In case anyone has forgoten, civil war is a flithy bloody mess. It should be avoided at all cost.
String of Iraq attacks kill 54, wound 120
AP - 25 minutes ago, May 30, 2006.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs targeting Shiite areas tear through a car dealership in southern Iraq and a bustling outdoor market north of Baghdad Tuesday as attacks nationwide killed 54 people and wounded 120 in the bloodiest day in recent weeks. Iraqi officials also said a key terror suspect who allegedly confessed to hundreds of beheadings was captured in a raid that also netted documents, cell phones and computers that contained information on other wanted terrorists and Islamic extremist groups. .
The worst bombing hit the market as Iraqis were doing their evening shopping in the Shiite area of Husseiniyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. At least 25 people were killed and 65 were wounded, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Colonel Falah Al-Mohamedawi said.
That attack came hours after a car packed with explosives blew up at a dealership in the largely Shiite city of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and wounding 32, Capt. Muthana Khalid said.
A bomb hidden in a plastic bag also detonated outside a bakery in Baghdad, killing at least nine people and injuring 10, police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.
The explosion occurred at 9:15 p.m. in New Baghdad, a mixed neighborhood in the eastern part of the capital. Bakeries in this city of about 6 million open early and close as late as 10:30 p.m. so that people can buy warm bread for dinner.
On Monday, 40 people were killed in various attacks, including a car bombing in Baghdad that killed two CBS crewmen and seriously wounded network correspondent Kimberly Dozier.
Before Tuesday's violence, at least 4,066 Iraqis had been killed in war-related violence so far in 2006 and at least 4,469 wounded based on Associated Press reports, which may not be complete because the reporting process does not cover the entire country. During May, at least 871 Iraqis have been killed, surpassing the 801 killed in April. The deadliest month this year for Iraqis has been March,with 1,038 killed and 1,155 wounded.
Amid the surge in violence, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held another day of meetings aimed at getting Iraq's ethnic, sectarian and secular factions to agree on new defense and interior ministers, but the key security posts remained vacant 10 days after his national unity government took office.
The Interior Ministry, which controls the police forces, has been promised to the Shiites. Sunni Arabs are to get the defense ministry, overseeing the army. It is hoped the balance will enable al-Maliki to move ahead with a plan for Iraqis to take over all security duties over the next 18 months.
In the meantime, U.S. military commanders have moved about 1,500 combat troops from a reserve force in Kuwait into the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq to help local authorities establish order in the insurgent hotbed that stretches from west of Baghdad to the Syrian border.
The military command in Iraq described the new deployment as short-term. The plan is to keep the latest troops ? two battalions of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division ? in Anbar no longer than four months, said one military official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the move.
The military also said a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier Tuesday southeast of Baghdad and small arms fire killed a U.S. soldier Monday in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
The bodies of two Marines missing after a helicopter crash in western Iraq over the weekend also were recovered.
The AH-1 Cobra helicopter from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing was on a maintenance test flight when it went down Saturday in the volatile Anbar region. The military said hostile fire was not suspected as the cause, but the crash was under investigation.
The prime minister's office said terror suspect Ahmed Hussein Dabash Samir al-Batawi was captured Monday and he confessed to hundreds of beheadings in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. They also released a mugshot of al-Batawi wearing a white T-shirt with a nametag hanging around his neck.
Although no breakdown exists, beheadings are not at all rare in Iraq and many such bodies are found in Baghdad and other cities. They are either the victims of sectarian death squads or Islamic extremist groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq. That group alone has been responsible for beheading several foreign hostages, including American Nicholas Berg.
Police also said three unidentified insurgents who were described as well-known aides of al-Zarqawi were killed last week during clashes in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, mortar rounds fired by remote control from a car hit the third floor of the heavily guarded Interior Ministry and a nearby park, killing two government employees and wounding three other people.
A roadside bomb also killed one police officer and wounded four others in the capital, and police found nine bodies of people who had been shot in separate locations. A decapitated body was discovered floating in the river about 35 miles south of the capital.
Police Capt. Laith Mohammed, meanwhile, said a pregnant woman and her cousin were killed in uncertain circumstances in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, as they were driving to a maternity hospital. When asked if they knew about the incident, the U.S. military had no immediate comment.
Separately, the U.S. military freed 204 male detainees from Abu Ghraib and other detention centers in Iraq after the Iraqi-led Combined RevieIt comes in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians the western Iraqi city of Haditha. w and Release Board reviewed their files and recommended release.
To date, the board has reviewed the cases of more than 39,000 detainees, recommending more than 19,600 individuals for release, the military said.
In other violence, according to police and hospital officials:
? Three people were killed and 10 others were wounded in the volatile city of Ramadi, but the circumstances of their deaths remained unclear.
? A suicide car bomber tried to ram into an Iraqi army checkpoint in a village west of Mosul, but Iraqi soldiers opened fire, killing the driver.
? Masked gunmen killed a real estate broker, a baker and the owner of a convenience store in separate attacks in Baghdad.
___
Associated Press writers Patrick Quinn and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report in Idaho.
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String of Iraq attacks kill 54, wound 120
AP - 25 minutes ago, May 30, 2006.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Car bombs targeting Shiite areas tear through a car dealership in southern Iraq and a bustling outdoor market north of Baghdad Tuesday as attacks nationwide killed 54 people and wounded 120 in the bloodiest day in recent weeks. Iraqi officials also said a key terror suspect who allegedly confessed to hundreds of beheadings was captured in a raid that also netted documents, cell phones and computers that contained information on other wanted terrorists and Islamic extremist groups. .
The worst bombing hit the market as Iraqis were doing their evening shopping in the Shiite area of Husseiniyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad. At least 25 people were killed and 65 were wounded, Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Colonel Falah Al-Mohamedawi said.
That attack came hours after a car packed with explosives blew up at a dealership in the largely Shiite city of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, killing at least 12 people and wounding 32, Capt. Muthana Khalid said.
A bomb hidden in a plastic bag also detonated outside a bakery in Baghdad, killing at least nine people and injuring 10, police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said.
The explosion occurred at 9:15 p.m. in New Baghdad, a mixed neighborhood in the eastern part of the capital. Bakeries in this city of about 6 million open early and close as late as 10:30 p.m. so that people can buy warm bread for dinner.
On Monday, 40 people were killed in various attacks, including a car bombing in Baghdad that killed two CBS crewmen and seriously wounded network correspondent Kimberly Dozier.
Before Tuesday's violence, at least 4,066 Iraqis had been killed in war-related violence so far in 2006 and at least 4,469 wounded based on Associated Press reports, which may not be complete because the reporting process does not cover the entire country. During May, at least 871 Iraqis have been killed, surpassing the 801 killed in April. The deadliest month this year for Iraqis has been March,with 1,038 killed and 1,155 wounded.
Amid the surge in violence, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held another day of meetings aimed at getting Iraq's ethnic, sectarian and secular factions to agree on new defense and interior ministers, but the key security posts remained vacant 10 days after his national unity government took office.
The Interior Ministry, which controls the police forces, has been promised to the Shiites. Sunni Arabs are to get the defense ministry, overseeing the army. It is hoped the balance will enable al-Maliki to move ahead with a plan for Iraqis to take over all security duties over the next 18 months.
In the meantime, U.S. military commanders have moved about 1,500 combat troops from a reserve force in Kuwait into the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq to help local authorities establish order in the insurgent hotbed that stretches from west of Baghdad to the Syrian border.
The military command in Iraq described the new deployment as short-term. The plan is to keep the latest troops ? two battalions of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division ? in Anbar no longer than four months, said one military official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the move.
The military also said a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier Tuesday southeast of Baghdad and small arms fire killed a U.S. soldier Monday in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
The bodies of two Marines missing after a helicopter crash in western Iraq over the weekend also were recovered.
The AH-1 Cobra helicopter from 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing was on a maintenance test flight when it went down Saturday in the volatile Anbar region. The military said hostile fire was not suspected as the cause, but the crash was under investigation.
The prime minister's office said terror suspect Ahmed Hussein Dabash Samir al-Batawi was captured Monday and he confessed to hundreds of beheadings in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. They also released a mugshot of al-Batawi wearing a white T-shirt with a nametag hanging around his neck.
Although no breakdown exists, beheadings are not at all rare in Iraq and many such bodies are found in Baghdad and other cities. They are either the victims of sectarian death squads or Islamic extremist groups such as al-Qaida in Iraq. That group alone has been responsible for beheading several foreign hostages, including American Nicholas Berg.
Police also said three unidentified insurgents who were described as well-known aides of al-Zarqawi were killed last week during clashes in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, mortar rounds fired by remote control from a car hit the third floor of the heavily guarded Interior Ministry and a nearby park, killing two government employees and wounding three other people.
A roadside bomb also killed one police officer and wounded four others in the capital, and police found nine bodies of people who had been shot in separate locations. A decapitated body was discovered floating in the river about 35 miles south of the capital.
Police Capt. Laith Mohammed, meanwhile, said a pregnant woman and her cousin were killed in uncertain circumstances in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, as they were driving to a maternity hospital. When asked if they knew about the incident, the U.S. military had no immediate comment.
Separately, the U.S. military freed 204 male detainees from Abu Ghraib and other detention centers in Iraq after the Iraqi-led Combined RevieIt comes in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians the western Iraqi city of Haditha. w and Release Board reviewed their files and recommended release.
To date, the board has reviewed the cases of more than 39,000 detainees, recommending more than 19,600 individuals for release, the military said.
In other violence, according to police and hospital officials:
? Three people were killed and 10 others were wounded in the volatile city of Ramadi, but the circumstances of their deaths remained unclear.
? A suicide car bomber tried to ram into an Iraqi army checkpoint in a village west of Mosul, but Iraqi soldiers opened fire, killing the driver.
? Masked gunmen killed a real estate broker, a baker and the owner of a convenience store in separate attacks in Baghdad.
___
Associated Press writers Patrick Quinn and Bushra Juhi contributed to this report in Idaho.
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