32 Iraqis Killed in War Attacks, Including 20 in Ba'aqouba Suicide Bombing, Disagreement Continues Over Stay of US Forces, According to August 24, 2008 News Reports

Editor's Note:

Only God knows how many Iraqis are killed everyday. The following represents part of the reporting but readers are advised that the actual number of deaths should very much exceed what's reported.

Concerning deaths of US soldiers, only those US citizens who die in Iraq are included in the statistics. There are no published statistics about US soldiers who die of their injuries after that. There are no published statistics about the deaths or injuries of the private army soldiers (security contractors), or about those without US citizenship.

It is noteworthy that May 20, 2008 news reports showed that death squads which execute Iraqis on daily basis are no longer hiding themselves. Previously, Sunni leaders pointed to Mahdi Army and Badr militiamen as the perpetrators. Now, death squads are composed of the US-recruited Sahwa fighters and policemen (which is an opportunity for US forces command to sever relations with these fighters).

Despite the fact that there are scores of organizations involved in the Iraq war, the Iraqi government officials prefer to refer to them as Alqaeda gunmen for propaganda purposes, as mentioned in the June 4, 2008 news report. For accuracy purposes, the term "Alqaeda gunmen" may be replaced with "Iraqi fighters."

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yaqen.net reported the following news:

- A US Hummer vehicle was destroyed in Al-Madaen by the 1920s Brigades fighters.

- The commander of the US-recruited Sahwa fighters was killed in Al-Fallahat, Al-Taji city.

- Al-Rashideen fighters damaged a US supplies truck south of Baghdad.

- Three policemen and a civilian were injured in a roadside bomb explosion in Mosul.

- A US convoy was attacked by a roadside bomb north of Basrah.

- 2 people were killed, 13 were injured in a bomb attack east of Baghdad.

- Luhoom US military base south of Baghdad was attacked by a Grad rocket.

amsi.org reported the following news:

- A body of an Iraqi executed by death squads was found in Al-Rysafa, Baghdad.

- General Wafiq Al-Samara'i, the security advisor of the US-backed president, Talabani, resigned after leaving the country and not coming back, (just like some members of the Maliki delegation who applied for asylum in Germany during the Maliki visit).

- INA reported that 20 people were killed, 35 were injured (most of them policemen and Sahwa leaders) in a suicide bombing in Al-Karma area, near Ba'aqoub, targeting a police and Sahwa checkpoint.

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News Summary

BAGHDAD, Aug. 24 (VOI) –

Following is a summary of news reports posted until 10:00 p.m. Baghdad local time Sunday:

Politics & Security:

MUTHANA, Dozens of Muthana province residents on Sunday staged demonstrations in the southern city of Samawa to protest corruption and to call for sacking key provincial officials.

BAGHDAD, Security forces arrested 27 wanted individuals during raid operations conducted in Baghdad through the past 48 hours.

DIALA, Five Iraqi soldiers were killed and seven others wounded on Sunday when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near their army vehicle in southwestern Ba'aqouba city, a security source in Diala province said.

DIALA, Security forces on Sunday closed off the inlets leading to the city of Ba'aqouba after arresting female suicide bomber, a Diala police source said.

BAGHDAD, An improvised explosive device (IED) went off in al-Tameem neighborhood, southern Baghdad, on Sunday, killing three civilians and wounding 10 others, a security source said.

BAGHDAD, Two civilians were wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the southern Baghdad area of al-Dora on Sunday, an Iraqi police source said.

BAGHDAD, Iraqi police patrols seized a rockets launchpad and defused two missiles set to target the U.S-fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD, A lawmaker from the main Shi'i bloc on Sunday ruled out signing the long-term security agreement with the U.S in the upcoming two months.

AM(I)

News Summary

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 24 /08 /2008 Time 9:59:39
BAGHDAD, Aug. 24 (VOI) –

Following is a summary of news reports posted until 04:00 p.m. Baghdad local time Sunday:

Politics & Security:

BAGHDAD, A downtown Baghdad hospital on Sunday received 15 casualties from two improvised explosive device attacks that ripped through Falasteen St. in eastern Baghdad, a local medic said.

SULAIMANIYA, A representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's (PUK) secretary general on Sunday condemned an Iraqi army raid on the headquarters of the Peshmerga forces in Qurat Tabba, describing the act as one of the "blunders" of the Iraqi army.

BAGHDAD, Nine civilians were killed or wounded in two consecutive blasts that ripped through eastern Baghdad on Sunday, Iraqi police said.

DIALA, A total of 88 individuals, who were arrested within Diala's Operation Bashaer al-Kheir, have been released by Iraqi security forces, an official source said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD, Casualties from the two consecutive blasts that ripped through eastern Baghdad on Sunday morning have reached 19, Iraqi authorities said.

DIALA, Seven persons were killed or wounded in an armed attack launched by a group of unknown gunmen in downtown Ba'aqouba city, a security source said on Sunday.

BASRA, A U.S. convoy came under an improvised explosive device attack on Sunday but no damage or casualties were left, according to the Multi-National Force (MNF) in southern Iraq.

BAGHDAD, U.S. forces released a cameraman working for the Associated Press (AP) news agency in Salah al-Din province after more than two months in detention, the chief of an Iraqi association advocating journalists' rights said on Sunday.

NINEWA, Four, including three policemen, were wounded on Sunday when an explosive vehicle driven by a suicide bomber went off in eastern Mosul city, a police source in Ninewa said.

BAGHDAD, An Iraqi army force captured an aide of al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and six assistants in southeastern Baghdad on Sunday, the Baghdad Operations Command said.

BAGHDAD, A police force liberated a man taken hostage and arrested three of his kidnappers in southern Baghdad on Sunday, according to the Baghdad Operations Command.

MISSAN, The Missan operations room imposed a ban on vehicles in the province of Missan, starting as of 12:00 a.m and ending at 05:00 a.m. until further notice, an Iraqi army source in Missan said on Sunday.

BAGHDAD, Nine people were killed and 23 others wounded in acts of violence in different areas of Iraq since 09:00 p.m. Saturday until Sunday afternoon, security sources said.

AmR (R)

Long way ahead on U.S-Iraq security deal-MP

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Sunday , 24 /08 /2008 Time 9:59:39
BAGHDAD, Aug.24 (VOI) -

A lawmaker from the main Shi'i bloc on Sunday ruled out signing the long-term security agreement with the U.S in the upcoming two months.

The security pact will decide the future of US forces in Iraq once the present UN mandate, which provides the legal framework for the presence of foreign forces in Iraq, expires in December.

“There was still a long way ahead of the U.S-Iraqi security agreement before being signed even in the upcoming two months,” MP Abdul Karim Al-Enzi, from the United Iraqi Coalition (UIC), told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq (VOI).

The U.S. president George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had agreed last November to formalise such an agreement by July 31.

The arrangement was delayed due to strong opposition from Iraqi leaders over key issues such as a timetable for withdrawal, how many bases Washington would retain and whether American troops would be immune from Iraqi laws.

When asked whether U.S. foreign Minister Condolezza Rice pressured Iraqi negotiators during her visit to Iraq last Thursday, he said “endorsing the agreement is not decided by the Iraqi negotiator, but it must be approved by the prime Minister, the political council for national security and the parliament.
The lawmaker emphasized “the agreement must garner the consensus of the parliament and will of the political system”.

In her one-day visit to Iraq on Thursday, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the two countries were "very, very close to finalising the agreement but had not yet clinched the deal”.

But Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Thursday “the text of the deal was ready”.
"We are very close; we have a text, but not the final agreement. Everything has been addressed," Zebari said.

The deal has drawn sharp criticism from Iraq's political factions, especially from the Shi'i cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

AM(S)

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