Iraq Watch: October 12, 2006

Militants Raid Baghdad TV Station

Gunmen, some sporting police uniforms, stormed the Baghdad offices of the al-Shaabiya satellite television station early Thursday morning killing at least 11 employees including the board chairman.

It was unclear who the perpetrators were, although journalists in Iraq have long been the target of guerilla groups and militias, both Sunni and Shiite.

The new station, which was anticipating on launching within the next two weeks, had up to this point only aired test broadcasts.

Following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, a crop of television stations have emerged on the Iraqi airwaves. Many of these stations are funded by or affiliated with political and religious parties.

Elsewhere in the capital city, a double bombing in central Baghdad killed at least five and wounded another 10. A separate bomb blast in northern Baghdad left three Iraqis dead and 15 injured.

AFP adds that 16 corpses were found dumped throughout Baghdad on Thursday while four more bodies were found floating in the Tigris near the town on Suwayrah.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military announced the death of a U.S. soldier who was killed "as a result of enemy action" Wednesday near the northern city of Kirkuk.

The latest fatality brings to 41 the number of American military personnel killed in Iraq thus far in the month of October according to an AP tally.