Security Summary: May 4, 2007

A woman gives a beggar money just before she attends Friday prayers in Baghdad

Shurqat- Unknown gunmen on Friday shot dead a police lieutenant-colonel in northern Shurqat, 320 km north of Baghdad, a police source said.

Baghdad- At least two people were wounded on Friday when an explosive charge went off in the upscale al-Mansour neighborhood, western Baghdad, a police source said.

Baghdad- Iraqi police patrols on Friday found 15 unidentified bodies in different parts of Baghdad, an interior ministry source said.

Diwaniya- A curfew was imposed on Diwaniya city on Friday night after fierce clashes between gunmen and a joint force of Iraqi and U.S. troops killing an Iraqi soldier and wounding three others, a security source said.

Najaf- Two policemen were wounded on Friday during the clashes erupted between elements of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army and police forces in Najaf after an official from Sadr's office was denied entry to the old part of the city, a local official source said.

Hilla- At least five civilian was killed and 21 others were wounded on Friday night in a blast south of Baghdad, an official source from the Babel police department said.

Baghdad – The battle of U.S. troops in the northern Baghdad area of al-Taji on Tuesday in which al-Qaeda leader al-Juburi was killed also resulted in the killing of two key members of the organization, the U.S. army said.

Baghdad – Four civilians sustained different wounds when six mortar shells fell on the village of al-Maamal in the southeastern Baghdad district of al-Wihda, an Iraqi police source said.

Kirkuk – Two policemen were wounded when an explosive charge went off near a police patrol in the area of Taza, southern Kirkuk, an Iraqi police source in Kirkuk said.

Samawa – A police director in the province of Muthanna survived an assassination attempt in southern Samawa city, eyewitnesses said.

Baghdad – Baghdad Governor Hussein al-Tahan survived an assassination attempt while inspecting works to construct concrete blocs in the northern Baghdad area of al-Aazamiya, a source in the Baghdad province council said.

Baghdad – Five Iraqi policemen were killed and two others wounded when an explosive device went off near their patrol in southern Baghdad, the Iraqi police said.

Baghdad – A U.S. soldier was killed and two others wounded when an explosive charge went off near their vehicle in southern Baghdad, the U.S. army said, adding two U.S. soldiers were also killed and six others wounded in an attack in south Baghdad on Thursday.

Khalis/Diala – Two civilians were killed in an attack with mortars by unidentified gunmen on a village northeast of al-Khalis district, Diala province, an Iraqi police source said.

Kirkuk – Four civilians were killed and 33 others wounded when an explosive vehicle ripped through a popular neighborhood in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk on Thursday night, the Iraqi police said.

Baghdad – Two mortar shells fell on a drinking water station in al-Risala neighborhood, the western Baghdad district of al-Bayaa, but did not explode, a security source said.

Basra – Five gunmen were wounded in clashes with Multi-National Force (MNF) patrols in several areas in the southern Iraq province of Basra while three suspected gunmen were arrested in the northern part, the MNF said.

From VOI