Security Summary: January 29, 2007

Iraqi pilgrims re-enact the Battle of Karbala during Muharram, an important period of mourning for Shiites, in Karbala today

TUZ KHURMATO - Five worshippers were killed when a rocket propelled grenade hit a Shi'ite mosque in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 70 km south of Kirkuk, police said.

BAGHDAD - Three mortars killed 11 people and wounded 28 more in Zaafaraniya, southeast of Baghdad, a police source said.

NAJAF - Iraqi officials said the final toll in a battle between a cult group and U.S. and Iraqi troops in Najaf that started early on Sunday was unclear. Officials gave estimates between 200 and 350. Police colonel Ali Nomas said three Iraqi soldiers were killed and six were missing. Five policemen were killed. Another 40 Iraqi police and soldiers were wounded.

National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waeli said the leader of the cult who claimed to be the Mahdi, a messiah-like figure in Islam, was killed in the battle.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb in Hurriya, a mainly Shi'ite neighbourhood in northwest Baghdad, killed one person and wounded 14 more, a police source said. Another police source said five were in killed in the attack and 25 wounded.

BAGHDAD - A bomb planted inside a minibus killed four people and wounded five others near al-Mustansiriya Square in northeastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed one person and wounded three others near a square in Sadr City district in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed one person and wounded three others in al-Baladiyat district in eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded two policemen near Qahtan Square in Qadisiya district in southwestern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Three university professors and a student were kidnapped in the Khadimiya district in northern Baghdad when they were on the way home from a seminar at a law college on Sunday, a Higher Education Ministry official said.

From Reuters/Alternet