Security Summary: March 2, 2007

A man kneels for Friday prayers next to a poster of Moqtada al-Sadr today in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 17 in Habibiya, a district in the Shi'ite militia stronghold of Sadr City, a police source said. A Reuters photographer on the scene said it exploded in a used car market.

BAGHDAD - Two U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Another U.S. soldier was wounded.

RAMADI - Gunmen killed two members of the local soccer team during training in the Western Iraqi city of Ramadi, police said. One of the dead was a leading member of the Ramadi Football Club, 27-year-old Mohammed Hamid, shot dead along with his 23-year-old team mate, Mohammed Mishaan.

BALAD - Police said six bodies were found in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, on Thursday.

BAQUBA - Fourteen Iraqi police from a rapid reaction force based in Diyala province north of Baghdad went missing after leaving their base on Thursday to go on leave, a police source in Diyala said. An al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq said in an Internet statement it had kidnapped 18 people working for the Interior Ministry in Diyala province, saying it was in revenge for a reported rape of a woman by police.

HAWIJA - U.S. forces killed two insurgents found placing a roadside bomb on a road south of Hawija, 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, the U.S. military said. Another suspect was wounded and detained.

SALMAN PAK - U.S.-led forces killed eight insurgents during a raid targeting al Qaeda in the area around Salman Pak, 65 km (40 miles) southeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BASRA - Mortars hit a British base in the Shatt al-Arab Hotel in central Basra, starting a fire, but there were no casualties.

FALLUJA - A U.S. marine was killed during combat operations on Wednesday in Iraq's western Anbar province, the U.S. military said.

ISKANDARIYA - The U.S. military said insurgents fired mortar rounds that killed four Iraqi civilians and wounded 10 in Iskandariya. A police source had said eight people were killed in clashes there and it was not clear if the reports were referring to the same incident.

YUSUFIYA - U.S. forces said they found a "massive" weapons cache near Yusufiya, 15 km (10 miles) south of Baghdad. The cache included rockets, mortars, launchers, grenades and equipment for making roadside bombs.

From Reuters/Alternet