Iraq Watch: December 31, 2005

Violence Strikes Iraq on New Year's Eve

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Violence showed no signs of abating as Iraq sat on the precipice of a new year; a year that many Iraqis hope will finally bring peace to a war-torn nation. Noor Ali, interviewed by the AP, stated that, "God willing, the occupation of our country will end and we will get rid of the Americans." Also interviewed by the AP, Mohammad Jassem said that he hoped the new year would bring "water and electricity, security and stability."

In violence Saturday, five members of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) were killed in a roadside bombing near party headquarters in Al-Khalis. Two others were wounded in the blast east of Baqouba.

In an apparently sectarian attack, five members of a Sunni family were killed when gunmen raided their house in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of the capital. On Thursday, at least 11 Shiite family members were executed about 13 miles south of Baghdad in Latifiya.

Elsewhere Saturday, two Iraqi policemen were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad while another died in a mortar strike. Also in Baghdad, police discovered the executed bodies of six men. The victims were found blindfolded in a sewage canal in a southeastern district of the capital city.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the death of a U.S. soldier who died from wounds sustained in a Baghdad mortar attack. The soldier's death brings the number of U.S. service members killing in 2005 to at least 842. Additionally, at least 9,157 U.S. service members were wounded during the course of the year.

In another development, five Sudanese hostages being held by the militant group al-Qaida in Iraq were reportedly released a day after Sudan announced its intentions to close its Baghdad embassy and sever its ties with the Iraqi government. Abdel Moneam Mohammad Tom, Sudan's second secretary in Iraq, and four additional embassy employyes were seized by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group December 23 in Baghdad.