Iraq Watch: July 27, 2006

Bombs Rip Through Wealthy Baghdad District

Mortars, rockets, and a car bomb were all used as part of a coordinated insurgent attack Thursday in the capital's upscale Karradah area.

Over 30 were killed and 150 wounded in the early-morning rebel onslaught. A statement issued by a faction of the Mujahideen Shura Council claimed responsibility for the attack.

Karradah, a predominately-Shiite enclave located in central Baghdad, is home to numerous Iraqi statesmen and one of the blasts detonated only yards from the home of Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

Another blast severely damaged a multi-story apartment building, trapping residents inside.

Meanwhile, authorities discovered 19 corpses littered across Baghdad Thursday. Many of the bodies bore signs of torture.

In other violence, an Iraqi soldier was killed by militants in Kirkuk while a roadside bombing near Tikrit left two Iraqi policemen dead.

Also Thursday, a Salvadoran soldier was killed by an IED near the southern town of Diwaniya. Thursday's death brings the total number of Salvadorian troops killed in Iraq to four.

Iraq Watch: July 21, 2006

Pitched Battle Rages South of Baghdad

Fighting erupted Friday between Iraqi security forces and armed insurgents south of Baghdad in Mahmoudiya.

The fierce skirmish left at least 18 people dead according to the AP. Among the slain were four Iraqi soldiers, three Iraqi policemen, and 11 militants.

In an incident likely to increase the ire of many Iraqis towards U.S. forces, American air strikes against a compound of houses in Baqouba killed at least five people and wounded over 20. The dead included three civilians.

Relatives of those killed wallowed in grief at the local morgue and local residents chastised U.S. forces for the early-morning bombing.

Near the former rebel stronghold of Fallujah, a Sunni bastion situated west of Baghdad, authorities discovered the corpses of three Iraqi soldiers.

Also near Fallujah, Reuters reports that a suicide car bomber killed six Iraqi police officers and wounded 13 more.

In Khalis, a bomb targeting a Sunni mosque in the region left at least one person dead.

Also Friday, the U.S. military announced the death of a U.S. service member killed "due to enemy action" in the oft-restive Anbar Province.

Iraq Watch: July 19, 2006

Sunnis Kidnapped; Violence Continues

Militants abducted at least 20 members of the government-affiliated Sunni Endowment the agency announced in a statement Wednesday.

The employees were kidnapped in northern Baghdad as they were on their way to Taji. The Sunni Endowment – charged with protecting and preserving Sunni mosques throughout Iraq – also announced that it is ceasing all operations until further notice.

The organization, led by Ahmed Abdul Ghafour al-Samaraie, blamed Shiite militias for the mass abduction saying the kidnapping had a "sectarian smell."

In eastern Baghdad a bomb exploded near a vegetable market killing at least six people while in the capital city's western Mansour district insurgents assassinated Maj. Gen. Fakhir Abdul-Hussein Ali, a legal-counsel to the Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, AFP reports that Iraqi authorities discovered 19 executed bodies across Iraq on Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, one Salvadoran soldier was killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb attack near the southern city of Kut.

Iraq Watch: July 17, 2006

Gunmen Storm Iraqi Market; Kill Scores

Militants killed at least 50 people when they attacked an outdoor market early Monday in the volatile town of Mahmoudiya, located about 20 miles south of Baghdad. Most of Monday's victims were believed to be members of Iraq's majority Shiite sect.

The insurgent group, Supporters of the Sunni People, claimed responsibility for the market attack in a communiqué posted on the Internet stating "This is your medicine for what you [Shiites] did..."

Details pertaining to the assault remained sketchy with conflicting reports regarding the methodology of the brazen ambush.

At least some of the perpetrators were sporting Iraqi military garb. A Mahmoudiya official told the New York Times "You can't tell your friend from your enemy."

Mahmoudiya, located in the foreboding "Triangle of Death," is a mixed Shiite-Sunni town and the scene of frequent tit-for-tat sectarian killings.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the deaths of three U.S. service members Monday. Two MND-B soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Baghdad while another soldier died "due to enemy action" in Iraq's western Anbar Province.

Iraq Watch: July 15, 2006

Iraqi Olympic Committee Chair Abducted

Dozens of gunmen dressed in Iraqi military fatigues swooped into an Iraqi National Olympic Committee (INOC) meeting in central Baghdad, seizing its chairman, Ahmed al-Hijiya, along with at last 30 others.

Two security guards were killed during Saturday's mass abduction.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the ambush although the early-afternoon raid appeared to be carefully planned, taking only minutes to execute.

Although al-Hijiya is a Sunni, the New York Times reports that those abducted represented a wide spectrum of Iraqi sects decreasing the likelihood that the attack was purely sectarian in nature.

In other violence Saturday, a roadside bomb exploded outside a southern Baghdad supermarket killing six people and wounding 11 more.

A suicide car bomber in eastern Baghdad, meanwhile, killed two Iraqi security forces and injured four.

Militants shot to death two Iraqi soldiers along with a civilian just south of the Baqouba, a restive town situated noth of Baghdad.

In the northern, oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a bomb – hidden in a computer – detonated inside an Internet cafe leaving one person dead and two others wounded.

Also, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two U.S. service members. Both soldiers were killed Saturday by roadside bombs in the vicinity of Baghdad.

Iraq Watch: July 11, 2006

Over 60 Killed in Relentless Violence

Violence claimed the lives of over 60 Iraqis on Tuesday as authorities scrambled to contain the increasingly chaotic situation in the nations war-torn and growingly divided capital city.

Tuesday's deadliest incident occurred only yards from the heavily fortified Green Zone which houses Iraq's governmental headquarters as well as the U.S. embassy.

A suicide bomber blew up his explosive-laden vehicle near a restaurant popular with Iraqi police killing some 16 people.

The Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) claimed responsibility for the early-afternoon bombing in a statement posted on the Internet.

In sectarian bloodshed, purportedly Sunni gunmen ambushed a Shiite funeral procession in Baghdad's volatile Dora neighborhood killing at least 10 mourners.

Near Sharqat, south of Mosul, insurgents killed 10 members of Iraq's Facility Protection Service (FPS) who were guarding oil instillations in the northern, petroleum-rich region.

Iraq Watch: July 9-10, 2006

Sectarian Violence Surges in Baghdad

Shiite militiamen, mobbing through western Baghdad, systematically executed over 40 Sunni civilians Sunday.

Masked and black-clad rebels arrived by the carload early Sunday morning in the capital's Jihad neighborhood and began searching for Sunnis. Gunmen set up checkpoints throughout the mostly Sunni district probing passer-by's identification cards.

Other militants roamed Jihad's streets going house-to-house rounding up Sunnis.

Suspicion of who was behind the brazen assault immediately fell on the Mahdi Army although the armed Shiite group loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr denied responsibility.

Retaliation, as it so often is in present-day Iraq, was as bloody as it was swift. Shortly after nightfall two car bombs exploded outside a Shiite mosque in northeastern Baghdad killing at least 19 and wounding 59.

Monday saw little letup in the sectarian bloodletting.

Eight Iraqis were killed when two car bombs detonated in quick succession in the capital's Shiite slum of Sadr City. Over 40 were also wounded in the midmorning bombings in eastern Baghdad.

Shortly after the Sadr City blasts, gunmen ambushed a minibus in the predominately Sunni neighborhood of Amariyah, situated in western Baghdad. The attackers killed seven civilians before setting the bus alight and departing.

Meanwhile, in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a suicide bomber manning a truck plowed into the local offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leaving at least five people dead and another 12 wounded.

The PUK is a powerful Kurdish political party led by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

Iraq Watch: July 8, 2006

Forces Launch Crackdown Against Al-Sadr's Militia

In an apparent crackdown aimed against Shiite militiamen, U.S. and Iraqi forces detained a unidentified "high-level insurgent leader" early Friday morning during a raid in Baghdad's Sadr City district.

Located in the eastern half of the capital, Sadr City is a downtrodden and impoverished Shiite enclave home to approximately 2.5 million residents. The district – named in honor of Muqtada al-Sadr's late father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr – festers with support for the maverick 33-year-old Shiite cleric.

Authorities would not identify the captured militant leader by name; however, Sadr City locals claimed the raid targeted Abu Diraa, a purported top Mahdi Army commander in Baghdad.

The pre-dawn raid was met with stiff resistance from local gunmen. A 43 minute firefight ensued shortly after the operation got under way leaving some "30-40" Iraqis either dead or wounded.

The U.S. military also announced that they, along with Iraqi troops, apprehended another senior al-Sadr associate. Adnan al-Unaybi, who was head of the Mahdi Army in Babil province, was arrested near the town of Hillah on Thursday.

The multiple raids against al-Sadr's Mahdi Army appear to be part of an initiative laid out by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in his 24-point national reconciliation plan unveiled earlier this month. Part of the plan calls for the disbanded of rogue militias who are believed to be responsible for much of the sectarian violence plaguing Iraq today.

Iraq Watch: July 6, 2006

Suicide Bomber Targets Iranian Pilgrims

A suicide car bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into buses carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims early Thursday morning near the Iraqi holy city of Kufa. At least 12 people were killed and 39 injured in the blast.

The fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq brought with it a lessening of travel restrictions for foreigners seeking entrance into the country and Shiites from across the Middle East have responded in mass with large numbers traveling to Iraq's holy Shiite shrines.

Large gatherings of Shiites are frequently the target of Sunni-led insurgents bent on increasing sectarian strife in Iraq.

Kufa's sister city, Najaf, contains the tomb of Imam Ali, one of Shiite Islam's most sacred sites.

Kufa is also a power base of support for maverick anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

Elsewhere Thursday, authorities announced the discovery of at least 35 bodies within the last day throughout the capital city. Many of the corpses bore earmarks of torture.

In Samarra, meanwhile, a roadside bomb at a security checkpoint killed three Iraqi police officers according to the Washington Post.

Iraq Watch: July 3, 2006

Violence Kills Nearly 20; Sunnis Boycott Parliament

Seven Iraqis were killed and 28 injured when a car bomb aimed at a passing police patrol detonated in the northern city of Mosul early Monday.

Sunni members of parliament, meanwhile, boycotted Monday's legislative session to protest the recent kidnapping of MP Tayseer al-Mashhadani. Al-Mashhadani is a member of the Iraqi Accordance Front (IAF), Iraq's largest Sunni political coalition.

Members of the IAF have threatened to boycott Iraq's political process until al-Mashhadani is released. Sunni groups have accused rogue Shiite militias of abducting the MP.

In Mahmoudiya, a religiously mixed city located in the foreboding "Triangle of Death" south of Baghdad, two separate blasts at an outdoor marketplace left five people dead. At least 25 civilians were also wounded in the market explosions.

Authorities discovered the bodies of five Iraqi soldiers north of the restive town of Baqouba while a police officer was found executed south of Kirkuk.

Elsewhere, AFP reports that four bodyguards from the Iraqi deputy interior minister's security detail were kidnapped in Baghdad. The four were reportedly abducted from outside Hussein Kamal's home in the capital city.

Also Monday, the U.S. military announced the deaths of two U.S. service members.

A U.S. Marine was killed Monday "due to enemy action" in Iraq's sprawling western Anbar province. CENTCOM also announced that a MND-B soldier died Sunday evening when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb north of Baghdad.

Iraq Watch: July 1, 2006

Scores Killed in Sadr City Car Bombing

A massive car bomb blast rocked the Baghdad Shiite slum of Sadr City on Saturday killing at least 66 people and wounding over 100. The car bomb detonated around 10:00 a.m. near an outdoor marketplace bustling with shoppers.

A little-known militant group calling themselves the "Supporters of the Sunni People" claimed responsibility for the bloody attack.

The force of the blast sent debris flying in the air for hundreds of yards. A thick cloud of black smoke protruding from the scene of the bombing could be seen rising slowly across the Baghdad horizon.

Angry residents hurled rocks at American and Iraqi forces who arrived at the scene of the blast.

Also Saturday, gunmen kidnapped Sunni MP Tayseer al-Mashhadani along with seven of her bodyguards at a makeshift checkpoint in the eastern Baghdad neighborhood of Shaab. Al-Mashhadani is a member of the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP), the largest Sunni political party in Iraq.

Elsewhere, police discovered the bodies of six men Saturday in the capital's volatile Dora district while the bodies of four kidnapped Iraqi soldiers were found in Kirkuk.

A suicide car bomber, meanwhile, killed two Iraqi policemen and injured six others in Mosul.