Iraq Watch: June 13, 2006

Violence Rages as Bush Makes Surprise Visit

Violence raged across Iraq on Tuesday as President Bush made an unannounced visit to the war-ravaged country to meet personally with newly appointed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in the heavily-fortified Green Zone located in the heart of the Iraqi capital.

President Bush's visit was kept in extreme secrecy. Even Prime Minister al-Maliki wasn't informed of Bush's arrival until five minutes before their meeting.

Tuesday's worst violence took place in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. At least 16 Iraqis were killed and 24 wounded in a series of explosions that rattled the northern city.

The deadliest of the Kirkuk blasts occurred when a car bomb detonated near an Iraqi police patrol. The powerful explosion killed at least 10 people, including two police officers. A short time later a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle at a checkpoint near Kirkuk's police headquarters killing at least two policemen and three civilians.

South of the capital, an Iraqi policeman was killed and two wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Kut. Also south of Baghdad, gunmen assassinated a senior police officer in Karbala.

In yet another attack against Iraq's fledgling security forces, insurgents shot to death three police officers in the town of Balad Ruz, southeast of Baqouba.

In Samarra, meanwhile, a roadside bomb blast left four civilians dead and seven injured.