Iraq Watch: January 18, 2006

U.S. Security Contractors Killed; Bodies Found

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A roadside bomb struck a convoy of U.S. security contractors northwest of Basra on Wednesday killing two U.S. civilians and wounding a third. The contractors from DynCorp were hired to help provide training to Iraq police recruits.

A separate roadside bombing claimed the lives of five Iraqi police in the town of Saadiya, east of Baqouba. Nine policemen were reported injured in the attack.

Meanwhile, an early-morning ambush against a heavily guarded lorry from the cell phone company Iraqna left at least six security personal and three drivers dead. Two Kenyan engineers working for the company were abducted during the skirmish in Baghdad's Nafaq al-Shurta district.

Elsewhere, authorities made several grisly discoveries across Iraq Wednesday. 11 executed bodies were discovered on a farm in Dujail, north of the capital. The men were all shot to death and had Iraqi security identification cards in their possession. South of Baghdad, near Swera, the bloated corpses of five men wearing civilian clothes were spotted floating in the Qaid River. In the capital itself, three men, including Mohammed Sadagi al-Batah - a Sunni relative of Iraq's defense minister - were found shot to death in their Bayaa neighborhood apartment.

Additionally, authorities announced that some 40 people have been slain over the past two days near the northern city of Nibaei. The Washington Post reported that the victims were killed after insurgents set up makeshift checkpoints looking for security personal and government collaborators. The main route through the city has been cordened off since an American helicopter crashed there Monday forcing residents to travel on rural and isolated roads.

On the Saddam Hussein trial front, Sayid al-Hamashi - picked to replace departing Kurdish chief judge Rizgar Amin - has come under scrutiny by some over rumors that he was a member of Saddam's outlawed Baath party. Al-Hamashi, a Shiite, rejects the accusations but a top official from Iraq's Committee for De-Baathification called for al-Hamashi's immediate resignation from his newly assigned post.