Security Summary: March 15, 2007

A woman and her grand daughter stand at the doorway of their home, the site of a car bomb attack in Iskandariya today

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb targeting a joint Iraqi army and police checkpoint exploded in central Baghdad, killing eight policemen and soldiers and wounding 25 others, police said.

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb targeting an Iraqi army check point killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded two civilians in the western Yarmouk district of Baghdad, police said.

ANBAR PROVINCE - A U.S. soldier was killed on Wednesday while conducting combat operations in Anbar Province in western Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement.

DHULUIYA - Clashes erupted between insurgents and police when they attacked a police station in the town of Dhuluiya. Five insurgents were killed, including Syrian and Saudi fighters, Interior Ministry spokeaman Abdul-Kareem Khalaf told Reuters. A police officer was killed and another wounded.

MOSUL - A car bomb targeting a police patrol wounded a policeman in the northern city of Mosul, police said.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed a policeman and a man working with the police as a cook in Mosul, police said.

DIYALA PROVINCE - Two U.S. soldiers were killed by separate explosions near the vehicles in Diyala province on Wednesday, and a third was shot and killed. Another nine soldiers were wounded, a U.S. statement said.

MOSUL - U.S. forces targeting al Qaeda militants in the northern city of Mosul killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded three after thinking they were insurgents, the U.S. military said in a statement. It said U.S. soldiers had come under fire from a building and returned fire.

DHULUIYA - Police found the bodies of three people, shot dead, on Wednesday in the town of Dhuluiya, 80 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - A car bomb exploded as a bus carrying state employees passed by in the town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, killing six people and wounding 23, said police captain Muthanna al-Maamuri, who is based in nearby Hilla. Another police source said seven were killed and 35 wounded.

NEAR BALAD - U.S. forces targeting al-Qaeda militants in Iraq killed two insurgents and detained 11 others during a raid east the town of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. It said two armed insurgents start firing at U.S. forces and they returned fire from a fixed- wing aircraft.

BAGHDAD - A total of 16 bodies were found shot dead on Wednesday in different districts of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - A car bomb killed two people and wounded 11 others on Wednesday in the city of Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb went off in the southern Saidiya district of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing two people, police said.

KIRKUK - Police found two charred bodies on Wednesday in the northern city of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The victims were blindfolded, handcuffed, and tortured.

DIWANIYA - Police found the body of a man, shot dead and tortured, on Wednesday in the southern city of Diwaniya, 180 km south of Baghdad, police said. The victim was abducted from a cafe earlier that day.

KEFIL - Gunmen set fire to an office of the political movement of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in the town of Kefil, south of Hilla, on Wednesday night, police said.

Read the rest at Reuters/Alternet