Iraq Watch: September 30, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The nations majority Shiite population was directly targeted once again for a second straight day on Friday, the day of traditional Islamic prayer or Jumu'ah.

In Hillah, a largely Shiite town 60 miles south of Baghdad, a remotely detonated car bomb exploded near a crowded outdoor market killing at least 10 people and injuring 41 more.

Yesterday, a nearly simultaneous triple suicide car bomb attack north of the capital in Balad killed 102 Iraqis, including 13 children and four women, and wounded another 150.

AFP reports that the militant group al-Qaida in Iraq, headed by Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack in Balad.

Also, in the southern city of Basra, four Iraqi policemen were killed late yesterday when their convoy was ambushed by armed insurgents.

Iraq Watch: September 28, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the first known insurgent attack of its kind a female suicide bomber, disguised as a man, blew herself up at an Iraqi army recruiting center in the town of Tal Afar in northern Iraq killing at least six people and wounded more than 35 others.

The unprecedented bombing was claimed by the terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, through a statement posted on the Internet.

In a separate suicide attack Wednesday, a suicide car bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into an Iraqi police patrol in Baqouba killing one person and injuring at least 14 more, including 10 Iraqi police.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military announced the deaths of three service members. One soldier was killed and another wounded in an IED blast this morning near the southern city of Safwan. Another soldier was killed yesterday by small-arms fire while conducting combat operations near Ar Ramadi. The other service member died from a non-hostile gunshot wound Monday near Fallujah.

At least seven bodies were found in Baghdad's northwestern Shula district on Wednesday. All the victims had been bound and shot in the head.

In Taji, north of the capital, seven more bodies were discovered by Iraqi police.

To the south in the holy city of Najaf, a bomb exploded outside the house of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's chief bodyguard, Kassim al-Mansouri. At least six people were killed and eight wounded in the blast.

Iraq Watch: September 27, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - As Iraqi and U.S. authorities applauded themselves over Sunday's killing of key al-Qaida in Iraq figure Abu Azzam violence persisted throughout the war-torn nation on Tueday.

Although a prominent player for the terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq, Abdullah Abu Azzam is not believed to be the number two figure in the group's hierarchy as many media and government statements have referred to him as.

In Baqouba, 30 miles north of Baghdad, a suicide bomber blew himself up amongst a crowd of Iraqi police recruits killing at least nine and injuring 21.

South of the capital, near Kut, Iraqi police found the bodies of 22 men in civilian clothing. The unidentified bodies had all been blindfolded, bound, and shot in the head.

Three more unidentified bodies were found near Latifiya.

In the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, insurgents assassinated Iraqi police Maj. Fakhir Jalal Amin. Also in the city, a roadside bomb killed one civilian and wounded two Iraqi policemen.

Four Iraqi policemen were killed when the minibus they were using to transport detainees to the notorious Abu Ghraib prison came under attack. Two prisoners were killed and another eight were injured in the incidnt.

Elsewhere, a U.S. soldier was killed by an IED Saturday while conducting combat operations in Khalidiyah, east of Baghdad, the U.S. military announced on Tuesday.

Iraq Watch: September 26, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber blew up his explosive-laden vehicle next to a bus carrying employees of Iraq's Oil Ministry today killing at least 10 people. 36 others, including 14 policemen, were hurt in the early-morning blast in Baghdad.

Five schoolteachers, along with their driver, from the Al-Jazeera Elementary School in Muelha - about 30 miles south of Baghdad - were abducted and executed by militants wearing Iraqi police uniforms today.

There was no known motive for the brazen attack although all six victims were believed to be Shiite.

Shortly after the school shooting a suicide car bomber attacked a market in the nearby city of Iskandariyah, injuring at least six people.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military announced the deaths of three American soldiers killed today. Two soldiers were killed by an IED early today in western Baghdad while the other soldier, assigned to the 42nd Military Police Brigade, was killed by an IED south of the capital.

Also, insurgents kidnapped and killed Azhar Qassem Abdul Wahid, a senior official from the powerful and influential Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) near the southern city of Basra.

The U.S. military announced today that they will release more then 1,000 low-level detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison over the course of this week. The American military said the release is a goodwill gesture ahead of the upcoming Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Late Monday, CBS - citing Pentagon officials - reported that Abu Azzam, a top aide to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed during a coalition raid in Baghdad on Sunday night. Azzam was believed to be a key player in financing and arranging foreign fighter's entry into Iraq through Syria.

Although a key figure in the group's hierarchy, Abu Azzam was not the numer two leader in al-Qaida in Iraq as some sources have referred to him as according to terrorism expert Evan F. Kohlmann's GlobalTerrorAlert.com.

Iraq Watch: September 23, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide bomber struck in the heart of central Baghdad on Friday blowing himself up in the midst of a large crowd of people at a public bus station near al-Tayaran square. The bombing killed at least seven people and wounded another 20.

The blast sent large plumes of black smoke rising over Baghdad's early-afternoon skyline.

Elsewhere, two U.S. soldiers were killed in separate incidents yesterday the U.S. military announced on Friday. One soldier was killed and another injured in an IED blast near al-Taqaddum while the other soldier was killed by small-arms fire in Ramadi.

Also in the capital city, Ali Abdul Ridha, a member of the Supreme National Commission for de-Baathification, was assassinated late Friday in the western Shurta neighborhood.

In further sectarian violence, Sunni iman Sheikh Hamid Saleh al-Mashhadani was kidnapped by gunmen near his mosque in Baghdad.

In the northern city of Mosul, at least six bodies have been found since Thursday according to medical sources. Also in the town, located 240 miles north of Baghdad, three officials from the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) were gunned down late Thursday while leaving their office in the eastern Bakri district.

Late Friday, the AP reported that heavy clashes had broken out between coalition forces and insurgents in the largely Sunni city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad.

Iraq Watch: September 22, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - British forces greatly reduced their visible presence in the southern Shiite city of Basra for a second straight day on Thursday in an effort to diffuse some of the tension created after British military forces, late Monday, stormed a jail in the city to release two undercover British soldiers who had been apprehended earlier in the day by Iraqi security forces.

Yesterday Basra's governor Mohammed al-Waili along with the Basra provincial council voted unanimously to end all cooperation with British troops in the area.

On Thursday al-Waili threatened to punish any citizen found cooperating with the British.

Iraq's National Security Advisor, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, called the incident, "a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty." Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, however, stated that the event was not, "an unsurmountable obstacle."

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two service members on Thursday. One Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed in an IED attack late last night near the Dora disrict of the capital while a Task Force Liberty soldier died yesterday from wounds suffered in a vehicle accident near the northern city of Kirkuk.

Some 25 gunmen wearing Iraqi police uniforms raided a residential house in the New Baghdad district of the capital killing three people and kidnapping another.

Four members of Iraq's Displacement Migration Ministry were killed and two others wounded when armed insurgents attacked their car near al-Qanat street in eastern Baghdad.

In Baquba, 40 miles north of Baghdad, local Iraqi police Col. Fadil Mahmoud Mohammed was assassinated along with his driver this morning.

Accoding to two of his senior officials, Iraq's most powerful and influential Shiite religious figure, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, formally endorsed the proposed Iraqi draft constitution. The charter, which is scheduled to be voted on in a national referendom October 15, is largely opposed by Iraq's minority Sunnis and some Shiite figures such as radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The New York Times reports that al-Sistani is expected to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, within the next several days.

In other violence Thursday, two Iraqi policemen were killed in separate drive-by shootings in the capital.

Iraq Watch: September 21, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Hundreds of angry demonstators took to the streets in the southern city of Basra on Wednesday to protest recent British military action - including the storming of a police station on Monday to free two undercover British soldiers who had been detained by Iraqi authorities earlier in the day for allegedly opening fire on Iraqi police - in the predominately Shiite city.

The Basra provincial council, on Wednesday, voted unanimously, "to stop dealing with the British forces working in Basra and not to cooperate with them because of their irresponsible aggression on a government facility.''

Basra's governor, Mohammed al-Waili, demanded an immediate apology from British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the act which he called, "barbaric, savage and irresponsible."

Elsewhere in Iraq on Wednesday, two U.S. soldiers were injured in a roadside bombing near the Abu Grahib district of western Baghdad.

In the al-Mansour neighborhood - also in western Baghdad - two Iraqi police, one Iraqi solder, and five insurgents were killed in a five-hour gun battle near the United Arab Emirates emabassy. Eight other Iraqi soldiers were wounded in the clash which occurred after a hostage escaped and alerted Iraqi security forces of the insurgents location.

Also in the capital, two Iraqi police commandos were gunned down and three others injured when they were attacked by militants in Baghdad's northwestern Shula district. Nearby, two unidentified bodies were found.

Three more bodies were found by police near Iskandariya, 25 miles south of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, chief editor of the As-Safeer newspaper, Hussein Jubri, announced that two of the Iraqi papers reporters have been killed since Sunday in the volatile northern city of Mosul.

Iraq Watch: September 16, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The town of Tuz Khormato bore the brunt of Iraq's relentless Sunni-led insurgency on Friday with a suicide car bomb exploding outside a Shiite mosque in the city 50 miles south of Kirkuk.

The car bomb went off during Jumuah, or traditional mid-afternoon Friday prayers, near the Hussainiyat al-Rasoul al-Azam mosque. At least 12 people were killed and 23 others injured in the explosion. The blast also destroyed several nearby buildings and cars.

In another sectarian attack against the majority Shiites, Sheik Fadil al-Lami - a cleric at the Iman Ali mosque - was gunned down by insurgents in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. And in Mosul, Hikmat Hussein Ali Mosili, an aide to Iraq's most powerful Shiite religious figure - Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was assassinated in a bombing according to The Washington Post.

In Iskandariya, 30 miles south of the capital, gunmen broke into the local mayor's house killing him and four of his bodyguards.

Three people were killed and 13 more were injured when insurgents opened fire on a group of day laborers in the capital city's New Baghdad neighborhood.

Near Haswa, just south of Baghdad, three Iraqi police officers were killed and four wounded when a car bomb exploded next to their police patrol. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Khalidiya.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the death of a II MEF soldier who was killed in an indirect fire attack yesterday near Ramadi.

Iraq Watch: September 15, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Baghdad's city streets once again were filled with violence on Thursday as at least 30 people, most of them Iraqi policemen, were killed in three separate suicide car bombings.

All three of today's VBIED's took place in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora. The first attack occurred early Thursday morning when a suicide bomber rammed his car into a convoy of Iraqi police commandos killing at least 16. A few hours later two suicide car bombs exploded withtin a minute of each other killing another nine Iraqi police.

In eastern Baghdad, a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi Ministry of Industry bus killing at least three civilians and wounding another 13.

Also, police found the bodies of at least eight men, including one polieman, in different parts of the capital.

Clashes erupted between U.S. forces and insurgents in the Sunni city of Ramadi, 70 miles west of the capital, after militant fired mortars at U.S. positions on the outskirts of the city. Armed insurgents could be seen roaming the city's mostly deserted streets on Thursday.

North of Baghdad, in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, two Iraqi policemen were killed and four wounded when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb.

Elsewhere in northern Iraq, a Shiite cleric was killed when a bomb exploded outside of a mosque in Mosul.

Iraq Watch: September 14, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Wednesday was an extremely bloody day, even by Iraqi standards, as a series of some 12 car bombs exploded in and around the capital city of Baghdad leaving over 150 people dead and another 550 wounded.

The attacks started shortly after dawn when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden van near a group of day laborers in the capital's largly Shiite district of Kazimiyah. The early morning blast killed at least 112 people and injured more than 200.

In Baghdad's northern district of Shula a suicide car bomb exploded next to an Iraqi army convoy killing at least four and wounding 22.

In Azamiyah, also in northern Baghdad, gunmen killed two top police officials along with two other Iraqi police officers. As rescue workers arrived at the scene of the shooting a car bomb exploded killing an additional four Iraqi policemen and three soldiers.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed in a separate suicide car bombing near the capital's western Adel neighborhood.

Four other Iraqi soldiers were killed along with two civilians in a suicide car bomb attack on an Iraqi army base in central Baghdad. The blast also left 46 people wounded.

Another suicide car bomber targeting a U.S. military patrol in northwestern Baghdad killed four Iraqi civilians and injured 10 others.

At least 11 U.S. soldiers were injured in today's attacks according to AFP.

Late today at least two people were killed and over 50 injured in an insurgent mortar strike south of Baghdad.

The terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq, lef by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for many of Wednesday's deadly attacks through statements posted on the web. Zarqawi also declared an 'all out war' against Iraqi Shiites and anybody collaborating with the Iraqi government in an audio tape released late Wednesday.

North of Baghdad in Taji, at least 17 men from the Sunni Tameem tribe were rounded up overnight and executed by gunmen wearing Iraqi police uniforms. In further sectarian violence, Shiite tribe leader Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Aboud Al-Ambagi was assassinated along with his nephew in Baquba, 20 miles north of Baghdad.

Iraq Watch: September 13, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - As Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to meet with American President Bush the seemingly endless violence plaguing Iraq continued unabated.

In the increasing volatile south, four people were killed in a roadside bombing south of Basra. An Iraqi police captain reported that the four killed were American security contractors but U.S. officials were unable to confirm the report.

In Baghdad, at least five mortar rounds were fired at the heavily fortified 'Gren Zone' on Tuesday. No injuries were reported although the Sunni insurgent group Jeish al-Ta'eifa al-Mansoura (The Victorious Army Group) claimed in an unverifiable web statement that the mortar shells contained chemical agents.

Also in Baghdad, two Kurdish truck drivers transporting concrete blast walls were ambushed and killed.

At least two Iraqi civilians were killed and 13 wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives on a bus near the Shiite city of Hillah, 60 miles south of the capital.

The U.S. and Iraqi military continued their counter-terror offensive in western Iraq lauching raids and air-strikes in Haditha and al-Qaim. The radis are part of a broader operation to root out suspected terrorists from dusty Sunni towns located all along the Euphrates River.

American and Iraqi forces also kept up their pursuit on insurgents in the northern city of Tal Afar as part of Operation Restoring Rights on Tuesday.

Iraq Watch: September 12, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Violence persisted throughout the war-torn nation of Iraq on Monday as Operation Restoring Rights continued in the northern city of Tal Afar.

In eastern Baghdad, the bodies of 10 unidentified men were discovered, police said. All the men had their hands bound and had been shot in the head. Two more unidentified bodies were found in the Tigris river near Balad, 40 miles north of the capital.

At least six Iraqi soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the former insurgent bastion of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

Despite an ongoing military operation and a newly announced $100,000 bounty on his head Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari visited the predominantly Turkmen town of Tal Afar on Monday according to Al-Iraqiya television.

Also in Tal Afar, Iraqi army officials reported killing 40 insurgents and capturing another 27 in a Monday afternoon raid on a suspected terrorist safe house. The raid was conducted after a roadside bombing targeting Iraqi soldiers killed one and injured three others earlier in the day.

Late Monday, a massive car bomb exploded near a popular restaurant in the Mansour district of Baghdad killing at least two people and injuring 17 more according to the AP.

Elsewhere, two Kurdish security guards were killed and three more wounded when gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the northern city of Mosul. Also to the north, a senior Iraqi judge was assassinated along with his brother in Is'haqi according to the Reuters news agency.

In the oil-rich city of Kirkik, located 180 miles north of Baghdad, two Iraqi police were shot to death when insurgents attacked their police car.

Also, in the capital city of Baghdad, at least six Iraqi civilians were killed when gunmen attacked a real estate agent's office in the western Shu'la district.

Iraq Watch: September 8, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Coalition and Iraqi forces reported having arrested 200 suspected insurgents over the past week in the largely Turkmen city of Tal Afar, 260 miles north of Baghdad. Approximately 150 of the suspects were said to be Arab foreigners from Syria, Yemen, Jordan, and Sudan.

At least 15 unidentified bodies were discovered today south of Baghdad near Mahmoudiya. According to Iraqi police all the victims were wearing civilian clothes and had been shot to death.

Two more bodies were found near a sewage treatmentplant on the outskirts of Baghdad on Thursday.

In former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and at least nine others wounded by a roadside bomb in the western al-Jazeera district of the city. Also in Tikrit, a lawyer who was kidnapped by assassilants wearing military uniforms late Wednesday was found dead.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the death of a U.S. soldier who was killed yesterday in an industrial accident at Camp Taqaddum.

Iraq Watch: September 6, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Fighting continued to rage in the northern city of Tal Afar on Tuesday causing thousands of residents to seek refuge in other parts of the country.

Large plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the city located 260 miles northwest of Baghdad. One U.S. soldier was killed in Tal Afar yesterday when his vehicle hit an IED the military reported today.

The U.S. military also announced the deaths of three more soldiers on Tuesday. Two Task Force Baghdad soldiers were killed and two others injured when thir vehicle struck an IED at around 10:00 a.m. this morning. The other soldier, also killed by an IED, died yesterday during combat operations near Ramadi.

Fighting also persisted in towns across western Iraq near the Syrian border. The U.S. military announced that it had destroyed two bridges said to be used by militants to transport fighters and munitions near Karabilah, 185 miles west of the capital.

Fighting has stepped up recently in Euphrates River valley towns near the Iraq-Syria border with reports that militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi have taken control of some.

In the southern Shiite holy city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, U.S. forces officially handed over security to the Iraqi army in the first of a planned series of security transfers. The approximately 400 U.S. troops previously stationed at Forward Operating Base Hotel - renammed Base Karrar by the Iraqis - will be moved to the outskirts of the city.

In other violence on Tuesday, an Iraqi army officer was killed by insurgents in Dhuluiya, 25 miles north of the capital.

Iraq Watch: September 5, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - About 30 insurgents in at least 10 cars launched a coordinated assualt on Baghdad's heavily fortified Interior Ministry building early Monday morning. The attackers killed two police and wounded five more using rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and small-arms fire.

Afterwards, U.S. helicopters could be seen flying over the centeral Baghdad area where the attack occurred.

The terrorist group al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility for the attack through an internet statement.

Elsewhere, two British soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing south of Baghdad near Zubeir on Monday. Al-Qaida in Iraq also took responsibility for this attack.

Insurgents have reportedly taken control of al-Qaim, located 200 miles west of Baghdad near the Syrian border, according to multiple soures. The Washington Post reports that fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi are roaming the streets, manning checkpoints, and killing those who they perceive to be collaborators with U.S. forces or allied with the Iraqi government. The Post also reports that the infamous black and yellow banner of al-Qaida in Iraq could be seen flying from rooftops throughout the city.

Meanwhile in the city of Hit, 85 miles west of the capital, insurgents launched three car bomb attacks yesterday killing at least eight civilians and one Iraqi soldier the U.S. military announced on Monday. One car bomb exploded on the Hit bridge spanning the Euphrates River rendering it impassable.

13 civilians were killed in several separate incidents in and around Baghdad overnight and early Monday according to the AP.

In the northern city of Tal Afar, the scene of recent fighting between U.S. and Iraqi forces and insurgents, the bodies of three district leaders were found Monday. The three were allegedly killed after they refused to comply to insurgent demands. Also, in further skirmishes Monday in Tal Afar, at least eight civilians - including five children - were killed according to hospital sources.

Iraq Watch: September 2, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Demonstrations both for and against the draft constitution were held across Iraq on Friday from the southern city of Basra to the northern towns of Tikrit and Ramadi.

About 5,000 demonstrators took to the streets in the Shiite city of Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, on Friday to voice there support for Iraq's newly finished constitution which is scheduled to be voted on in an upcoming October 15 national referendum.

The event in Basra - the city once referred to as the 'Venice of the Middle East' - was organized by the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and the Dawa Party, the two largest Shiite parties invloved in Iraqi politics.

In Tikrit, a predominately Sunni city 180 miles north of the capital, an estimated 2,000 protestors held an anti-constitution rally. A similar demonstation denouncing the constitution was held in Ramadi.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the deaths of three American soldiers on Friday. Two Task Force Baghdad soldiers were killed Thursday when there patrol struk an IED while another soldier was killed Wednesday south of Baghdad near Iskandariya.

In other violence Friday, five Iraqi soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a roadside bombing near Beiji, 150 miles north of Baghdad.

South of the capital, at least two Sunni Muslim worshippers were killed and four injured when gunmen opened fire on them in two separate incidents.

Also, souces report that Saddam Hussein's first trial will begin on October 19, just four days after the proposed national referendum on the draft constitution. The deposed Iraqi leader will first go on trial for the alleged massacre of Shiites in the town of Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on him in 1982.