Iraq Watch: May 16, 2006

Baghdad Besieged by Wave of Attacks

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In a multi-faceted attack militants Tuesday killed five security personnel guarding a small outdoor market and parking garage. The assailants then proceeded to detonate a car bomb next to an oil tanker in the capital's northern Shaab district.

The oil tanker blast incinerated at least 14 Iraqis and wounded nearly 40 more. The New York Times reports that some of the victims belonged to the Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to maverick Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

In northern Baghdad, insurgents opened fire on a minibus carrying a group of Iraqis who were employed at a U.S. base in Taji killing at least four and wounding eight.

Elsewhere, in Baghdad's volatile Dora district, running gunfights erupted between militants and Iraqi police. Six civilians were killed after getting caught in the crossfire.

Meanwhile, late Tuesday, gunmen abducted Naji al-Nuaimi, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) diplomat, in the capital's up-scale Mansour neighborhood.

Also Tuesday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of three U.S. service members. A roadside bomb killed a MND-B soldier early Tuesday morning in southern Baghdad. Two soldiers, assigned to the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were killed by an IED Monday near Balad.