Security Summary: July 31, 2007

Above: A family watches as soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division conduct house searches in the Amariyah area of Baghdad today.

KUT - Police retrieved the bodies of six people, shot and tortured, from the Tigris River in the city of Kut, 170 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, and in the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital, police said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. Apache attack helicopter made a precautionary landing near New Baghdad district in eastern Baghdad after coming under attack from ground fire, the U.S. military said. The crew was safely evacuated.

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint, wounding five soldiers, in western Mansour, police said. In a separate incident, a bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed one soldier and wounded seven, a hospital source said. Police said the only casualties in that incident were six wounded civilians.

BAGHDAD - The Iraqi army arrested 36 insurgents in different parts of Iraq during the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained nine suspected insurgents during operations targeting al Qaeda in central and northern Iraq on Monday and Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

NEAR SAMARRA - Two policemen were killed and one wounded when a roadside bomb exploded close to their patrol near the city of Samarra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BASRA - Pharmacists in the southern city of Basra went on strike after gunmen kidnapped the head of their syndicate on Monday, the Basra health directorate said.

ANBAR - A U.S. Marine was killed in combat in western Anbar province on Monday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen killed an engineer repairing the famous Sarafiya Bridge, damaged by a bomb in April, near his home in northern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Three people were wounded by a roadside bomb targeting a U.S. military patrol in the New Baghdad district of eastern Baghdad, police said.

ISKANDARIYA - Gunmen killed two men in a drive-by shooting in Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, on Monday, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet