Security Summary: April 20, 2007

Shiite cleric, Qais al-Tai, a member of the Fadhila party, holds a machine gun during Friday prayers in Basra today.

Falluja- Unknown gunmen attacked with RPGs and small arms fire an Iraqi vehicle patrol in east of Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, a security source said on Friday.

Basra- Unidentified gunmen shot and Killed a policeman along with his brother in central Basra, 550 km south of Baghdad, a security source said on Friday.

Talafar- The northern Iraqi city of Talafar has been placed under curfew on Friday to wage a security crackdown in search for gunmen who sneaked into the city with car bombs and explosive belts, a police source said.

Muqdadiya- A joint force of Iraqi and U.S. troops launched a security crackdown in Muqdadiya district, 45 km north of Baaquba, where they arrested five gunmen including an Afghan, an official security source said on Friday.

Falluja- At least eight people were killed and seven others wounded on Friday afternoon in a car bombing near Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, a police source said.

Kut- A U.S. and Iraqi combined force raided al-Sadr's office in Kut on Friday afternoon, a source at Sadr's office said.

Diala- Al-Baghdadiyah TV crewmen, who were kidnapped two days ago in Diala, were released on Friday, a source close to the kidnapped crewmen's families said.

Mosul- The body of a leader of a Sunni armed group was found on Friday in the eastern part of Mosul, 402 km north of Baghdad, a police source said.

Diala- A joint Iraqi army and police force arrested a former local official near the district of Khanaqin, Diala province, seizing a car bomb in his possession, an Iraqi police source said.

Diwaniya - The Multi-National Force's Echo camp came under an attack with katyusha missiles on Friday while an Iraqi-U.S. force was conducting raids in a number of neighborhoods in Diwaniya, a security source said.

Baghdad - The Multi-National Force (MNF) in Iraq said its forces killed two it termed as "insurgents" and arrested another in an attack on a Shiite mosque in southwestern Baghdad after U.S. soldiers were came under an armed attack from the mosque.

Diala - One civilian was killed and his brother seriously wounded by U.S. forces' fire in the district of al-Khalis, Diala province, an Iraqi police source said.

Baghdad - Six guards were wounded when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a motorcade of Sunni scholars accompanied by Shiite leader Ammar al-Hakim in al-Dora, southern Baghdad, while returning from a visit to key Shiite clerics in Najaf province, a media source in the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) said.

Baghdad - Four U.S. soldiers were killed and three others wounded in two separate incidents in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday, the U.S. army said.

Mosul - The 130 Iraqi army soldiers reported poisoned on Friday felt sick after having a bad meal prepared by a foreign company, the commander of Hammam al-Aleel training center in Ninawa province said.

Kirkuk - Four explosive devices went off near civilians' houses in northern Kirkuk on Thursday night but no casualties were reported while three other charges were defused in the same area, an official Iraqi police source said on Friday.

Baghdad - One civilian was killed and two others wounded by "Kurkdish Peshmerga" militias on Friday, eyewitnesses said.

From VOI