Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Security Summary: March 27, 2007

A refugee from Fallujah prepares a meal today for her family inside a former Republican guard barracks, a makeshift home to some 150 displaced families.

TAL AFAR - At least 45 people were killed and 103 wounded in the northwestern town of Tal Afar. One of the blasts was detonated by a suicide bomber who lured victims to his truck to buy wheat, the town's mayor and police chief said. The second was in a used car lot.

BAGHDAD - One Iraqi soldier was killed and two wounded in a roadside blast in Ghazaliya district in western Baghdad, a Reuters photographer said.

RAMADI - A suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle outside a popular restaurant on a main road north of Ramadi, killing at least 17 people and wounding 32, a source at Ramadi hospital said. The restaurant was frequented by police in an area where local tribes have joined the tribal alliance against al Qaeda. Policemen were among the casualties, the source added.

BAGHDAD - Four people were killed and 14 wounded in a mortar attack in the Shi'ite enclave of Abu Dsheer in Doura district in southern Baghdad, police said.

ABU GHRAIB - Two suicide bombers exploded their cars near the home of a tribal leader in Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad, killing the man's son and three other people, a provincial official said. His relatives gave a different version of events. They said a rocket-propelled grenade hit the car of Harith al- Dari, the son of the tribal leader who is also a nephew of the head of the Sunni Muslim Scholars Association, killing him and wounding another man.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces captured two leaders of a major car bomb cell responsible for attacks that killed around 900 Iraqis, mostly in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed a policeman and wounded two others in southeastern Baghdad, police said.

ISHAQI - Gunmen killed three people in the town of Ishaqi, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, on Monday, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed a police lieutenant working in the Serious Crimes Unit in Zayouna district of eastern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Police found the bodies of 15 people with gunshot wounds and signs of torture in Baghdad on Monday, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - Six mortar rounds landed on a residential area in the of town Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad and killed five civilians and wounded 11 on Monday, the U.S military said in a statement. Iraqi police had said on Monday that three were killed and 13 wounded.

MOSUL - Police found the bodies of four people, including a policeman and a decapitated body, in different parts of Mosul, on Monday, police said.

DIWANIYA - Six bodies were found in different parts of Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. The victims had been tortured, bound and shot.

MOSUL - Gunmen killed two employees of the social welfare office in Mosul in a drive-by shooting, police said.

ANBAR PROVINCE - A U.S. Marine died in combat in Anbar Province in western Iraq on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained four suspected insurgents in the cities of Mosul, Falluja and Tarmiya during operations targeting foreign fighter facilitators and al Qaeda militants, the U.S. military said. U.S. forces also found and destroyed a weapons cache in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

KUFA - Police and residents of Kufa said U.S. forces raided the home of Mohammed al-Tabtabayi, an aide to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, but he was not there at the time. His brother was detained, police said. Hospital sources said one person was killed and six wounded when a car and a motorcycle in the area of the raid were fired on. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to queries about the incident.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire on a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding two others on Monday in Um al-Maalif district of western Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded four soldiers on Monday in Doura, police said.

MOSUL - A roadside bomb wounded two guards of the local head of the municipal council in the northern city of Mosul, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet