Security Summary: August 14, 2007

Above: A man grieves for his brother and 3-year-old niece who were killed along while sleeping on the roof of their Sadr City home during a night raid by U.S. and Iraqi forces.

FALLUJA - A U.S. helicopter crashed on a routine flight near Falluja west of Baghdad, killing five service members, the U.S. military said.

MOSUL - Three suicide bombers driving fuel tankers attacked members of Iraq's ancient Yazidi sect in three residential compounds west of Mosul, killing at least 175 people and wounding 200 people, the Iraqi military said.

BAGHDAD - Fifteen bodies were found around Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - A mortar attack killed two people and wounded four in Baghdad's northern Ur district, police.

KHALIS - The bodies of 15 Sunni Arab men were found shot and dumped near a petrol station in the town of Khalis, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TAJI - Ten people were killed and six wounded when a suicide bomber blew up a fuel tanker on a bridge near the town of Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. The bridge collapsed.

BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier was killed and three wounded during combat operations in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military said its troops killed four members of the Mehdi Army militia and detained eight others during a raid in Sadr City in northeastern Baghdad. Hospital officials said a 5-year-old girl and her father were among three people shot dead in the incident.

MOSUL - Iraqi and U.S. forces freed six hostages from a suspected al Qaeda prison during a raid in Mosul, the U.S. military said. The hostages, Kurdish and Christian men, had been bound and blindfolded for more than two weeks. Each was being held for $100,000 ransom.

BAGHDAD - U.S. forces detained 16 suspected insurgents during operations targeting foreign fighters and bombing networks in Baquba, Taji, Balad and Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi and U.S. troops detained 12 suspected Mehdi Army militiamen during raids in Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. military said.

KIRKUK - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded two policemen and a civilian in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Two civilians were wounded by a roadside bomb in the Yarmouk district of western Baghdad, police said.

SUWAYRA - Gunmen stormed the house of police officer Aqil Radhi Idan, killing his pregnant wife, brother and son, in the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

NINEVEH - Three U.S. soldiers died on Monday from injuries sustained in an explosion near their vehicle in Nineveh province, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier was killed during combat operations in Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military detained three suspected insurgents during raids in southern Baghdad's Rashid district on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

HILLA - Gunmen killed a guard and wounded two others in a drive-by attack on a police patrol in Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

DIWANIYA - Gunmen killed a policeman near his house in a drive-by shooting in Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK - Three policemen and four civilians were wounded when two roadside bombs exploded in quick succession near a police patrol in Kirkuk, police said.

NAJAF - Iraqi and U.S. forces detained a Mehdi army militiaman suspected of smuggling funds and weapons from Iran during a raid in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, on Sunday, the U.S. military said.

FALLUJA - Police found the body of a man shot and tortured in the city of Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet