HOMELESS

Two Iraqis living in Paris talk about how it feels to be without a place they can identify with.

Security Incidents for Monday,May 28, 07

A picture released by the US military 27 May shows Marines paying their final respects to two comrades in Fallujah. Arch foes Iran and the United States began their highest-level official face-to-face talks in 27 years in Baghdad on Monday against a backdrop of mutual recriminations over the chaos in Iraq(AFP/USMC/Ryan M. Blaich)

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Baghdad:
#1: A security detainee died May 26 at Camp Cropper, Iraq. The detainee was pronounced dead at 2:59 p.m. on May 26 by an attending physician at Camp Cropper’s medical facility. An investigation is pending to determine the cause of death, a standard procedure for detainees who die while in custody of the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I). The suspected cause of death is complications from diabetes.

#2: A car bomb in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed at least 19 people and wounded 46 more, police have said. The bomb went off at 1400 (1000 GMT) in the Sinak commercial district on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, the Associated Press reported. Two traffic policemen were among those injured and at least eight civilian cars were damaged by the blast, AP quoted police as saying.

#3: Also in central Baghdad (Fadhil area), a battle raged after insurgents hijacked two buses and kidnapped at least 15 passengers, police said. At least three policemen had been killed and eight wounded, including four passers-by, authorities said. The small buses where traveling through the Fadhil neighborhood, a Sunni enclave in central Baghdad, when they were waylaid by unidentified gunmen in three cars at 10:15 a.m. The insurgents then abducted at least 15 passengers and took them to a nearby abandoned government building, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters. The buses were heading from Baghdad's central Bab al-Mudham bus station to the city's eastern Shiite neighborhoods. The fighting began when Iraqi security forces reached the scene about 30 minutes later, police said. Nine militants were arrested as they attacked security forces from nearby alleys with light weapons. According to Iraqi police, at least two U.S. helicopters were hovering overhead and U.S. forces had taken up positions near the fighting, but were not directly involved.

#4: (update) Forty-five unidentified bodies were found Sunday in Baghdad, an Interior Ministry official said. So far in May, the bodies of 631 victims of sectarian violence have been found in Baghdad, surpassing the total of 585 bodies found in all of Iraq last month, according to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Authorities across the country found 682 bodies in February and 673 in March.

#5: A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded nine others in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

#6: Unidentified gunmen killed three policemen on Monday morning in the area of al-Bayyaa in western Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said. "The gunmen, in two civilian vehicles, opened fire at three policemen inside a garage in al-Bayyaa, killing them instantly," the source, who declined to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

#7: Separately, police said that a roadside bomb killed two people and injured nine when it detonated under a parked car in the central Baghdad district of Bab al-Muadham.

#8: Another two people were killed and six were wounded after two mortar rounds slammed into a street in Karrada, a Shiite-dominated neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, police said.

#9: A sniper killed a female college student near in al-Mustansiriya University in northeastern Baghdad, police said

#10: The Iraqi army killed an insurgent and arrested 45 others during the past 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the Defence Ministry said

#11: Four people were killed and 29 wounded when a bomb was detonated inside a restaurant in the Bab al-Muadham district of north-central Baghdad, police said.


Diyala Prv:
Baquba:
#1: One person was killed and 11 wounded by a mortar round in Baquba, police said.

#2: Early in the day, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol at Ameen neighborhood north of Baquba, killing a police officer.

#3: After mid-day, police patrol found two dead bodies in Doura neighborhood north Baquba. The corpses had bullet wounds in their heads and chests and signs of torture.

Muqdadiya:
#1: Before mid-day, a squad of the fifth division of the Iraqi army raided a site in Shaqraq village north of Muqdadiya ( 45 km north east of Baghdad) killing four terrorists. They seized a large cache of weapons and ammunition.

#2: Around mid-day, an armed group opened fire randomly at Barawana village in Muqdadiya ( 45 km north east Baghdad) killing one civilian and injuring three.

Saisabana:
#1: Around 1 pm, gunmen killed one civilian and injured three when they opened fire on them at Saisabana village on the Baquba-Balad Rouz highway east of Baghdad.


Nahrawan:
#1: Two people were killed and one other was wounded in a mortar attack on Sunday in Nahrawan, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said


Uwaireg:
#1: The bodies of 12 men were found dumped in a large hole in the Uwaireg area south of Baghdad, police said. All the victims had gunshot wounds and showed signs of torture.


Baji:
#1: Hamad al-Jouburi, the head of a regional "salvation council" set up to fight al-Qaeda, said that gunmen attacked his brother's two houses and abducted four of his sons and set the houses on fire in a village near Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad. Earlier, local officials said gunmen killed the four sons of Jouburi's sister.


Hawija:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded four soldiers near the town of Hawija, 70 km (40 miles) southwest of Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded five policemen in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, police said


Mosul:
#1: Police found the bodies of three men in different parts of Mosul, police said.

#2: Four policemen were killed when a car bomb exploded in central Mosul, police said. The car was booby-trapped and contained the bodies of two men.


Al Anbar Prv:
Ramadi:
#1: A car bomb in a busy market killed seven people and wounded 12 on Sunday in the western outskirts of Ramadi, 110 km (70 miles) west of Baghdad, a hospital source said. Police said a suicide car bomber rammed his car into their checkpoint, wounding three policemen and a child.



Afghanistan:
#1: Thirteen people were killed and 35 wounded in Afghanistan on Monday when police opened fire to break up a violent protest against a provincial governor, witnesses said. More than 1,000 people were protesting to demand the removal of Juma Khan Hamdard, governor of the northern province of Jowzjan, and were throwing stones at several government offices in Shiberghan, the provincial capital, witnesses said. Police fired to stop the protesters from raiding the offices, the witnesses said. A provincial government spokesman said the protesters were supporters of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, for years a powerful military commander in the Afghan north.
#2: Taliban militants ambushed U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces escorting supply trucks in southern Afghanistan, sparking a 10-hour battle the coalition said killed an estimated two dozen militants, though villagers said Monday seven civilians also died. The southern violence began Sunday when an Afghan police and coalition convoy hit two roadside bombs and was ambushed by Taliban fighters while escorting 24 supply trucks in Helmand province, a coalition statement said Monday. The blast killed one Afghan truck driver and wounded three coalition soldiers, it said. Militants then launched rocket-propelled grenades and opened up with small-arms fire and the ensuing 10-hour clash and air strikes killed "an estimated two dozen enemy fighters," the coalition statement said. The coalition said "one enemy fighting position" was destroyed and "no Afghan civilian injuries were reported." But Abdul Qudus, a villager from Helmand's Gereshk district, said by phone that air strikes hit a civilian area. "They came and bombarded the houses of innocent people. Three houses were destroyed." "Seven people - including women and children - were killed and between 10 and 15 were wounded," Qudus said. "Villagers are still searching for five missing people." Another villager, Abdul Wahid, said the air strikes hit 16 ki;ometres away from the convoy ambush site on the main highway.

#3: In the north, a suicide bomber targeted foreigners in a four-wheel drive vehicle Monday, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding two others, officials said. In northern Kunduz, a suicide bomber targeted foreigners in a four-wheel drive vehicle but they were unhurt in the blast, said Kunduz provincial police chief Gen. Ayub Salangi. Two civilians in a nearby car were killed, he said. Provincial health department director Azizullah Safer said two other civilians were wounded.

#4: A suicide attack aimed at US private security contractors in northern Afghanistan killed two Afghan civilians and wounded another on Monday, officials said.

News of the Day for Sunday, May 27, 2007

Boots representing Corporal Timothy D. Ross sit among more than 3,400 pairs of combat boots, one pair for every U.S. soldier killed in the Iraq War, displayed as part of 'Eyes Wide Open: An Exhibition on the Human Cost of the Iraq War' in Chicago, May 25, 2007. Eight more U.S. soldiers have been killed in five previously unreported attacks in different areas of Iraq over the past four days, the U.S. military said on Saturday. (John Gress/Reuters)

>Update to today's Post: Statement by Andrew Bacevich.

SECURITY INCIDENTS

Baghdad

Police said they had found the bodies of 12 men, aged between 15 and 24, handcuffed, tortured and killed in the Doura district of southern Baghdad.

Reuters also reports:

• Gunmen killed two people and wounded nine others when they threw concussion grenades at a busy market in Shorja in central Baghdad, police said.
  
• Gunmen killed two people and wounded eight in the Bab al-Muadham area of central Baghdad, police said.
  
• Iraqi security forces found the bodies of 20 people across Baghdad on Saturday, police said. Most of the victims had gunshot wounds and were apparent victims of sectarian violence.
  
• U.S. forces detained 18 suspected insurgents and destroyed a cache of weapons and bomb-making materials during operations against al-Qaeda in Iraq, the U.S. military said.
  
• U.S. and Iraqi forces detained a militant leader believed to have ties to a network that imports deadly roadside bombs from neighbouring Iran during a raid in Baghdad's Shi'ite militia stronghold of Sadr City. Iran denies giving insurgents or militias weapons or funding.

In addition, Reuters reports, "The Iraqi army killed four insurgents and arrested 137 others during the past 24 hours in different parts of Iraq, the defence ministry said."

During a raid in Sadr City, U.S. forces shot an approaching vehicle and set it ablaze, according to the U.S. military. No injuries reported. However, AP Television News footage showed several cars burned and destroyed in the street, including a van that was scorched black, had its windows knocked out and its upholstery incinerated. The footage also showed a house that appeared to have been ransacked.

AP also reports that following the Shorja Market attack, "Later, the same gunmen ambushed a minibus, killing the driver, stealing the vehicle and abducting six passengers, police said."

Around 10.00am, three policemen were wounded by IED that targeted a convoy of interurban police in Al-Adhamiya neighborhood north Baghdad.

The Association of Muslim scholars claims that a U.S. air raid in western Baghdad killed 10 and wounded "scores". This report is not clear on the date of the alleged incident, but it appears to refer to Sunday morning.

Multi-National Corps Iraq reports today that one MND-B soldier was killed and four injured by an IED on Saturday. Two of the injured RTD, condition of other two unspecified.



Diyala Province (unspecified locations)

Major Gen. Caldwell says that U.S. forces rescued 41 Iraqi civilians Sunday from an al-Qaida hide-out northeast of Baghdad, including some who showed signs of torture and broken bones. No further details are available at this time. There is no information that any suspects were captured in this operation.

A group of gunmen, "disguised" as security personnel, abducted Sunday a high-ranking Iraqi police officer. Quotation marks around "disguised" added by me. They might have been disguised, or they might not have been -- C

One Task Force Lightning soldier killed, two injured in road-side explosion.

Kut

70 police officers resigned Sunday morning and handed over their weapons. Police said they cited their fears of being targeted by anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militants. Something seems wrong with this, the Mahdi Army is not known for attacks on police. -- C

UPDATE: The information is buried in in this AP story, and the sense is even reversed, but it turns out the police have been engaged in an offensive against the Mahdi Army, which has threatened retaliation. "Earlier this week, Mahdi Army militants captured at least seven members of the police rapid deployment force during a gun battle, police said. The militants beat the police officers and warned them to stop their offensive against the militia or they would kill them, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation."

Nahrawan

Gunmen killed two farmers and wounded nine others in a drive-by shooting in Nahrawan, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

Basra

British forces killed three militants during a raid in Basra against those behind a complex attack involving roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire, the British military said. Four people were also detained.

Shelling of British bases in Basra continues overnight Saturday and into Sunday.

Shirqat

Gunmen killed a police lieutenant-colonel and a captain in a drive-by shooting on Saturday south of Shirqat, 80 km (50 miles) south of Mosul, police said.

Samarra

Two senior police officers killed.

Mosul

One killed and 5 injured by car bomb explosion in Al Dhubat neighborhood.

Salah ed Din Province

Every time I see this name, it's spelled differently, which was starting to annoy me. I have decided to go with the standard English transliteration of the name of the great Kurdish general and empire builder as found in my Random House unabridged dictionary.

Two Iraqi police officers from Salaudeen province police, northern Baghdad, were assassinated by masked gunmen, police said.

OTHER NEWS AND IN-DEPTH REPORTING

Mercenaries continue to operate in Iraq without accountability or even public disclosure of their activities. This report from WaPo's Steve Fainaru and Saad al-Izzi no doubt describes only the tiny public tip of a big iceberg. Excerpt:

A Blackwater guard shot and killed an Iraqi driver Thursday near the Interior Ministry, according to three U.S. officials and one Iraqi official who were briefed on the incident but spoke on condition of anonymity because of a pending investigation. On Wednesday, a Blackwater-protected convoy was ambushed in downtown Baghdad, triggering a furious battle in which the security contractors, U.S. and Iraqi troops and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters were firing in a congested area.

Blackwater confirmed that its employees were involved in two shootings but could neither confirm nor deny that there had been any casualties, according to a company official who declined to be identified because of the firm's policy of not addressing incidents publicly.

Blackwater's security consulting division holds at least $109 million worth of State Department contracts in Iraq, and its employees operate in a perilous environment that sometimes requires the use of deadly force. But last week's incidents underscored how deeply these hired guns have been drawn into the war, their murky legal status and the grave consequences that can ensue when they take aggressive action.

Matthew Degn, a senior American civilian adviser to the Interior Ministry's intelligence directorate, described the ministry as "a powder keg" after the Iraqi driver was shot Thursday, with anger at Blackwater spilling over to other Americans working in the building.

Iran specialist on Council on Foreign Relations, Ray Takeyh, doesn't expect much to come from tomorrow's ambassador-level talks between U.S. and Iran in Baghdad. U.S. threats and saber-rattling against Iran, in his view, make diplomatic progress unlikely. However, Gary Sick is more optimistic. (Audio link)

Quote of the Day

Under the dry grass stem The words are blurred, are thickened, the words sift Confused by the rasp of the wind, by the thin grating Of ants under the grass, the minute shift And tumble of dusty sand separating From dusty sand. The roots of the grass strain, Tighten, the earth is rigid, waits -- he is waiting -- And suddenly, and all at once, the rain! The living scatter, they run into houses, the wind Is trampled under the rain, shakes free, is again Trampled. The rain gathers, running in thinned Spurts of water that ravel in the dry sand, Seeping in the sand under the grass roots, seeping Between crack boards of the bones of a clenched hand: The earth relaxes, loosens; he is sleeping, He rests, he is quiet, he sleeps in a strange land.

-- Captain Archibald MacLeish, U.S. Army, later Asst. Secretary of State, among other accomplishments. This poem, "Memorial Rain," was written in commemoration of his brother, killed in WWI.

News & Views 05/26/07

Photo: Basra: Iraqis mourn over the coffin of a Mahdi Army militant during his funeral in Iraq's southern port city of Basra, 26 May 2007. Shiite militiamen of the Mahdi Army pounded a British base in Iraq's main southern city of Basra overnight in retaliation for the slaying of their commander, Wissam Abu Qader, the British military said. British forces then attacked one militia position with a fighter jet and Iraqi police Captain Hassan Ali said the raid killed three people and wounded seven. (Essam al-Sudani/AFP-Getty Images)

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

How Does It Really Work?

Tuesday morning was a disaster for me , my family , relatives and friends.

At nine o'clock of Tuesday 22nd of May , the American forces had a raid on Amel neighborhood ( west Baghdad) ,the place where I live with my family which is few miles from Baghdad airport. At that time of the miserable day, I was at work as well as my three brothers so we left father and mother with two wives of my brothers with their children at home . Three armoured vehicles came to our alley ( street)carrying dozens of soldiers to search the houses looking for terrorists leaving at least 50 other vehicles in the area to do the same thing with other blocks . Father ( Abdul Kadhim Khalifa Murad Al-Taee ,65 years and a father of four sons and three daughters) was the first to receive the unwanted guests. There were at least twenty soldiers who entered the house and forced my father to sit on his knees with his head towards the wall with no consideration to his age ( 65 years old) and sickness( he has blood pressure with his left eye on recovery from a new operation ). They refused giving any kind of mercy or time to let the interpreter explain what my mother want to say to them about my father's condition . There were nine members at home during the raid (Father, mother, my two brothers' wives, four children (their ages; 14, 13, 9 , 7 and 2). After that , they kept the whole family in one room ( living room) except my father and one of the eldest nephew. My nephew( 14 years old) was sleeping at that time and he was shocked to be awaken up by American soldiers who were carrying guns and forced to join the group . Two of my nephews are pupils ( 7 and 9 years )and they were supposed to have their final examinations ( the primary schools started one day before the secondary ones)at 10 am ,but the Americans refused to let them go for their school. During the raid , the soldiers found some cables which are used for electric connections and they suspected that those cables might be used for bombing while no body in the world who has brain can doubt of having such kind of cables inside the Iraqi houses for one simple reason as we are in need for power supplies from different sources forgetting the main source which is not available nowadays . As you know we have two generators at home with one cable for them ( to swab them every 5 hours to have rest and fill with gasoline), one cable to the street's generator which supply the block with power ( about 30 houses paying 12 thousand dinars for every single ampere ) and we have 8 amperes from that generator . The last cable was to be connected with the neighbor's house to have power supply from them in case they have it , but as they have been displaced ,we kept it aside having no idea that the Americans would suspect of the cable which will be used in bombing cars to get rid of it before discovering it. Meanwhile , they searched my mother's wardrobe finding a small tube having salt inside with some kinds of solid perfumes suspecting that these things are chemical materials which would be used in bombing giving no chance for my mother to explain to them or her trying to tell them that she can taste it to ensure them what materials they are and the reasons behind keeping these things in her wardrobe ( she has got these things as a gift from her relative as she went to the Imam Al-Ridha Shrine in Iran to have his blessing ) . Few seconds later , they brought my father taking his finger prints telling him that him that the test is positive and the marks on his hands referring that he is an expert of explosives .In fact , he has nothing to do with that , he was an electrician who worked hard for about forty years till he had got the pension in 1991, but he didn't stop working for his own business till the last four years ago. I forgot to tell that they asked my father about any kind of weapons that we have , he told them that we have only one machine gun in the house and he gave it to them . They took the gun and my father saying that his hands carry TNT . Father has been taken to the unknown having no idea where he is , the condition he is in as he is ill and where to ask to have any kind of information about him or the charges behind this arrest.

Today is Friday and we still have no news of my father nor the Americans. [You can leave comments at this blog. – dancewater]

Music

Iraq is well known in the region with its Maqam music that goes back in history for hundreds of years. Nowadays the freedom that have been given to radicals and criminals to kill and kidnap almost made every single musician and Iraqi singer to flee the country. Music disappeared from our lives, no concerts, no dancing parties and if the current situation continued there will be no CD's to buy. i loved the song that you will hear part of it and i want to share it with you.... I want to share with you this small part of a recent song of the famous Iraqi singer Kathem Al Sahir in Arabic (كاظم الساهر) or written as Kazim. the translation of the part (88 seconds):

“City of love, i tread your streets
And see love carried within shrouds

Pour torture, however you please, upon my body
For there are no witnesses to torture by my jailer.”

To listen CLICK HERE (to save right click and then save target as)

Antiquities Department asks political faction to evacuate Basra Museum

A political faction has occupied the premises of Basra Museum which used to house thousands of archaeological relics. The Basra Museum was looted shortly after U.S.-led invasion of the country in 2003. The British troops who occupied Basra did nothing to protect the museum. The museum’s collection of magnificent and priceless artifacts was stolen or broken and homeless families moved into its premises. A statement by The Antiquities Department faxed to the newspaper says the museum and its annexes are now occupied by an influential political faction in Basra which paid off the families to persuade them to move. The statement did not name the political party but said its leaders were demanding huge sums of money before leaving. Most of the museum’s possessions are still missing and the building itself is in need of repairs and renovation.

Pipeline to carry Iraqi crude to Iran

Iraq has accepted an Iranian offer to build a pipeline connecting its terminals and refineries to the prolific Iraqi oil fields in Basra. Assem Jihad, Oil Ministry’s Information Officer said, the agreement was reached during a meeting between Oil Minister Hussain Shahristani and the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad. Initially, the pipeline will carry 200,000 barrels of Iraqi crude to Iran. The countries will soon form a joint committee on how to implement the project, Jihad said. However, Jihad declined comment on financing and duration of execution. But said Shahristani has invited Iranian firms to invest in Iraq and present their offers to build new refineries in the country.

Iraqi church leaders blame U.S. for their parishioners’ plight

Iraqi church leaders say the country’s Christians are suffering immensely and have blamed the U.S. for what they describe as their “tragic conditions”. They said their churches were being evacuated and monasteries occupied by U.S. occupation troops while cities like Basra and Baghdad were being emptied of Christians. “U.S. and Iraqi officials are responsible … They have insulted and humiliated our temples and churches,” said Patriarch Amanuel Dali, the head of the Chaldean Catholic community in Iraq. The Chaldeans were the largest Christian group in the country but their numbers have dwindled since the U.S. invasion of 2003. “Christians are being forced to flee their areas by armed groups who are in control of streets in Baghdad, Basra, Mosul and other cities,” Dali said. “I plead with the world countries and human rights organizations to stop the violations being committed against Iraqi minorities,” he added. Iraqi Christians in the southern and central parts of Iraq are afraid to attend church services and monks and nuns living in Baghdad’s numerous monasteries have all but fled.

More unidentified bodies buried in Karbala cemetery

Grave diggers in the holy city of Karbala have buried 91 bodies of victims of violence and sectarian strife in the country. An official source said the bodies were so mutilated that it was difficult for the authorities to recognize their identity. The bodies were left for a long period in the Baghdad morgue. The decision to have them buried was taken because the morgue had no more room left to accommodate victims of the latest upsurge in violence. Iraqi families are in constant move, fleeing from one area to another either escaping sectarian fighting or U.S. military operations. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are on the move and nearly two million are said to have fled abroad. Municipal workers’ main task in major cities is collecting dead bodies left on pavements of streets and roundabouts. They are taken to the morgue but normally there is no one requesting the bodies for proper burial. The source said the bodies buried in Karbala were pictured and numbered in a bid to enable the loved ones recognize them “if they are interested in retrieving the bodies in the future.”

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

TNT Found in the Office of Iraqi MP

Partisan politics make for a dirty game, but nowhere more so than in Iraq. Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar, the Iraqi in charge of the Baghdad security plan and the Interior Ministry, reportedly presented Prime Minister Maliki with a dossier of 15 parliamentarians who should be stripped of immunity and prosecuted for ties to terrorists last month. Now the NY Sun's Eli Lake reports that one of the names on that list, Khalaf al-Ayan, is suspected of involvement in the April 12 Parliament bombing.

Mahdi Army Vows Revenge on British Troops After Basra Leader is Killed

The Mahdi army Shia militia vowed last night to conduct revenge attacks on British soldiers in southern Iraq after its Basra leader was killed by Iraqi special forces in an operation supported by UK troops. Wissam Abu Qader, described by British officials as responsible for criminal activities and attacks against foreign troops, was killed shortly after leaving Friday prayers. A British army spokesman said he died while trying to resist arrest. An Iraqi military intelligence officer said he was travelling in a car with two other men when it came under fire.

…..But the Mahdi army blamed an Iraqi army hit squad, which it says works with the British, for the killing, and promised swift revenge. "The Mahdi army will attack any British unit, they will see to avenge his killing," said a mid-ranking commander, Abu Mujtaba. "Our men are moving all over Basra now in civilian cars carrying RPGs and weapons. We have the full cooperation of the police who will inform us on any moving British vehicles." The incident came just hours after the militia's leader in Iraq, the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, resurfaced after keeping a low profile for four months, portraying himself as a nationalist leader committed to the political process. He called on his militia to stop attacks on Iraqi security forces.

Former security personnel reluctant to report to Interior Ministry

Many members of the former security forces are reluctant to join the Interior Ministry for fear of retaliation. The ministry, in a bid to accommodate former security forces, has given those residing in Iraq 60 days to report to its offices if they were willing to join the new security organs. Those living outside Iraq have 90 days to report. The measure, according to Lt. Gen. Abdulkarim Khalifa, is part of government plans to reverse a U.S.-sponsored decree which disbanded the former army, security organizations and other institutions which served under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Many in Iraq and abroad believe the decree was one of the main catalysts to fuel violence and the growing insurgency against U.S. occupation troops. But the move is drawing harsh criticism from several political factions and former security personnel themselves. Some political factions, particularly those dominated by Iraqi Shiites, see the move as an attempt to resurrect former security organs and members of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party. They are keen to keep the so-called policy of debaathification under which Baath party members are not allowed to take up government positions or join the armed forces. On the other hand, many former Baath party members fear that once they register with the Interior Ministry their identity will be exposed and as a result become easy targets for ‘death squads’ bent on liquidating former army, police and security officers.

COMMENTARY

Report Highlights US-Centric Nature of American Coverage of War

The war in Iraq has dwarfed all other topics in the American news media in the early months of 2007—taking up more than three times the space devoted to the next most popular subject. But only a portion of this has focused on the state of things in Iraq itself, and even less about the plight of Iraqis and the internal affairs of their country, according to a new study of the American news media. The majority of the war coverage, 55%, has been about the political debate back in Washington. Less than a third, 31%, has been focused on events in Iraq itself. And about half that coverage has been about American soldiers there. In all, just one in six stories about the war has been focused on Iraqis, Iraqi casualties or the internal political affairs of their country, the report finds, while more than eight in ten have focused primarily Americans or American policy. [It’s all about US. – dancewater]

UNICEF Appeal For Iraqi Children

Iraqi children are getting caught up in a growing humanitarian tragedy as violence continues in the country, the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) has warned. Half of the four million Iraqis who have fled their homes since the conflict began are children. And the needs of children are outstripping the international aid that has been supplied, the agency said. More funds were needed, Unicef said, launching an appeal for almost $42m (£21m) over the next six months. "Violence is creating widows and orphans on a daily basis, many of whom are left to struggle for survival," it said. "Iraq's children, already casualties of a quarter of a century of conflict and deprivation, are being caught up in a rapidly worsening humanitarian tragedy."

….."Our experience operating daily inside Iraq confirms to us that aid does indeed reach children and makes a tremendous impact, even in extremely insecure areas," said Daniel Toole, Unicef's chief of emergency operations. One such example was a recent immunisation programme under which 3.6 million children were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella, Unicef said. But it warned that cholera could be a problem over the summer, citing five early cases among children under 12 in the city of Najaf. A lack of clean drinking water and healthcare could increase the danger of an outbreak, the agency said. It plans to supply hundreds of thousands of rehydration packs which can stop the disease becoming fatal.

The Secret Iraq Documents My 8-Year-Old Found

Presumably, staffers at the CPA's Information Management Unit, which produced the weekly reports, were cutting and pasting large sections of text into the reports and then eliminating all but the few short passages they needed. Much of the material they were cribbing seems to have come from the kind of sensitive, security-related documents that were never meant to be available to the public. In fact, about half of the 20 improperly redacted documents I downloaded, including the March 28 report, contain deleted portions that all seem to come from one single, 1,000-word security memo. The editors kept pulling text from a document titled "Why Are the Attacks Down in Al-Anbar Province -- Several Theories." (The security memo and the last page of the March 28 report can be seen here, along with several other CPA documents that can be downloaded.)

Microsoft Word's "Mark up" feature shows the time and date of the deletion and the identity of the person doing the deleting, but it doesn't give the original author of the passage or when it was written. The title and hints in the text point to a memo written by one person in December 2003 or January 2004, when daily attacks on coalition forces in Anbar, the heavily Sunni province west of Baghdad that is the heartland of the insurgency, were the lowest in many months. These were the CPA's salad days. Prior to the al-Sadr uprising and the Abu Ghraib scandal and the failed siege of Fallujah later in 2004, the CPA believed that it was succeeding in reshaping Iraq. In his book "The Assassins' Gate," George Packer depicts late 2003 and early 2004 as the last phase of quiet isolation for the CPA, before the facts on the ground began to impinge on its Green Zone idyll. "Why Are the Attacks Down" shows the CPA on the cusp, as the author gives a half-dozen different theories for the short-term decline in violence.

………A final argument for the downturn in attacks offers what briefly looks like a flash of reality. The "Operational Pause" theory surmises that reduced attacks may be a statistical blip. They may increase again as "terrorists" regroup for future fights against the Americans and "other Iraqis." But then the author calls this "a boring theory," and notes, "There are very few persons we have met who subscribe to this." Nowhere in any of these theories, including the "boring" one, does the author address the dissolution of the Iraqi Army as a major contributor to the violence. Nowhere, in fact, does the author seem to know which "bums" or "losers" are attacking the Americans or why. Indeed, the most remarkable passage in the entire deletion is a simple statement by an Iraqi businessman, whom the writer quotes in passing while explaining why American-induced economic prosperity will end the fighting. "It is nothing personal," the Iraqi says. "I like you and believe you could be bringing us a better future, but I still sympathize with those who attack the coalition because it is not right for Iraq to be occupied by foreign military forces." In the world of the CPA circa 2004, first one American glosses over this Iraqi's prophetic words, and then another tries -- unsuccessfully, as it turns out -- to delete them.

How to Help Iraqi Refugees

Quote of the day: This administration has acted from a position that denigrates human rights, legal rights, moral rights, the rights of decency, inalienable rights, privacy rights, civil rights, women’s rights, environmental rights, worker’s rights, and children’s rights. The only right they have respected is the right of entitlement. Their own. Our only hope is to demand our rights, our rights as citizens, our rights to our ideals, our rights to a sense of morality. The destruction of a small village in Vietnam was once explained away by our military as a village that had to be destroyed in order to save it. That perversity became symbolic of the entire war. Accurately. The War on Iraq should now be described as a war that must be lost in order to save America. That is our moral obligation. – Robert Shetterly

Security Incidents for 05/26/07

Photo: Baghdad: Iraqis inspect the damage to cars after US-led forces called in airstrikes to support an early morning raid in the Baghdad Shiite stronghold of Sadr City today. US-led forces seized a suspected militant with ties to Iran and killed five. (Wissam al-Okaili/AFP-Getty Images)

Baghdad- At least four people, including three policemen, were killed and ten others, including seven policemen, were wounded on Saturday in two separate attacks in northern and western Baghdad, a police source said.

Baghdad- Iraqi police patrols found on Saturday 20 bodies with gunshots in eastern and western Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said.

Baghdad- At least seven people were killed and 30 more wounded on Saturday in a series of attacks in southwestern Baghdad, a police source said.

Baghdad– Two U.S. soldiers were killed and another wounded in clashes in the capital Baghdad and the restive Sunni western Iraq province of Anbar, the U.S. army announced in two separate statements on Saturday.

Baghdad- The U.S. army said on Saturday a suspected leader of a secret cell was arrested and five gunmen were killed during a raid in the Shiite Sadr City, eastern Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier was killed and two were wounded by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber targeting an Iraqi army checkpoint killed two soldiers and wounded 11 others in western Ghazaliya district, police said.

BAGHDAD - A mortar attack wounded eight people in north-central Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - At least five people were killed and 37 were wounded when a car bomb and several mortar rounds exploded in a crowded market of Baghdad's Shi'ite Bayaa district, police said.

BAGHDAD - A mortar round killed two people and wounded seven when it struck homes in eastern Baghdad on Friday, police said.

DIWANIYA - Gunmen killed three off-duty Iraqi soldiers in the southern Iraqi city of Diwaniya on Friday, police said.

HAWIJA - Gunmen killed a policeman near the insurgent stronghold of Hawija, a Sunni Arab town 70 km (43 miles) southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

TAJI - U.S. forces killed two insurgents and detained 23 others during a raid in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

DAQUQ - Police found the bodies of three people bearing signs of torture on Friday in the town of Daquq, 40 km (25 miles) south of Kirkuk, police said.

KIRKUK - Police found the remains of a charred body in central Kirkuk, police said.

TIKRIT - Gunmen killed a captain in the police force in the Sunni Arab town of Tikrit as he headed home from work, police said.

TIKRIT - Three U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded in an explosion near their patrol in Salahaddin province, north of Baghdad, on Saturday, the U.S. military said.

FALLUJA - A U.S. Marine was killed in combat operations in western Anbar province on Saturday, the military said.

Muqdadiyah- At least ten civilians were killed and seven others wounded on Saturday in clashes that erupted between gunmen and tribesmen in a village near al-Muqdadiyah district in central Iraq, a security source said.

Diala- Gunmen wearing Iraqi police uniforms kidnapped nine civilians on Saturday in the province of Diala after they positioned a fake checkpoint on a main road in its main city of Baaquba, eyewitnesses said.

KUT - Iraqi and Polish forces killed four Mehdi Army militiamen and detained 20 others in the small town of Jihad, 80 km (50 miles) west of Kut, police said.

Kut- U.S. and Polish forces on Saturday launched a search campaign in Kut city, 180 km southeast of Baghdad, arresting 20 suspected gunmen, a security source said.

Basra- Three British soldiers were wounded in clashes with unknown gunmen near the British base at Basra international airport in northwest of the city of Basra, the spokeswoman for the British forces in southern Iraq said on Saturday.

Basra - Four members of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia were killed and four others wounded in clashes with British forces on Saturday in central Basra. One British soldier was also wounded in the confrontations.

BASRA - The British military said they killed a number of militiamen in an airstrike in the southern city of Basra after insurgents bombarded bases where British troops were based. Angry residents said the strike killed eight civilians and a hospital source said 22 people were wounded from the strike.

Raid in Sadr City

The statement added "the individual detained during the raid is believed to be the suspected leader in a secret cell terrorist network known for facilitating the transport of weapons and explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, from Iran to Iraq, as well as bringing militants from Iraq to Iran for terrorist training." The U.S. forces also killed at least five during the raid after nine vehicles tried to block the way of the combined force when they were departing the target area, the statement also said. The army said U.S. choppers engaged during the clashes with the gunmen riding the nine vehicles. Earlier on Saturday, an eyewitness told VOI "U.S. choppers dropped bombs on back streets and houses near to the petrol station in section 55 of Sadr City." He added "there were casualties due to the raid and ambulances rushed to the location." Another eyewitness said "a number of civilian cars were burnt while local residents were in panic because of the clashes that lasted almost an hour."

News & Views 05/25/07

Photo: An Iraqi cries after US and Iraqi forces raided Baghdad's Sadr City. Radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr made a dramatic return to frontline Iraqi politics, calling for unity and the withdrawal of US troops five months after claims he had fled the country.(AFP/Wissam Al Okaili)

STUPID or LYING or BOTH?

"The level of sectarian violence is an important indicator of whether or not the strategy that we have implemented is working," Bush said May 10. "Since our operation began, the number of sectarian murders has dropped substantially."

REPORTS – LIFE IN IRAQ

Morgue Data Show Increase In Sectarian Killings in Iraq

More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq, Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again. From the beginning of May until Tuesday, 321 unidentified corpses, many dumped and showing signs of torture and execution, have been found across the Iraqi capital, according to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The data showed that the same number of bodies were found in all of January, the month before the launch of the Baghdad security plan. Such killings are a signature practice of Shiite militias, although Sunni insurgents are also known to execute victims. The number of found bodies is a key indicator of the level of sectarian violence, but the statistics also include some who died from causes unrelated to the political situation. Weeks after the security plan was launched in mid-February, Bush administration and U.S. military officials began citing a decline in sectarian violence as evidence of the plan's effectiveness. Although that trend appears to have reversed, the unidentified corpses being collected this year remain far fewer than those found during the peak periods of sectarian strife last year.

…..In April, the morgue data showed, 182 unidentified bodies were discovered in Baghdad. At present rates, May's tally would more than double last month's. Aggregate figures for Baghdad and eight other provinces also show recent increases: In January, 360 bodies were found; in February, 400; in March, 451; in April, 421; and from May 1 to 22, 443.

Graphics: Unidentified Corpses and Mass Casualties

The number of unidentified corpses found in the Iraqi capital a key indicator of sectarian violence is rising following declines in recent months. U.S. and Iraqi officials have cited the declines as a sign of progress for the Baghdad security plan, which began Feb. 14. Security forces also have been unable to curtail mass-casualty attacks, mainly against Shiite targets.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN ON THE RISE

Mental health specialists say there has been an increase in domestic violence against children - largely a result of the violence that has gripped Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003. They say the violence has affected people's behavior. Before the invasion, there were about 90 psychiatrists in Iraq and some 45 psychologists but today there are fewer than 40 total.

Health Crisis Acute In Iraqi Province

The Americans gave 10-year-old Ayai Emad a Barbie doll wrapped with pink ribbon. Her brother Mohammed, 7, got a Hot Wheels truck. But what they really need they may never get: adequate medical care. The problems of Iraq's medical system since the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein are well-documented: doctors fleeing the country, graft, supply shortages, and civilians dying for lack of care or because their hospital came under attack. The International Committee of the Red Cross this month issued its most dire assessment yet about the foundering system. The report concludes that Iraqi healthcare has all but collapsed and that deaths and suffering, already widespread, are increasing. In Al Anbar, military and health officials say, the deep-rooted alienation between the Sunni Arab population and the Shiite Muslim-led government in Baghdad has made the problem even more acute. Wounded Iraqi soldiers and police officers tremble at the prospect of being sent to a Baghdad hospital, where they fear they'll be killed. "I've had some of them almost get off the operating table and try to run away rather than go to Baghdad," said Navy Cmdr. George Dyer, a senior nurse at the trauma hospital at Taqaddum air base. The same is true at the hospital at the U.S. base at Al Asad. At both facilities, about 60% of the patients are Iraqis, many of them security personnel injured by roadside bombs. Once a patient's condition is stable, the goal is to get him or her to an Iraqi facility. "We try to get them to a place where Sunnis are accepted," said Army Maj. Kenneth Grundy, a critical-care nurse at Al Asad. "Sometimes we just can't and we end up holding on to them."

Baghdad diary: Living in fear

"For the first time, I am really thinking we will have to leave." The words of Ali, a friend of mine, recently. He told me how members of Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi militia had recently come knocking at his apartment building. They demanded one of his neighbours give up his flat. They needed it as a safe house, in case US forces came looking for them. The neighbour was cornered, my friend said. He made excuses. "So you don't like the Mehdi," the militia men responded. The man was terrified my, friend said. What could he do? It is all getting too close, he said. The other day, he rushed home from work to move his family out, because a firefight had broken out nearby. "We have gunbattles in the area every two or three days now." Ali is like many Iraqis. He was happy to see Saddam Hussein overthrown. And in many respects life has got much better for him and his family - primarily because he earns far more than he used to as a doctor. The extra cash has made it worth hanging on, despite the constant chaos and violence, the lack of basic services like electricity. He doesn't want me to say what he does now - or his real name - to protect his identity. Talking of electricity, many parts of west Baghdad have not had power or running water for a month now. Petrol queues are also more common again. The line at the nearest petrol station to our house often stretches several hundred metres. The unluckiest can spend several days trying to fill their cars, eking out the last few drops in the tank. But each time they reach the front of the line, the petrol station runs out and they have to start again.

U.S. forces impose curfew on Falluja till Tuesday

U.S. forces imposed a curfew on the city of Falluja till next Tuesday, a source in the city's local council said on Friday. "U.S. forces alerted the security apparatus in the city that the curfew would begin throughout the city from this afternoon till next Tuesday after the bomb attack that targeted a policeman's house on Friday afternoon," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "Police forces patrolled the city's streets and ordered residents to keep indoor via loudspeakers," he added. "U.S. troops and Iraqi police forces would wage security operations to search for gunmen and car bombs," the source noted. A police source had said earlier that two civilians were killed and nine others were wounded when a booby-trapped car went off targeting a a policeman's house. "A car rigged with explosives parked near a policeman's house in al-Shurta neighborhood was detonated remotely, killing two civilians and injuring nine, including a policeman," the source also said. "The blast caused severe damage to the nearby Saad Ibn al-Moaz mosque and destroyed three houses," he added.

REPORTS – IRAQI MILITIAS, POLITICIANS, POWER BROKERS

SUNNI RESISTANCE RECEPTIVE TO SADR ALLIANCE

Nationalist Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's bid to unite Sunnis and Shiites on the basis of a common demand for withdrawal of US occupation forces, reported last weekend by the Washington Post's Sudarsan Raghavan, seems likely to get a positive response from Sunni armed resistance.

Iraq's Sadr appears in public after long absence

Powerful anti-occupation Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr appeared in public for the first time in months on Friday, presenting himself as a champion of all Iraqis and demanding that U.S. troops get out of Iraq.

Iraqi, British forces kill two Sadrist leaders in Basra

A force from Iraqi and British troops on Friday afternoon shot and killed two leaders of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a source close to Sadr's office said. "A force from Iraqi army and British troops killed today at 3:00 pm two leading figures from Mahdi army in central Basra," the source, who asked not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). He added "Mahdi army fighters were seen in all Basra streets and the situation in the city is expected to escalate." Local residents said that one of the two killed persons was the commander of Mahdi army in Basra Abo Qader.

REPORTS – US/UK/OTHERS IN IRAQ

Turkish PM would back Iraq incursion

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to support any Turkish military incursion in Iraq against Kurdish rebel bases there after a deadly suicide bombing in Ankara blamed on the militants. Upping the pressure on its southern neighbour, Ankara urged Baghdad Thursday to act against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) holed up in in northern Iraq. "We expect urgent and resolute measures," foreign ministry spokesman Levent Bilman told reporters shortly after reports of more violence with a landmine explosion attributed to the PKK killing six soldiers in the southeast. Erdogan said late Wednesday his government would secure parliamentary authorisation if the army sought to conduct a cross-border operation targeting PKK bases. "It is out of the question for us to disagree on this issue with our... soldiers," he told the private ATV network. "When the time comes, we will take the necessary step, there will be no delay."

THE SHAPE OF A SHADOWY AIR WAR IN IRAQ

Did the US use cluster bombs in Iraq in 2006 and then lie about it? Does the US keep the numbers of rockets and cannon rounds fired from its planes and helicopters secret because more Iraqi civilians have died due to their use than any other type of weaponry? These are just two of the many unanswered questions related to the largely uncovered air war the US military has been waging in Iraq.

COMMENTARY

Human rights slain on US global battlefield: Amnesty

Amnesty International yesterday launched a scathing attack on the United States accusing it of trampling on human rights, and using the world as "a giant battlefield" in its "war on terror." The war in Iraq and the politics of fear being spread by the administration of US President George W. Bush around the globe were fuelling deep international divisions, the human rights group charged. Washington was also guilty of "breathtakingly shameless" double speak, claiming to be promoting human rights while at the same time brazenly flouting international law, the London-based group charged in its 2007 annual report. "Nothing more aptly portrayed the globalization of human rights violations than the US-led 'war on terror' and its programme of 'extraordinary renditions' which implicated governments in countries as far apart as Italy and Pakistan, Germany and Kenya," said the group's secretary general Irene Khan. Last year, evidence revealed how "the US administration treated the world as one giant battlefield for its 'war on terror', kidnapping, arresting, arbitrarily detaining, torturing and transferring suspects from one secret prison to another across the world with impunity," she added. Hundreds of people have now been transferred by the US and its allies through these secret renditions to countries such as Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

Byrd: "Bush's war is turning the sands of Iraq blood red"

The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned. Instead of reasoning with those with whom we disagree, we demand obedience or threaten recrimination." And Byrd was prescient in his objection to the Iraq invasion, citing what he believed even then to be corrupt evidence for the war and the fact that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the events of September 11. Here's more from Senator Byrd on March 19, 2003:

"The case this administration tries to make to justify its fixation with war is tainted by charges of falsified documents and circumstantial evidence.We cannot convince the world of the necessity of this war for one simple reason: This is not a war of necessity, but a war of choice.

"There is no credible information to connect Saddam Hussein to 9/11, at least up to this point.

"What is happening to this country--my country, your country, our country? When did we become a nation which ignores and berates our friends and calls them irrelevant? When did we decide to risk undermining international order by adopting a radical and doctrinaire approach to using our awesome military might? How can we abandon diplomatic efforts when the turmoil in the world cries out for diplomacy?"

I'm writing about all of this now because of another wonderful speech Byrd gave on the Senate floor just last Thursday in which he eviscerated Bush and his administration on the fight over the war's continuation.

How to Help Iraqi Refugees

Quote of the day: A judge from the United States wrote at the time of the trial of Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg in Germany in 1946: "To initiate a war of aggression is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

Security Incidents for Friday, May 25, 2007

An Iraqi boy throws a stone at a burning sports utility vehicle after a roadside bomb exploded in central Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad,on Friday, May 25, 2007. The roadside bomb

(1) On Wednesday, MNF-Iraq issued a press release stating that two Task Force Lightning soldiers died and three were injured in "an explosion" in Baghdad Province on Tuesday, May 22nd. Now today, they have issued another stating that apparently there was another separate "explosion" that day in Baghdad Province in which one Task Force Lightning soldier died and two were injured.

(2) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a 13th Sustainment Command soldier in an IED attack in Salah ad Din Province on Thursday, May 24th. In addition, one soldier was wounded in the blast.

(3) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldier when his patrol was attacked with small arms fire in a western section of Baghdad on Thursday, May 24th.

(4) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the death of a Task Force Lightning soldier from a small arms fire attack in Diyala Province on Thursday, May 24th.

(5) MNF-Iraq is reporting the death of a Task Force Lightning soldier from "an explosion" in Ninawa Province on Thursday, May 24th ... an explosion that also wounded two other soldiers.

(6) MNF-Iraq is also reporting the deaths of two Multi-National Division - Baghdad soldiers when their patrol hit a roadside bomb in a western neighborhood of Baghdad on Thursday, May 24th. An Iraqi interpreter also died in the attack ... and one other American soldier was wounded.


_______________________________________________________________


Baghdad:
#1: A Task Force Lightning Soldier was killed in Baghdad Province, May 22 when an explosion occurred near his vehicle. Two other Soldiers were also wounded in the incident and were taken to a Coalition Forces medical treatment facility.

#2: Two MND-B Soldiers were killed when their patrol was struck by an improvised explosive device in a western section of the Iraqi capital May 24. An Iraqi interpreter was also killed in the attack. One other MND-B Soldier was wounded in the attack.

#3: An MND-B Soldier was killed when a patrol was attacked with small arms fire in a western section of the Iraqi capital May 24

#4: Insurgents bombed a major bridge in Baghdad on Friday, partially destroying the span which links two city districts, police said. The bridge links Khadra and al-Jamiaa in western Baghdad. The bridge over a major road was still standing but had been badly damaged. There was no immediate information about any casualties, police said.

A bridge linking the Adl and Khadra districts in western Baghdad was destroyed by explosives Thursday night, Iraq News Agency (INA) reported Friday, citing Iraqi officials. Ten metres of the bridge collapsed as a result of the blast, the report said. Further details were not immediately

#5: One civilian was killed and three wounded in a mortar attack on a residential area of Abu Dshir in southern Baghdad, police said.

#6: A civilian was killed in an IED explosion in Doura neighborhood south Baghdad around 1:10 pm.

#7: Gunmen in a speeding car shot and killed a police officer as he was leaving his house in the Shiite-dominated al-Wihda district, 20 miles south of Baghdad on Friday morning, police said.


Diyala Prv:
#1: A Task Force Lightning Soldier was killed by wounds sustained from small arms fire in Diyala Province, Thursday.

#2: Colonel Hussein Abbas Kadhim, the commander of Jdaidat Al Shat town 30Kms north west of Baqouba said that gunmen of what is called Islamic State of Iraq broke into one of the orchards of Um Al Romman village near Mohammed Al Sakran cemetery and executed three farmers, with BKC machineguns

Muqdadiya:
#1: Twelve people, including four policemen, were wounded when a car rigged with explosives ripped through central al-Muqdadiya town, Diala province, on Friday, the Iraqi police said. The car bomb "exploded on Friday morning near an Iraqi police patrol in central Muqdadiya, wounding four policemen and eight civilian passers-by," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Latifiya:
#1: Police found the bodies of two men handcuffed and shot in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.


Basra:
#1: Insurgents detonated a roadside bomb beneath a vehicle belonging to a British-based security company in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Friday, British military officials said. "There seems to have been a roadside bomb. We have no more details, but we believe it was a private security vehicle," said British military spokesman Major David Gell, adding that he had received no word on casualties. Another British military official later said that the vehicle belonged to the London-based Aegis Specialist Risk Management, a private security company, which said it had no knowledge of the incident.

#2: The leader of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in the southern Iraqi city of Basra was killed by British forces on Friday, Iraqi police said. The British military said in a statement that "a militia leader" was killed by Iraqi forces in what they called a "precision strike" on his car in central Basra


al-Wijaihiya:
#1: In al-Wijaihiya, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, a gunbattle between residents of a Sunni village and their rivals in a neighboring Shiite village, killing two people and injuring five others, police said. Seven hours of fighting ended only when the Iraqi army intervened. The residents of al-Aswad, the Shiite village, accused the Sunnis from al-Khurair of harboring Sunni extremists who want to expel the Shiites. The Sunnis said the Shiites attacked them with mortar rounds.


Salah Ad Din Prv:
#1: One 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) Soldier was killed and one was wounded in an improvised explosive device attack against their tactical vehicle near Salah Ad Din at approximately 3 a.m., May 24.


Nineveh Prv:
#1: A Task Force Lightning Soldier was killed in Nineveh Province, Thursday when an explosion occurred near his vehicle. Two other Soldiers were also wounded in the incident and were taken to a Coalition Forces medical treatment facility for further treatment.


Kirkuk:
#1: One civilian was wounded when an explosive device went off near his vehicle on the Kirkuk-Baghdad highway, south of Kirkuk, on Friday, an official police source said. "The police patrols of Taza station rushed to the scene of the blast. The wounded civilian was the driver of the car, which was severely damaged," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq


Al Anbar Prv:
Fallujah:
#1: Gunmen killed a sheikh from the Abu Alwan tribe in his car in eastern Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, on Friday, police said.


Afghanistan:
#1: A Canadian soldier was killed today when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan’s volatile Zhari district. One other soldier has suffered non-life-threatening injuries and an Aghan interpreter has also been wounded.