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.