Security Incidents for 04/18/07

Photo: Iraqi men evacuate a burned body from the site of a car bomb explosion at Baghdad's al-Sadriyah neighborhood. An avalanche of car bomb attacks on Shiite districts of Baghdad slaughtered 190 people on Wednesday and delivered a savage blow to the credibility of a two-month-old US security plan.(AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

Baghdad:

In one of the Baghdad attacks, a parked car exploded near a private hospital in the central neighborhood of Karradah , killing 11 people and wounding 13, police said. The blast damaged the Abdul-Majid hospital and other nearby buildings.

The second explosion was from a bomb left on a minibus in the northwestern Risafi area, killing four people and wounding six others, police said.

Also in Baghdad, four policemen were killed Wednesday afternoon when gunmen ambushed their patrol south of the city center, police said. Six pedestrians were also wounded in the attack.

Mortar shells also hit several neighborhoods south of Baghdad's center early Wednesday, wounding at least four civilians in two separate attacks, police said.

Two bodies of men handcuffed and killed execution-style turned up Wednesday in Dora, also in southern Baghdad.

A suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol killed two policemen and wounded four, including two civilians, near Baghdad, police said..

In the deadliest of the Baghdad attacks, a suicide car bomber crashed into an Iraqi police checkpoint at an entrance to Sadr City, the capital's biggest Shiite Muslim neighborhood and a stronghold for the militia led by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtade al-Sadr. The explosion killed at least 30 people, including five Iraqi security officers, and wounded 45, police said.

One car bomb alone in the mainly Shi'ite Sadriya neighborhood killed 118 people and wounded 139, police said.

At least two people were killed and five more were wounded on Wednesday when a bomb stashed in a bus, near al-Shurja wholesale market in central Baghdad, exploded, a security source said.

Unknown gunmen shot and killed a personal attachment for Iraqi Speaker Dr. Mahmud al-Mashhadani in southwestern Baghdad, a source at Iraqi parliament said on Wednesday.

A Task Force Marne Soldier died in Baghdad Tuesday of non-battle injuries.

3 civilians were injured when mortar round fell in Al Amil neighborhood south west Baghdad around 10 am.

15 anonymous bodies were found in Baghdad today. 12 bodies were found in Karkh, the western part of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods ( 3 bodies in Doura, 2 bodies in Amil, 2 bodies in Yarmouk, 2 bodies in Hurriyah, 2 bodies in Jihad and 1 body in Risala.) 3 bodies were found in Rusafa, the eastern part of Baghdad in the following neighborhoods (1 body in Sadr city, 1 body in Sha’ab and 1 body in Mada’ien)

At least two policemen were killed and eight people, most of them were policemen, wounded on Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated a car rigged with explosives near a police check point in al-Saydiyah, southern Baghdad, a police source said.

Diyala Prv:

Elsewhere, two brothers were killed and a policeman was hurt in a gunbattle in downtown Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said. The dead were believed to be civilians, caught in the crossfire as police fought unidentified gunmen

A military source in Muqdadiya city north eat Baquba city said that a combined force of Iraqi army and police raided a hide house of what is called Iraq Islamic State in Al Ahmar village in Muqdadiya killing 3 gunmen and arresting another 4. the source added “the force found a blood stained torturing room.

A military source in Khalis town said that an Iraqi army soldier had been killed when he was attacked by gunmen shot him while they were in their fast car. - A security source in Khalis town said that 2 residents of Khalis town had been kidnapped near Mustafa jawad in the entrance of Khalis town.

Farmers from Al Bo Asi Al Abagiyah village died today after been injured in an American strike few days ago.

A medical source in the Diyala health directorate said that their field patrols had found two bodies in Al Tahreer neighborhood south Baquba city today afternoon. A third body of a woman had been found in Gatoon neighborhood west Baghndad. The three bodies were moved to the morgue.

Iraqi and U.S. forces killed 23 gunmen during a large-scale security crackdown in Diala province, 57 km northeast of Baghdad, a security source said on Wednesday.

Mahmoudiyah:

2 policemen were killed and 4 citizens injured including 2 policemen in a suicide car bomb targeted a police patrol near Zamzam fuel station in Mahmoudiyah town south Baghdad around 1,15 pm.

Basra:

Three houses of members of Fadhila party with IEDs. Khaz’aal Al Sa’idi, the prominent member of Fadhila party member in the local council of Basra province said that an IED was planted near his house in Al Hussein neighborhood west Basra city damaging the house. Al Sa’iidi added that the houses of Naseef Al Ebadi, the deputy of Basra council head and Ghazi Smari, the director of Basra electricity power plant had been targeted also by IEDs last night.

Taji:

One insurgent was killed and eight others were detained during two raids near Taji, 20 km north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Samarra:

Also Tuesday, a roadside bomb went off next to an ambulance in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad. Four people, including a patient in the back of the vehicle, were wounded, police said.

Baiji:

Gunmen killed three people in an attack on a vehicle near Baiji, north of Baghdad, police said. Those killed were the son of Iraq's deputy interior minister and his two bodyguards.

Hawija:

Three kidnapped workers were found dead on Wednesday in Hawija district, southwest of Kirkuk, a police source said.

Mosul:

Farther north, 32 mortar shells rained down on Iraqi army checkpoints in two neighborhoods of Mosul, 225 miles northwest of the capital, police said. Six soldiers, a policeman and a pedestrian were injured.

At least seven people were wounded on Wednesday in a suicide bombing near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a security source said. "A suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to his body this afternoon near a police vehicle patrol in al-Gayarah district, southwest of Mosul," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq. He added "the blast wounded seven civilians who were taken a nearby hospital for treatment."

Unknown gunmen killed two members of a family outside their house in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul,

Eight bodies were discovered in Mosul, 390 km (240 km) north of Baghdad, a hospital source said.

One army officer and a civilian were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Mosul's east, police said. Another three police were wounded.

A senior Iraqi army officer was killed and three soldiers were wounded on Wednesday as an explosive charge went off near their vehicle in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a police source said

Kirkuk:

In the ethnically-mixed city of Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, an investigative judge at the city's criminal court was injured in a drive-by shooting, police said. Judge Ayad Ali Asaad, a Turkoman, was driving with his wife and a guard when gunmen blocked their way and opened fire, police said. All three were wounded.

2 policemen were injured when an IED exploded targeting their patrol in Al Tayaran square yesterday evening

Tal Afar:

An Iraqi army officer and two soldiers were also wounded at dawn in Tal Afar, 50 miles west of Mosul, when gunmen attacked their checkpoint as well, police said

Al Anbar Prv:

The U.S. raid took place early Wednesday near Karmah, a town northeast of Fallujah, which lies 40 miles west of Baghdad. American forces raided a group of buildings suspected of being used by militants, and found explosives inside one of them, the military said in a statement. A helicopter was called in, and dropped precision-guided bombs on the cluster of buildings, it said. Meanwhile, troops came under fire and reacted in "self-defense," the statement said , killing five Iraqis and wounding four others.

Another 25 decomposed bodies were found in a school in Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, police said. The latest discovery came a day after 17 bodies were found in a deserted school in Ramadi.

A U.S. vehicle was destroyed when an explosive charge went off near a vehicle patrol in Falluja, 45 km west of Baghdad, a police source said.

Mortar rounds were fired onto a U.S. base in Haditha city, 380 km west of Baghdad, local residents said on Wednesday.

Thanks to whisker for ALL the links above.

Over the past six months, American troops have died in Iraq at the highest rate since the war began, an indication that the conflict is becoming increasingly dangerous for U.S. forces even after more than four years of fighting. [Not as dangerous as it is for the Iraqis, however. – dancewater]

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Five Bombings Kill At Last 147 Aross Baghdad

Five car bombs tore through Iraq's capital today, killing at least 147 people and injuring more than 208 in the deadliest day of violence in the city since U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a much publicized security crackdown two months ago. The attacks targeted mostly Shiite neighborhoods, heightening fears that sectarian violence, which had begun to decline in recent weeks, would resume. he bloodiest of the attacks killed 115 people in the beleaguered Sadriya district, which was still recovering from a car bomb blast last month that killed about 130 in a busy marketplace. Victims of today's late afternoon attack included construction workers repairing damage from last month's bombing, and rush- hour commuters at a bus depot, waiting for rides home. Witnesses reported seeing a minibus explode, leaving a 15-foot crater in the road and setting ablaze dozens of buses and taxis. Street vendors dumped their fruits and vegetables to help evacuate victims in wooden carts, witnesses said. "It was really chaos," said Abu-Hussam, 51, who owns a paint shop nearby. "People are coming here to look for their loved ones." Heavy afternoon traffic hindered rescue efforts and heightened the death toll, police said. Local hospitals were inundated with bodies. In Sadr City, a suicide car bomber detonated a bomb at the eastern gateway to the Baghdad slum, trying to strike an army checkpoint. At least 16 were killed, perhaps as many as 30, according to preliminary reports from police and government officials. [Other reports said higher numbers of people killed. – dancewater]

U.S. Kills Five in Fallujah

Two explosions rocked Baghdad at midday Wednesday, killing at least 15 people and wounding 19, police said. Meanwhile, U.S. troops killed five suspects and captured 30 others in a raid in Iraq's western Anbar province, a day after police uncovered 17 decomposing corpses beneath two school yards in the provincial capital. The U.S. military also announced a discovery made nearly a week earlier - 3,000 gallons of nitric acid hidden in a warehouse in downtown Baghdad. U.S. forces found the acid - a key component in fertilizer but also explosives - during a routine search operation last Thursday, the military said. In the southern province of Maysan, Iraqi troops took charge of security on Wednesday. The province bordering Iran is the fourth to come under full Iraqi security control since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Violence continued to rage Wednesday, with mortar attacks and roadside bombings across the country.

UNHCR Says Conference Agrees On Urgent Need to Help the Four Million Iraqi Refugees

An international conference organised by the UN refugee agency to focus on the humanitarian needs of those driven from their homes in Iraq ended on Wednesday with agreement on the urgent need to aid nearly 4 million people who have fled to neighbouring countries or elsewhere inside Iraq. "There was truly a humanitarian spirit that allowed us to work together, to work together in a committed way for the same purpose – the people we care for, the Iraqis displaced inside and outside Iraq," UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres told a concluding news conference after the gathering that drew representatives of 60 nations. Guterres, who chaired the two-day meeting, said there had been recognition of the need to stem the continuing displacement of Iraqis while ensuring that those who are uprooted receive humanitarian assistance. He also said the conference agreed the international community had to help those neighbouring countries that are bearing most of the burden of hosting Iraqi refugees, especially Syria and Jordan.

Thousands Missing Since War Began

When 53-year-old Tina Abdallah celebrated the fall of deceased former President Saddam Hussein in March 2003, she had no idea that her suffering had just begun. Four years on, the mother of two is desperate for news about her sons who have disappeared in separate incidents following the US-led invasion of 2003. "During Saddam's time, people were being arrested and sometimes families couldn't get any information about their loved ones. But the proposed democracy hasn't changed this reality. My two sons have disappeared and I can't get any information. I don't even know if they are dead," Tina said. "I have gone to NGOs, the Ministry of Human Rights and police departments looking for them but no one could help me. My last attempt was in the US-run prisons, but it was even harder to get to speak with someone there because of the huge number of people with the same problem as me," she added. Because of unrelenting violence hampering all efforts to collect data, the number of people who have disappeared in Iraq since 2003 is not known. But aid workers estimate the figure to be in the tens of thousands. "Based on studies done by local NGOs, it is probable that at least 15,000 Iraqis have disappeared in the past four years of occupation," Mukhaled al-A'ani, a spokesman for local Iraqi NGO Human Rights Association (HRA), said.

According to Diar Hassnun, a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights, the ministry is working to come up with an official figure for a report it is compiling. In February 2005, the ministry set up a National Centre for Missing and Disappeared Persons (NCMDP) to help relatives find out what had happened to their loved ones. The initial focus of the centre was to help recover mass graves and identify those who had gone missing since 1978. Now, because of the sheer number of concerned relatives, it is putting more emphasis on finding people who have recently gone missing. "When this centre was first set up, we didn't expect to receive so many claims of recently disappeared Iraqis. There are hundreds of new missing people every year and since 2006 the situation has worsened in tandem with the sectarian violence," said Hassnun, adding that more than 200,000 people disappeared under Saddam's government, many of whom are still expected to be found in mass graves across Iraq.

Iraq's Public Health Services Severely Strained, Group Says

It goes without saying that war is bad for your health. But a compendium of new public health statistics, released Tuesday by the World Health Organization, quantifies just how desperate the situation has become for Iraqis. There are the obvious risks of car bombs and other violence that now kill an average of 100 people a day, according to the report from the W.H.O.'s Health Action in Crises group. But beyond that, there are a host of other problems created by years of conflict: 70 percent of Iraqis lack regular access to clean water, and 80 percent lack toilets that do not contaminate water sources, according to the report. As a result of these multiple public-health failings, diarrhea and respiratory infections now account for two-thirds of the deaths of children under five, the report said. Twenty-one percent of Iraqi children are now chronically malnourished, according to a 2006 national survey conducted by Unicef, which puts them at risk for both stunted growth and mental development. The statistics are being presented by the W.H.O. at an international meeting on Iraq on Tuesday and Wednesday at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva.

COMMENTARY

Unusual Mix of Religion and Politics

Yale Divinity School students burned a copy of the Bill of Rights and the Ten Commandments at a recent Ash Wednesday service before marking their foreheads with the ashes – not as protest, they say, but to repent for their own complicity in “the ongoing injustice being perpetuated by our nation.” “Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent where we remember our sins and the ways that we are complicit in evil in our society. As an American, the way that’s most clear today is through the War on Terror and the war on Iraq,” said Christopher Doucot, a first-year master’s student who came up with the idea for the service. About 40 to 45 students, faculty, administrators and local residentsattended the service, intended to provide an opportunity for reflection on such topics as secret prisons, “indiscriminate bombings,” domestic spying and torture.

Hounded By Insurgents, Abandoned By Us

[Johnson was the regional coordinator of reconstruction in Falluja in 2005 for USAID.]

The crisis over Iraq's refugees is the first major policy issue in which Iraqi civilians are front and center. We debate how the surge looks today or how oil will be distributed tomorrow on the banks of a swelling river of human misery: two million Iraqis who couldn't bear to live in Iraq anymore, and another two million displaced internally but too poor to flee. This week, representatives from dozens of countries and international nongovernmental organizations have gathered in Geneva to discuss what might be done in the wake of the largest population shift in the Middle East since 1948. The world is asking what George W. Bush, who started the war in Iraq and presides over the country that historically accepts more refugees than any other, will do for these desperate people.

Many of them will most likely be denied refuge in the United States because, under the Patriot and Real ID Acts, they are tarred with having provided material support to terrorists - in the form of ransoms paid to kidnappers to secure a family member's release. Last month, Congress tried to create a waiver for those who provided material support "under duress." Lamentably, it was killed by Senator Jon Kyl, who said he'd respond with legislation to "provide relief from terrorism-related immigration bars to ... groups that do not pose a threat to the United States." Are we so imprecise in our fifth year of this war that our government cannot distinguish between those who worked and ate alongside us and a member of Al Qaeda?

Consider Rita, an Iraqi Christian woman who worked for the Coalition Provisional Authority and helped manage the TIPS Hotline, which Iraqis can call to share critical information about wanted terrorists or pending attacks on the United States military. Her supervisor, Bernard Kerik, wrote in a recommendation letter that her "courage to support the coalition forces has sent an irrefutable message: that terror will not rule, that liberty will triumph, and that the seeds of freedom will be planted into the great citizens of Iraq."
But Rita's courage was repaid by insurgents who abducted her 16-year-old son at gunpoint on his way to school one August morning. Terrorists demanded $600,000 for his release. She doesn't know how much her husband ultimately paid the kidnappers because he divorced her, blaming her work for the American government for the calamity that had befallen the family. He took her traumatized son and daughter to Syria, and she hasn't seen or heard from them since. When the death threats became unbearable, she fled to Jordan. Appallingly, Rita's family cannot be resettled in the United States because of the material support bar. Unless the secretary of homeland security himself applies a waiver for her, she'll never reach American soil. Does this woman, who lost everything because she worked for the Americans, who had a security clearance from our government to work in its embassy, pose a threat to the United States? If she does, then who doesn't?

Quote of the day: Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism: Martin Luther King, Jr.