Security Summary: February 8, 2007

Blindfolded 'insurgents' detained in Baqouba yesterday

RAFIYAAT - Gunmen shot dead 14 men from the same Sunni Arab family in a massacre near the town of Balad, north of Baghdad, after storming two neighbouring homes and separating the men from the women and children, police said. A 15th man, shot six times, was in critical condition in hospital.

ISKANDARIYA - Mortar bombs killed seven people and wounded 10 in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Four U.S. Marines were killed in combat on Wednesday in two separate attacks in western Anbar province, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

FALLUJA - U.S. forces said they killed 13 insurgents in an air strike on two suspected foreign fighter safe houses near the town of Ameriya, near the western city of Falluja. Ahmed al-Ami, a doctor in Falluja hospital, said more than 30 bodies, including those of seven children, were brought in.

AZIZIYA - A car bomb in a vegetable market killed 17 people and wounded 27 in the town of Aziziya, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - Police found 16 bodies in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, during the past 24 hours. Among the dead were five policemen, police said.

BAGHDAD - Police found 20 bodies in Baghdad, all apparent victims of sectarian killings.

HADITHA - A suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint north of Haditha in Anbar province, killing seven policemen and wounding three, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen attacked a joint Iraqi army-police checkpoint in central Baghdad, killing an army officer and a soldier and wounding three policemen and one soldier.

GARMA - Police found the bodies of three people with gunshot wounds in the head in the town of Garma, near Falluja, 50km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

NEAR FALLUJA - A car bomb exploded near a mosque and killed a worshipper and wounded four others on Wednesday in a town near Falluja, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen attacked the convoy of Ammar Tu'uma, a member of the Fadhila Shi'ite political party, and wounded one of his guards near Mansour district in western Baghdad, police and the media office of his party said. He was unharmed.

BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces raided the Health Ministry building in central Baghdad and arrested Hakim Zamili, the deputy health minister, a ministry spokesman and witnesses said.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed six people and wounded 10 others in the New Baghdad district in eastern Baghdad, police said.

SUWAYRA - Three roadside bombs exploded in quick succession, killing seven people and wounding 23 others on Wednesday in the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said on Thursday.

BAQUBA - Gunmen attacked a rapid reaction police unit and killed four policemen and a civilian in the religiously mixed city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet