby killed one person and wounded nine.

TIKRIT - A U.S. soldier died on Friday after being wounded by a roadside bomb in Nineva province north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Another two U.S. soldiers were wounded.

FALLUJA - A U.S. marine died on Friday from wounds suffered in combat in the restive western province of Anbar, the U.S. military said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen assaulted a police checkpoint south of Baghdad and killed three policemen and wounded two, police said.

MADAEN - Gunmen stormed two houses in Madaen, killing two women and one man inside, police said. Madaen is a mixed town of Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs 45 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire on employees of a telephone company while they were driving in the Yarmouk area of Baghdad, killing one and wounding two, police said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed when a roadside bomb exploded near his patrol in northern Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

MOSUL - An engineer working for a radio station in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, was shot by gunmen in a market, police said.

MOSUL - A colonel in the Iraqi army was killed when a roadside bomb exploded just outside his office in Rabia, northwest of Mosul in northern Iraq, army Captain Sirwan al-Herki said. He said a U.S. soldier visiting the colonel was wounded, along with his Iraqi translator and one more person who was also in the office.

ISKANDARIYA - The body of a man shot in the head was found in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - Gunmen opened fire at random and killed one person in Iskandariya, police said.

KIRKUK - A roadside bomb wounded two civilians in Daquq, 45 km (20 miles) south of Kirkuk, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet