Security Summary: June 25, 2007

Above: Armed civilians check drivers entering Buhriz in Diayala province today, part of a large armed contingent which formed following reports of a possible al-Qaeda attack.

BAGHDAD - Twelve people were killed and 18 wounded when a suicide bomber wearing an explosives-packed vest detonated inside a central Baghdad hotel used by foreigners and Iraqi officials, police said. A U.S. military spokesman, who put the death toll at eight, said up to six tribal sheikhs were among the dead.

BAIJI - A suicide bomber driving a fuel tanker killed 18 people and wounded 40 in an attack on a police headquarters in the oil city of Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

HILLA - A suicide car bomb attack near a governor's office killed eight people and wounded 31 in the city of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - A car bomb killed three people and wounded 40 others in a residential street in Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed by small arms fire in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers killed three insurgents trying to place a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers detained 43 suspected insurgents during raids targeting al Qaeda in central Iraq, the U.S. military said.

BASRA - Police said they found the body of an Iraqi army colonel in Basra, 550 km (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said. He had been shot.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed Dr. Shihab Ahmed Shihab, the head of a children's hospital, in al-Mansour district in western Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier died of wounds sustained in an attack by a roadside bomb and small arms fire in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

KIRKUK - Gunmen killed a policeman and wounded three others in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, on Sunday, police said.

KIRKUK - Two policemen were wounded in a roadside bomb attack on their patrol in Kirkuk on Monday, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet