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.