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.