Iraq Suicide Bombers Strike Green Zone
Iraq Suicide Bombers Strike Green Zone
Jul 14, 11:50 AM (ET)
By FRANK GRIFFITHS
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Two suicide bombers struck a checkpoint near the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad Thursday, killing at least two policemen, but a third attacker was wounded and captured by U.S. and Iraqi security forces, officials said.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the arrests of two purportedly key members of Iraq's most-feared terror group, including one suspected in the kidnap-slaying of an Egyptian envoy and attacks on senior diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain.
[SNIP]
"A suicide bomber detonated himself and the other suicide bomber tried to run away from the scene," the military said in a statement, adding that Iraqi police shot and wounded the surviving attacker and disarmed the explosives he had packed in a vest.
[SNIP]
Elsewhere, police said gunmen killed five Iraqi employees of an American base in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The shootings occurred while the victims were driving outside the base.
At least nine policemen also were killed in separate attacks nationwide and the body of another officer with gunshots to the head was found late Wednesday in western Baghdad.
While Iraqi forces seen as collaborators with the U.S. military are frequently the target of insurgent attacks, figures obtained by The Associated Press Thursday from separate Iraqi government ministries showed that violent deaths among Iraqi civilians far exceeded those of soldiers or police during the first six months of this year.
Between Jan. 1 and June 30, 1,594 civilians were killed, according to the Ministry of Health. Civilians often bear the brunt of car bombings and suicide attacks.
By contrast, 895 security forces - 275 Iraqi soldiers and 620 police - were killed in bombings, assassinations or armed clashes with insurgents, according to figures from the interior and defense ministries.
The number of insurgents killed during that six-month period was 781, the government said.
According to an AP count, more than 1,600 people have been killed in violence since April 28, when Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite-led government in a country trying to crush an insurgency whose foundation is made up of Sunnis.
[SNIP]
Iraqi security forces also discovered the bodies of 10 men - aged 25 to 35 - handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head, police Lt. Osama Adnan said Thursday. The bodies were found with no identity papers Wednesday night on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad.
[SNIP]
In other violence Thursday:
_Gunmen attacked an Iraqiya TV crew covering funeral ceremonies for some of the victims of Wednesday's suicide attack in eastern Baghdad, wounding three.
_Two bands of gunmen in western Baghdad and near the northern city of Kirkuk killed three policemen each.
_Assailants killed police Capt. Manhal Salim, an expert in defusing bombs, late Wednesday in the capital.
_Two other policemen were killed and four wounded in a shooting attack in western Baghdad.
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Jul 14, 11:50 AM (ET)
By FRANK GRIFFITHS
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Two suicide bombers struck a checkpoint near the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad Thursday, killing at least two policemen, but a third attacker was wounded and captured by U.S. and Iraqi security forces, officials said.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the arrests of two purportedly key members of Iraq's most-feared terror group, including one suspected in the kidnap-slaying of an Egyptian envoy and attacks on senior diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain.
[SNIP]
"A suicide bomber detonated himself and the other suicide bomber tried to run away from the scene," the military said in a statement, adding that Iraqi police shot and wounded the surviving attacker and disarmed the explosives he had packed in a vest.
[SNIP]
Elsewhere, police said gunmen killed five Iraqi employees of an American base in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. The shootings occurred while the victims were driving outside the base.
At least nine policemen also were killed in separate attacks nationwide and the body of another officer with gunshots to the head was found late Wednesday in western Baghdad.
While Iraqi forces seen as collaborators with the U.S. military are frequently the target of insurgent attacks, figures obtained by The Associated Press Thursday from separate Iraqi government ministries showed that violent deaths among Iraqi civilians far exceeded those of soldiers or police during the first six months of this year.
Between Jan. 1 and June 30, 1,594 civilians were killed, according to the Ministry of Health. Civilians often bear the brunt of car bombings and suicide attacks.
By contrast, 895 security forces - 275 Iraqi soldiers and 620 police - were killed in bombings, assassinations or armed clashes with insurgents, according to figures from the interior and defense ministries.
The number of insurgents killed during that six-month period was 781, the government said.
According to an AP count, more than 1,600 people have been killed in violence since April 28, when Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite-led government in a country trying to crush an insurgency whose foundation is made up of Sunnis.
[SNIP]
Iraqi security forces also discovered the bodies of 10 men - aged 25 to 35 - handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head, police Lt. Osama Adnan said Thursday. The bodies were found with no identity papers Wednesday night on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad.
[SNIP]
In other violence Thursday:
_Gunmen attacked an Iraqiya TV crew covering funeral ceremonies for some of the victims of Wednesday's suicide attack in eastern Baghdad, wounding three.
_Two bands of gunmen in western Baghdad and near the northern city of Kirkuk killed three policemen each.
_Assailants killed police Capt. Manhal Salim, an expert in defusing bombs, late Wednesday in the capital.
_Two other policemen were killed and four wounded in a shooting attack in western Baghdad.
Read The Full Story
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