Security Incidents for 05/08/07

Photo: Residents gather at the site of a suicide bomb attack in Kufa, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, May 8, 2007. (Ali Abu Shish/Reuters)

Baghdad:

Also Tuesday, a roadside bomb went off next to a passing mini bus in the Shiite area of Zafaraniyah on the southeastern outskirts of Bagdad, killing three passengers and injuring five others, police said.

Iraqi army killed seven insurgents and arrested 115 others during the last 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said.

Four civilians were wounded when three mortar shells fell on a leather factory in the neighborhood of Saieda, al-Zaafaraniya district, an Iraqi police source said.

The bodies of three personal guards of Iraq's minister of Higher Education were found shot dead in Baghdad, an official in the ministry said

Two U.S. soldiers were killed on Tuesday when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb attack southeast of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

Around 8am, Major Ibrahim A.Al-Nabi an officer of interior ministry was assassinated by gunmen on the high motor way near the ministry as he was going to his work.

Around 9 am, a roadside bomb exploded near Za’afaraniya petrol station ( east of Baghdad ) when an American patrol passed by having no casualties recorded.

Around 10 am , a controlled roadside bomb exploded with the existence of an Iraqi squad in Al-Sha’ab .

Around 2 pm, a police traffic was killed near Al-Waziriya traffic lights.

Around 6 pm, a roadside bomb exploded when an Iraqi army patrol passed through Hussainiya neighborhood without casualties.

Around 6.30 pm, a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol in Saidiya neighborhood without casualties.

25 dead bodies were found all over Baghdad as the following: 20 in west Baghdad ( Kharkh bank) ; 7 in Amil , 4 in Bayaa , 3 in Doura , 2 in Saidiya , 2 in Ghazaliya , 2 in Jihad . while 5 were found in east Baghdad ( Rusafa bank) ; 1 in Sadr. 1 in Suleikh, 1 in Qahira , 1 in Waziriya , 1 in Filsteen ( Palestine ).

At least five civilians were wounded on Tuesday when an explosive charge went off near an Iraqi army vehicle patrol in northeastern Baghdad, a police source said.

Diyala Prv:

In the Diyala province town of Jalawla, 35 miles (56 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest under a police uniform detonated inside a police station during morning roll call, killing five police officers, Baquba police officials said. Fifteen other people were wounded.

Unknown gunmen kidnapped on Tuesday some 30 civilians in central Iraq, eyewitnesses said. "An armed group in four civilians vehicles positioned a fake checkpoint this afternoon on the main road that links Baaquba with Baghdad near al-Hadeed town in eastern Baaquba," a local resident told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

Iskandariya:

Two people were killed and 10 wounded by a mortar round attack in Iskandariya on Tuesday, police said

Kufa:

A suicide car bomber tore through a busy market in the Shiite holy city of Kufa on Tuesday morning, killing at least 16 people and wounding 70 in an attack sure to further enflame tensions between Iraq's Sunni and Shiite populations. The 550-pound car bomb at Kufa exploded about 10 a.m. in an area that also included a school and the mayor's office, police said. The 16 killed included women and children, said Salim Naima, spokesman of the Najaf health department.

Basra:

The Multi-National Force (MNF) in southern Iraq said it wounded two gunmen and arrested 11 suspects in three separate operations in areas in the southern Iraqi province of Basra.

the MNF statement noted that the British bases in the airport, 25 km northwest of Basra, and the former presidential palaces in central Basra came under shooting attacks but caused no casualties.

Two civilians were wounded when British forces opened fire at them in two separate incidents, a security source in Basra police said

Body of a kidnapped university professor was found on Tuesday in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, an official source said.

Mindli:

U.S. chopper shelled on Tuesday a primary school in Mindli town, killing seven students and injuring three others, eyewitnesses and medical sources said. "The Mindli hospital received seven bodies and three wounded of a primary school's students," a medical source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) over the phone. "A U.S. helicopter shelled Al-Saada primary school, killing seven students and injuring three," the source said, adding no further details. An eyewitness confirmed the news by saying that "a U.S. chopper bombarded the school while students and teachers were still there and the blasts rattled the town. We rushed to the scene to rescue victims."

Khanaqin:

A suicide bomber killed two policemen and wounded 23, including 10 civilians, when he targeted a police station in the town of Khanaqin, north of Baghdad, police said.

Ishaqi:

Two policemen were injured when gunmen opened fire on them on the high way of Baghdad- Tikrit near Ishaqi village as they were going back home from Baghdad

Sarha village:

Four trailer drivers were kidnapped on the high way of Baghdad-Kirkuk route near Sarha village south of Tuz by gunmen taking them to unknown destination

Hawija:

Early morning , an American soldier was shot by a sniper fire in Hawija

Kirkuk:

Two Iraqi policemen were wounded on Tuesday when an explosive charge went off near their patrol vehicle in southern Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad, a police source said.

Mosul:

Unknown gunmen on Tuesday shot and killed a police officer near Mosul city, 402 km north of Baghdad,

while an armed group kidnapped director of the state-owned-water supply company in the city (Mosul), a security source said.

Al Anbar Prv:

Five bodies of members of the Anbar Rescue Council were found by policemen in Falluja, the largest city in the Sunni province of al-Anbar, a security source said on Tuesday. "The bodies were found on the international highway near the district of al-Saqlawiya, (15 km) north of Falluja, and all of them showed signs of having been shot in the head and chest," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI) on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Unidentified gunmen blew up three cell phone towers in the city of Falluja, Anbar province, on Tuesday, an Iraqi police source said. "The gunmen raided under construction sites of Irquna cell phone network and consecutively detonated three towers in the neighborhoods of al-Yarmuk, al-Jighevi and al-Baath in southern, northern and central Falluja respectively," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "The gunmen laid explosive devices in the three sites after expelling the workers there at gunpoint and detonated them by means of remote control and then escaped," the source added.

The bodies of seven people were found shot in and around Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad, police said

Samawah:

Australian troops have come under attack on Monday in southern Iraq, but commander of the troops Lieutenant Colonel Tony Rawlins says no-one was hurt. It's understood the soldiers were on a routine security mission in Samawah City, the capital of Al Muthanna province, when they were attacked.

Thanks to whisker for the links above.

UPDATE: An attack by a US helicopter against suspected insurgents in Iraq has killed a number of children at a primary school, Iraqi security sources say. The attack took place in Diyala province north-east of Baghdad, the sources say. The officer said police had spoken to eyewitnesses and that six children had been killed and six injured but the figures have not been independently confirmed.

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Monday: 128 Iraqis Killed, 2 GIs Killed, 90 Iraqis Wounded

[This is, of course, not a full count – it is impossible to know how many violent incidents have actually occurred just yesterday in Iraq. And that does not include the dead bodies from the following article, nor the ones to come from the second article below. – dancewater]

Death Rate Has Surged Among Children in Iraq

The chance that a child will live beyond age 5 has plummeted faster in Iraq than anywhere else in the world since 1990, says a report released today. One in eight Iraqi children died of disease or violence before reaching their fifth birthday in 2005, according to the report by Save the Children, which said Iraq ranked last because it made the least progress toward improving survival rates. Even before the latest war, Iraq was plagued by shortages of electricity, clean water and hospitals.

Deadly Dust: Study Suggests Cancer Risk from Depleted Uranium

Depleted uranium, which is used in armor-piercing ammunition, causes widespread damage to DNA which could lead to lung cancer, according to a study of the metal’s effects on human lung cells. The study adds to growing evidence that DU causes health problems on battlefields long after hostilities have ceased. DU is a byproduct of uranium refinement for nuclear power. It is much less radioactive than other uranium isotopes, and its high density - twice that of lead - makes it useful for armor and armor piercing shells. It has been used in conflicts including Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq and there have been increasing concerns about the health effects of DU dust left on the battlefield. In November, the Ministry of Defense was forced to counteract claims that apparent increases in cancers and birth defects among Iraqis in southern Iraq were due to DU in weapons. Now researchers at the University of Southern Maine have shown that DU damages DNA in human lung cells. The team, led by John Pierce Wise, exposed cultures of the cells to uranium compounds at different concentrations.

“I Have Lost Everything”

Asif Muhammad, a 32-year-old engineer, says he is desperately looking for help for his child who is suffering from cancer. A widower since his wife was killed a year ago in a Baghdad explosion, he is trying to survive and take care of his only child, seven-year-old daughter Maysoon. Muhammad has no money and two months ago was sacked, he says, because of his sect. Now looking for a job and treatment for his daughter, Muhammad said he has to save her life because after losing his wife he cannot bear to lose his daughter. Should he lose her, he says, he would prefer to die. "I'm in a critical situation. I don't have money for my daughter's treatment. She was recently diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas. Government hospitals lack medicines and I cannot buy from private pharmacies because the prices are astronomical. "I have looked for help from an NGO but they don't hand out medicines and with each day it is proving more difficult to get a job because of the sectarian violence.

Fate of Kirkuk

Iraq is expected to settle the final status of multi-ethnic Kirkuk in a local referendum by the end of 2007. With Iraq's government and Washington focused on saving Baghdad from civil war, a think-tank last month warned that ignoring Kirkuk could see conflict spread to the relatively peaceful north and even spill over the border into Turkey. Kirkuk, an ancient city 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, is claimed by ethnic Kurds, Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen. Once a melting pot of Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Turkmen and Armenians, the city's woes are a recipe for bloodshed if a peaceful solution is not found, analysts said. Kurds see Kirkuk as their historical capital and want it included in their autonomous Kurdistan region. They want the referendum held by year-end as stated in the constitution. Arabs and Turkmen accuse Kurds of pushing them out of the city. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose government includes Kurdish parties, last month agreed to give Arab families in Kirkuk $15,000 each and a piece of land if they voluntarily returned to their original towns.

Life Blooms On the Side Streets of Baghdad

The main roads and markets of Baghdad terrify residents. Car bombs are hidden amid the traffic of congested streets. Suicide bombers wearing explosive vests lurk in crowds shopping for groceries. But life hasn't stopped. It's receded into Baghdad's side streets, where neighborhoods are becoming self-sufficient enclaves in which Sunni and Shiite Muslim residents can shop among their own without fear of retribution. It's one more sign that the capital's division into sectarian pockets won't be undone soon. Retailers report that they no longer sell some products because the suppliers belong to the rival religious group. Truckers have set up an exchange area outside Baghdad where goods are divvied up to retailers based on their sects. Stores in the historic Shorja market, long considered Iraq's most important, take orders by phone for delivery because customers are afraid to come and inspect the goods in person. The result has been a new pattern of life for many as they search for ways to stay in their Sunni or Shiite neighborhoods. Off busy Palestine Street in east Baghdad near the Sadr City neighborhood, Ali Jalil and his older brother, Salam, converted their garden into a mini-mart about a year ago in their mostly Shiite neighborhood.

………..Yarmouk, in west Baghdad, once was completely residential, an upscale neighborhood where well-off merchants and professionals lived. Now the streets of the Sunni neighborhood bloom with shops. In the past few months three mini-marts, a clothes shop, a barbershop, two Internet cafes and a computer shop have opened in what were once residents' gardens. Young men are working as mechanics from their garages. A woman opened a beauty salon in her home. A bakery is under construction. One store owner said he tried to stock his shelves but couldn't get certain products. When a customer asked for a long lighter for her gas stove, he apologized. He no longer stocked them; they came from a Shiite vendor.

Tigris Becoming a Graveyard of Bodies

The River Tigris has long been a symbol of prosperity in Iraq but since the US-led invasion in 2003, this amazing watercourse has turned into a graveyard of bodies. In addition, the water level is decreasing as pollution increases, say environmentalists. Pollution in the river is caused by oil derivatives and industrial waste as well as Iraqi and US military waste, they say. The river was one of the main sources of water, food, transport and recreation for the local population but after four years of war and pollution, it has been transformed into a stagnant sewer, according to environmentalists. "The situation is critical. The river is gradually being destroyed and there are no projects to prevent its destruction," said Professor Ratib Mufid, an environment expert at Baghdad University.

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

Sunni Demands Could Unravel Iraqi Government

Iraq's top Sunni official has set a deadline of next week for pulling his entire bloc out of the government -- a potentially devastating blow to reconciliation efforts within Iraq. He also said he turned down an offer by President Bush to visit Washington until he can count more fully on U.S. help. Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi made his comments in an interview with CNN. He said if key amendments to the Iraq Constitution are not made by May 15, he will step down and pull his 44 Sunni politicians out of the 275-member Iraqi parliament. "If the constitution is not subject to major changes, definitely, I will tell my constituency frankly that I have made the mistake of my life when I put my endorsement to that national accord," he said.

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

Baghdad Outposts

To guard against bombs, mortar fire and other threats, U.S. commanders are adding fortifications to the outposts, setting them farther back from traffic and arming them with antitank weapons capable of stopping suicide bombers driving armored vehicles. U.S. troops maintain the advantage of living in the neighborhoods they are asked to protect, but the need to safeguard themselves from attack means more walls between them and civilians. At a moonlit outpost on the edge of Baghdad's Sadr City one night last week, 1st Sgt. Donald Knapp balanced himself on a concrete barrier suspended by a crane and slowly guided a heavy slab into position. It was 3 a.m., and Knapp and a few other soldiers were working through the night to fortify their camp.

……….More than 60 joint security stations, staffed by American and Iraqi forces, and U.S. combat outposts are now operating in Baghdad, leading to an increase in the discovery of weapons caches, a U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, said Monday.

A Sheik and His Uninvited ‘Guests’ Mirror Uneasy Iraq-U.S. Ties

Nearly every day, the sheik stops by the villa that was once his home, but is now an American garrison. Sometimes he comes with tips about the insurgency, or with news of political developments in this rural village near the Euphrates River. But mostly he comes to ask for his house back. “To take my home in this way is not right,” the sheik, Hamed Moussa Khalaf al-Duleimi, said one afternoon in April, putting a wrinkled, bronzed hand on the knee of the 31-year-old American commander, Capt. Chris Calihan. Sheik Duleimi, 74, has not lived here since January, when marines on a counterinsurgency mission burst in late one night, announced that they were turning his house into a military base and evicted him. He sent his family to a rented apartment in Falluja while he moved into a son’s home just across the road.

Pentagon Taps 35,000 Troops Set for Iraq Tour

Iran Offers To Help US Find Iraq Exit

Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian deputy foreign minister who attended last week's conference on Iraq's future at Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, has offered Tehran's co-operation to the US in developing an "exit strategy" from Iraq. Mr Araghchi on Tuesday said America and Iran had the "same interests" in a stable Iraq and that direct talks leading to a "face-saving withdrawal" were possible with Washington's goodwill. He dismissed as "theatrical behaviour" the comings and goings at Sharm el Sheikh – when Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki left a dinner when he was reportedly placed opposite Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state. But Mr Araghchi insisted Iran wanted to develop a common approach to Iraq's future with Iraq's other neighbours and "foreign forces". ….."Their invasion was a disaster – let there not be a disastrous withdrawal," he said in an interview. "Yes, immediate withdrawal could lead to chaos, civil war. No one is asking for immediate withdrawal of foreign forces. But there should be a plan."

COMMENTARY

OPINION: IRAQ OIL LAW: IN WHOSE INTEREST?

A draft of a new oil law is working its way through Iraq's parliamentary process. An earlier draft, in English, was leaked in mid-2006, shocking a number of specialists. Among them was Erik Leaver of the institute for Policy Studies, who spotted language matching exactly that of a previously leaked seminar paper produced by a private contracting company called Bearing Point. The architects of a new Iraq oil law aim to privatize Iraq's oil and open the doors for American companies to sign long term contracts controlling Iraq's oil resources and infrastructure, which is in violation of existing US legislation (No: 109-234) which stipulates that "no funds...may be made available to establish permanent United States military bases in Iraq or to exercise control by the United States over the oil infrastructure or oil resources of Iraq." Passing a new oil law is not an urgent item on Iraq's agenda. Despite this, a new law is being prepared by the Iraqi separatist leaders, the Bush Administration, US oil companies, and the IMF. US contractors such as Bearing Point have been working with the US State Department to draft the law and the State Department has been pushing for the privatization of Iraq's oil in plans dating back as far as 2002. More than 60 Iraqi experts and officials signed a petition against the new oil law in March 2007. One member of the Iraqi parliament participating in the Amman-Jordan conference said, "This law must be rejected as whole, there is no way it can be enhanced or fixed." Many Iraqis and Iraqi parliamentarians agree.

Opinion: Iraq Is Not Our Country

A few reminders: Iraq is not our country. Our invasion and occupation are illegal, being in violation of both international law and our own traditions. We were lied into war. We are still being lied to. Both the Bush administration and the Democrats intend to maintain American troops in Iraq indefinitely. The catchy little phrase "If you break it, you own it" might apply to unpurchased merchandise, but it definitely does not apply to nation-states. You don't gain title to your neighbor's house just because you blow it up. We definitely broke Iraq, but that only gives us the burden of sin. It does not entitle us to the country.