Security Summary: August 22, 2007

Above: Iraqi soldiers pose with a detainee in Baqubah today. Under emergency powers, arrest may be made upon suspicion, and detainment is indefinite.

BAIJI - At least 20 people were killed and 50 wounded when a suicide bomber rammed a fuel tanker into Baiji police station, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said. Police and civilians were among the dead.

TIKRIT - Fourteen U.S. soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said. It said initial indications suggested the Black Hawk helicopter had suffered mechanical failure.

BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed one person and wounded five in the al-Weshash district of western Baghdad, police said.

TIKRIT - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed two policemen and wounded eight in Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

TUZ KHURMATO - Two suspected insurgents were killed when a roadside bomb they were trying to implant exploded in the town of Tuz Khurmato, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf said 56 suspected al Qaeda members were killed during a military operation in the Sunni Arab Fadhil district of central Baghdad on Tuesday. Residents in the area said four people were killed and many wounded during intermittent fighting between al Qaeda fighters and rival insurgent groups.

KUFA - Armed men stabbed a female professor to death in the Shi'ite city of Kufa, about 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

HAWIJA - A car bomb exploded near a convoy carrying the head of Hawija city council, wounding two of his guards, in Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi soldiers killed five suspected insurgents and detained 87 others across Iraq during the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said.

TAL AFAR - A roadside bomb exploded near workers laying water pipes, killing two and wounding five, on Tuesday in a village near the town of Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Iraqi and U.S. forces detained 13 men during an air assault targeting al Qaeda-allied networks along the Euphrates River south of Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. military said. One of the detained men was disguised as a pregnant woman.

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

ISKANDARIYA - Four people were wounded by a mortar attack in Iskandariya on Tuesday, police said.

From Reuters/Alternet