Security Summary: May 27, 2007

Above: A student of Mustansiriyah university at a protest for students killed last week when men disguised as soldiers stopped a bus transporting university students, and shot them, killing eight and wounding three.

BAGHDAD - Forty-four bodies were found in Baghdad on Sunday, all apparent victims of sectarian violence, police said.

BAGHDAD - Two U.S. soldiers were killed by roadside bombs on Saturday -- one in Diyala province north of Baghdad and the second in the west of the capital, the U.S. military said.

JURF AL-SAKHAR - A car bomb targeting an Iraqi army checkpoint killed two soldiers and wounded three near Jurf al-Sakhar, 85 km (53 miles) south of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen dragged noted calligrapher Khalil al-Zahawi from a car near his house in the mostly Shi'ite New Baghdad district and killed, him, police said. Condemning the killing, the Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association called him the "sheikh" of Iraqi calligraphers.

BAGHDAD - Police said they had found the bodies of 12 men, aged between 15 and 24, who had been handcuffed, tortured and killed in the Doura district of southern Baghdad.

NAHRAWAN - Gunmen killed two farmers and wounded nine others in a drive-by shooting in Nahrawan, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed two people and wounded nine others when they threw concussion grenades at a busy market in Shorja in central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed two people and wounded eight in the Bab al-Muadham area of central Baghdad, police said.

SHIRQAT - Gunmen killed a police lieutenant-colonel and a captain in a drive-by shooting on Saturday south of Shirqat, 80 km (50 miles) south of Mosul, police said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained 18 suspected insurgents and destroyed a cache of weapons and bomb-making materials during operations against al Qaeda in Iraq, the U.S. military said.

BASRA - British forces killed three militants during a raid in Basra against those behind a complex attack involving roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire, the British military said. Four people were also detained.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces found the bodies of 20 people across Baghdad on Saturday, police said. Most of the victims had gunshot wounds and were apparent victims of sectarian violence.

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi army killed four insurgents and arrested 137 others during the past 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces detained a militant leader believed to have ties to a network that imports deadly roadside bombs from neighbouring Iran during a raid in Baghdad's Shi'ite militia stronghold of Sadr City. Iran denies giving insurgents or militias weapons or funding.

From Reuters/Alternet