Residents gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in Samara, 96 km (60miles) north of Baghdad October 14, 2007. The attack killed 18 people and wounded 32 others, police said. REUTERS/Sabah al-Bazee (IRAQ) Note: The casualty total reported in the photo caption is considerably higher than reported elsewhere. We'll have to wait for clarification.
Reported Security Incidents
Note: Many Iraqi news operations were closed yesterday for Eid al-Fitr. It is possible that reporting is still limited today, as Shiites are still celebrating the second day of the holiday, but clearly reported levels of violence have increased from yesterday's low. -- C
Casualty Report
DoD identifies a previously unreported combat death. Pvt. Nathan Z. Thacker, 18, of Greenbrier, Ark., died Oct. 12 in Kirkuk, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
Baghdad
Nine killed, 13 injured when a car bomb explodes next to a minibus waiting to take passengers to a Shiite shrine. The incident occurred at Eden square in northwest Baghdad. Police had earlier found and defused another car bomb nearby. Note: Other sources give lower casualty figures but this seems to be the most recent.
Police find the bodies of three people in various places on Saturday.
al-Imadiyah and Zakho, northern Kurdistan
Turkey fires hundreds of artillery shells across the border, setting croplands ablaze. This situation is growing more perilous. See "Other News of the Day."
Samarra
Large-scale, coordinated attack on a police station results in deaths of 8 civilians, injuries to four civilians and 3 police officers. Suicide truck bomb is followed by a "swarm" of at least 60 gunmen in 20 vehicles. Fighting ends when attackers are chased away by U.S. helicopters. Note: Casualty total may rise. See photo caption
Update: As the Reuters photo caption indicates, casualties were indeed far greater than earlier reported. Police now say eight security officers and ten civilians killed, 37 people injured.
Near Hilla
Drive by attack on Sadrist office in al-Hashimiya, south of Hilla, kills a bystander.
Gunmen injure a Sadrist official in an attack north of Hilla.
Four civilians killed, seventeen gunmen arrested in a battle north of Hilla. It seems likely the above incident is related in some way, but it is unclear what was going on or who was fighting whom.
Police officer killed in drive-by shooting. No indication whether this was related to the larger battle, but there certainly seems to have been an unusual concentration of violence in this area. This is a Shiite region and the most likely underlying dynamic would be a power struggle between Sadrist and SIIC-Badr factions. -- C
Basra
Gunmen planting an explosive near an oil pipeline clash with security guards kill 1, injure another. This was evidently a major pipeline serving Iraqi refineries.
Kirkuk
Body found on the highway between Kirkuk and Sulamaniyah. This is likely to be the same incident reported by Reuters, which adds that the body showed signs of torture.
Khan Bani Saad (Diyala)
One Iraqi soldier killed, 4 injured, by roadside bomb.
Jurf al-Sakhar (south of Baghdad)
Farmer killed trying to remove a bomb from under his tractor.
Iskandariya
Shiite/Sunni tribal battle leaves 2 dead from each side. U.S. forces intervene and make arrests.
Mosul
Two Catholic priests are abducted from a funeral procession on Saturday. Archbishop waits until today to publicize the incident in hope of receiving a ransom demand. Pope appeals for their release.
Other News of the Day
PKK commander Murat Karayilan warns Turkey of dire consequences if it attacks into Kurdistan.
Meanwhile, Turkish General Yasar Buyukanit warns of grave damage to relations with the U.S. if Congress passes a resolution labeling Ottoman killing of Armenians as genocide. This dispute threatens to compromise the ability of the U.S. to encourage restraint on Turkey's part against the PKK, and could lead to serious difficulties supplying the occupation if Turkey reduces its cooperation, as Turkish air bases are essential to U.S. logistics. (The Iraq Today format is not about extensive commentary of my own, but I will say something about this in the comments, and I encourage others to weigh in as well. -- C)
Amar Hakim, son and designated successor to SIIC leader Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, rejects possibility of permanent U.S. bases in Iraq. He also calls for a new security agreement with the "international forces" following death of {Shiite) civilians in a U.S. airstrike on Jayzani. This is lip service, of course, until and unless SIIC actually demands the withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Ammar al-Hakim then visits Ramadi to visit with representatives of the Sunni Anbar Awakening Council. He is pushing regional autonomy, and this appears to be the agenda of the visit.
Quote of the Day
The permanent danger
Few days ago, I was about to face the same fate of the innocent civilians in Al Nosoor square when my bad luck put me in intersection with one of the security companies but Allah save me when they hardly stopped their vehicles that almost hit my car but they didn’t kill me … Yes they didn’t kill me ….Oh God that is great. I’m alive. I was driving my car near a high way when four vehicles (4 wheel drive vehicles) came from the high way. They were in my side (driving in the wrong side) and they faced me. I didn’t expect them because I didn’t expect to see cars coming in the wrong side on a high way. There was a sedan car leading the convoy and covered faces men waving to the cars. At the last moment, I saw them. I cant describe my condition but all I can say is (I was totally lost). I was so confused to the extent that I stopped my car in the intersection. OMG, Im a dead woman but the miracle happened, the convoy stopped or to be more specific, Im a hero because I forced the convoy to stop. YES, Im a super woman. At that time I thanked Allah thousands times because they didn’t shoot me. I think they adjusted some of their roles after the last two incidents but my dreams vanished with the new that a security private guards killed two Christian women in Baghdad. Why they were killed? what kind of danger that two innocent ladies were carrying to those guard. They had nothing might threaten the convoy but it was their bad luck that put them in that street at this moment….. Now I believe that this danger will accompany Iraqis as long as the occupier is still in their country and as long as the Iraqi government is unstable to protect its people. We will keep paying our lives as a price for the weakness of our government but we will always blame the (bad luck).
Iraqi blogger Jenan
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