Iraq Watch: July 8, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. soldier was killed and three others were wounded when an IED exploded next to their patrol near the Iraqi city of Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.

Separately, another three U.S. soldiers were wounded near the southern city of Suwayrah after their convoy was attacked by a roadside bomb and small arms fire. Also in the south, a kidnapped university professor was found dead in Basra.

A suicide car bomb near the city of Fallujah, about 40 miles west of Baghdad, exploded next to an Iraqi army convoy. There was no immediate word on casualties, however, the AP reports that bits of human flesh could be seen along with the remains of mangled cars affected by the blast.

AFP reports that in the northern city of Mosul four taxicab passengers were killed after gunmen attacked their vehicle. Elsewhere in and around the city, the bodies of at least six executed people, including two policemen, were discovered.

At the Dura oil refinery, located near the capital, a large fire broke out after insurgents attacked the facility with a barrage of mortars. The mortars landed on the petrol refining area of the plant according to civil defense spokesman Kazem Bashir Salem.