Security Summary: March 16-17, 2007

U.S. soldiers conduct a search during nightime raids in Baghdad yesterday. The Iraqi government says 171 'suspected militants' have been arrested in the last 48 hours.

March 16, 2007

BAGHDAD - Gunmen wounded Sheikh Raheem al-Darruji, the mayor of Sadr City, a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad, and shot dead a senior police officer and their driver on Thursday, Iraqi and U.S. officials said.

TIKRIT - A U.S. soldier was killed by an explosion when his patrol was attacked in Salahaddin province on Thursday, the U.S. military said. Another soldier was wounded.

BAGHDAD - Mortar bombs killed one person and wounded five in Zaafaraniya in southern Baghdad, a police source said.

KIRKUK - A roadside bomb blew up next to a police patrol, killing two policemen and wounding three in the centre of Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.

From Reuters/Alternet

March 17, 2007

FALLUJA - Two suicide bombings involving toxic chlorine gas made 350 people ill in Falluja on Friday, the U.S. military said, and another smaller bomb attack near Ramadi also released chlorine gas. Hospital sources said earlier eight people were killed and dozens were became ill after chlorine gas was released in the two bombings in Falluja.

SUWAYRA - Police pulled the bodies of two people, with signs of torture, from the Tigris river in the town of Suwayra, south of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A Sunni mosque in the southern Baghdad neighbourhood of Doura was destroyed by explosives. There were no reports of people hurt.

HILLA - A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded five when it exploded in a market in the Shi'ite city of Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - A roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded another when it exploded near their patrol in the northern city of Mosul, police said.

BAGHDAD - Police found the bodies of nine people across Baghdad on Friday, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - Three civilians were killed when a mortar hit their house in southern Baghdad on Friday, a police source said.

MOSUL - The bodies of two men and two women were found in various districts of Mosul on Friday. Two infants were found alive beside the two dead women, police said.

TAJI - U.S. forces killed two suspected insurgents preparing to plant a roadside bomb on a road north of Baghdad on Friday, the U.S. military said.

TAJI - U.S. forces killed a suspected insurgent on Thursday as he was unrolling wire to attach to a roadside bomb on a road near Abu Ghraib, northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

From Reuters/Alternet