War News for Monday, July 28, 2008

July 25 airpower summary:

July 26 Airpower Summary:

Empty Iraq prison: A $40 million failure


Baghdad:
#1: Three blasts in Baghdad killed at least 25 Shia Muslim pilgrims heading for the city's Kadhimiya shrine. The attacks, which wounded about 52 people, were carried out by women suicide bombers, police said.

All the explosions were close to Baghdad's Karrada district in central Baghdad, an area many pilgrims would pass through on their way to the shrine. It was unclear if the victims were pilgrims.

The violence began in Baghdad, when a roadside bomb and three suicide attackers exploded in quick succession among crowds of Shiite pilgrims, killing at least 28 people and wounding 92, police and hospital officials said.

#2: Iraqi police forces on Monday defused an explosive charge in southern Baghdad, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior said, noting that no casualties or damage have been reported


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: Another three men and a woman were killed in a roadside bombing near Baquba, north of Baghdad, police said.


Latifiya:
#1: A Sahwa (Awakening) tribal fighter was killed on Monday when unidentified gunmen attacked a checkpoint in the area of al-Latifiya, northern Babel, a security source said.


Mussayab:
#1: The body of a handcuffed woman with a gunshot wound to the chest was pulled from the Euphrates river near Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: At least 22 people were killed in a suicide bombing on Monday during a protest rally in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk and in gunfire in the panic that followed, officials said. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives belt in a group of people in downtown Kirkuk who were protesting against a provincial election law, prompting guards to fire to disperse a surging crowd, officials told AFP. "The victims were people who ran away after the explosion, and guards opened fire, shooting into the air," said Najat Hassam, a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). "More people then responded to the gunfire with more shooting. The result of all this was 22 people killed and 120 injured." Sharzad Hamed Aziz, a doctor at Azady hospital, said his facility had received received 22 bodies and 120 wounded people.

#2: Police also found a car bomb nearby and destroyed it without causing casualties after evacuating the area, Tahir said.


Mosul:
#1: Unknown gunmen on Monday killed the board's chairman of the Cooperation Union in eastern Mosul city, a local police source said."Today, unknown gunmen driving a modern vehicle opened fire on Taghreed Ahmed al-Maadidi in al-Qadissiya al-Thaniya area, eastern Mosul, while she was leaving her house for work, killing her on the spot," the source, who preferred to remain unnamed, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.

#2: Four insurgents were killed and 58 suspected al Qaeda members were detained on Sunday during operations in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed by small arms fire in the operations, it added.

#3: Gunmen shot a woman dead in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#4: Gunmen killed a civilian when they opened fire in centre Mosul, police said.

#5: The body of a woman bearing gunshot wounds was found in western Mosul, police said.



Afghanistan:
#1: NATO-led soldiers in a convoy opened fire on a vehicle approaching them in a "threatening manner", killing two children and wounding a man in southern Kandahar on Sunday, the alliance said on Monday.

Canadian troops in Afghanistan opened fire on a civilian vehicle Monday, killing two children and injuring an adult, NATO said.

#2: Three civilians were killed when a rocket fired from an unknown location hit a residential area on Monday in eastern Nuristan, the provincial governor said.

#3: Missiles hit a religious school Monday in a village just inside Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, killing six people, officials and state media said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the incident follows a series of strikes apparently by U.S. aircraft in recent months against militant leaders holed up in Pakistan's tribal belt. According to state-run Pakistan Television, the missiles came down in Azam Warsak, a village in the South Waziristan region. It said six people were killed and several others injured.