26 Iraqis Killed in War Attacks, Including 8 Family Members in US Airstrike, 3 by Death Squads, According to September 19-20 News Reports

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

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.

On September 6, 2008, news reports mentioned the killing of nine Iraqis who were arrested by Al-Muthanna Brigade of the Iraqi Army stationed in the city of Al-Falloujah. There corpses were found with bullets shot on their heads and chests. This incident is evidence that the sectarian-based Iraqi forces have been functioning also as death squads, which killed Iraqis for suspicion of belonging to resistance organizations, without any legal procedures or trials.

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:

- 8 Iraqis were killed, including three women, were killed in a US airstrike on their home, in Al-Doar, near Tikrit, on Friday. A protest broke out in the city against the US strike.

- Shaikh Udai Al-Zamili was assassinated in Al-Basra.

- Two members of one family were killed, three were injured by gunmen fire in Mosul.

- A US armored vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb on Al-Muqdadiy-Ba'aqouba road.

INA reported that Tzipi Livni was an Israeli Mossad agent, who participated in poisoning an Iraqi nuclear scientist in France in the 1980s.

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News Summary

National - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 20 /09 /2008 Time 10:26:34
BAGHDAD, Sept. 20 (VOI) –

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

*Politics and Security:

BAGHDAD, Joint forces arrested 14 wanted men during a search raid conducted in the suburb of Sabaa al-Bur, western Baghdad city, an Iraqi police source said on Saturday.

BASRA, Multi National Forces (MNF) in southern Iraq said that work on Saturday commenced in the last stage of constructing Iraqi army-police combined security centers, to reinforce cooperation between them in Basra city.

ARBIL, A force from the Iraqi army's 7th Brigade seized a large amount of highly explosive TNT and defused an improvised explosive device (IED) on the road linking al-Kiyara area to Makhmour district, an army source said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD, A lawmaker from the main bloc said on Saturday that the Iraqi prosecution is preparing a lawsuit against Member of Parliament Mithal al-Alusi over his controversial visit to Israel.

KARBALA, Media spokesperson for Karbala's Operations Command on Saturday said that around 7,000 security elements were deployed in the holy city of Karbala, to conduct a security plan for the annual occasion of Imam Ali bin Abi-talib's death on coming Monday.

NINEWA, A suicide bomber blew up his explosive vehicle in a football pitch inside Talafar district on Saturday, killing two people and wounding 17 others, including six in serious condition, a police source said.

MH (I)/SR

News Summary

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 20 /09 /2008 Time 10:26:34
BAGHDAD, Sept. 20 (VOI) –

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

*Politics and Security:

NINEWA, An Iraqi serviceman on Saturday was injured in an armed attack that targeted a checkpoint in eastern Mosul city, an Iraqi army source said.

BAGHDAD, Diala's Abi Sayda district chief was arrested after security forces had found a weapons cache in his house, the U.S. army said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD, A number of civilians were wounded in an explosive charge attack that ripped through the press syndicate building in northern Baghdad, a source from the syndicate said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD, The chief of the Iraqi press syndicate was wounded in the blast that occurred earlier today at the entrance of the syndicate building in northern Baghdad, an official source said on Saturday.

BASRA, Kuwaiti security forces on Saturday arrested a British contractor who arrived in the country from Kuwait with drugs in his possession, a spokesperson for the British forces in southern Iraq said.

BASRA, An Iraqi cleric was killed by unknown gunmen in northern Basra city, the media office in Basra police said on Saturday.

ANBAR, A peaceful demonstration on Saturday took place in Anbar's largest city of Falluja calling on the Iraqi government to return a police commander to his position in the province.

BAGHDAD, The improvised explosive device (IED) that detonated earlier today at the entrance of the press syndicate building in northern Baghdad mainly targeted its chief, the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) said on Saturday.

WASSIT, Joint Iraqi and U.S. forces captured two wanted men members of the same family during a raid in the area of al-Zahraa, central Kut city, on Saturday, an official security source in Wassit said.

ANBAR, A policeman was killed and seven others wounded in two separate blasts that targeted two Iraqi police patrols in al-Anbar, a police source in the province said on Saturday.

BAGHDAD, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Saturday warned that whoever hampers the march of service utilities in Iraq would be referred to courts for punishment.

NINEWA, Two policemen were killed when unidentified gunmen attacked a checkpoint in central Mosul on Saturday, a security source in Ninewa province said.

BAGHDAD, Nine people were killed and nine others wounded in acts of violence in different areas of Iraq during the past 24 hours, according to security sources.

BAGHDAD, The Iraqi deputy prime minister on Saturday received the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Raymond Odierno, and discussed with him the public services and the general budget for the current year.

NINEWA, U.S. army soldiers on Saturday detonated a roadside vehicle rigged with explosives in eastern Mosul city on Saturday, according to a security source in Ninewa province.

AmR (R)

News Summary

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 20 /09 /2008 Time 10:26:34
BAGHDAD, Sept. 19 (VOI) –

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

*Politics and Security:

BAGHDAD, An agreement to extend the American military mandate in Iraq beyond this year — near completion only a month ago — has stalled over objections by Iraqi leaders and could be in danger of falling apart, A U.S paper said.

IRAQ, U.S. forces will release 100 detainees from their jails near the Baghdad airport on Saturday as part of a program to free Iraqi prisoners during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a media advisor for the U.S. forces said on Friday.

KARBALA, A migration official on Friday said that around 102 families that fled their areas to Karbala province returned home during the past few weeks thanks to security improvement in the holy Shiite city.

KIRKUK, Iraq’s Interior ministry on Friday sacked the police chief of the northern town of Tuz Khurmato,a local official said.

NINEWA, A police force found two unidentified bodies while Iraqi army troops captured two wanted men in separate incidents west of Mosul on Friday, a spokesman for the Ninewa Operations Command (NOC) said.

SALAH Al-Din, Salah governor deputy on Friday denounced a U.S forces raid in northern Iraqi town, branding the operation as “tragic”.

KIRKUK, Kirkuk police on Friday received eleven detainees from the northern province residents, a Police chief said.

DIALA, Two Iraqi army officers and one civilian were killed and six others wounded in separate attacks in Diala on Friday, an official security source in the province said.

WASSIT, The mortuary of al-Zahraa hospital in the city of al-Kut on Friday received a civilian man's body showing clear signs of having been tortured, a medic from Wassit province said.

Baghdad, The U.S. army said in a release that its forces bombarded a house at 'Ad Dawr' suburb, southern Tikrit, targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) fighters, including a commander of an improvised explosive device network, the daily U.S. newspaper The Chicago Tribune said on Friday.

AmR (I)

Talafar attack casualties up to 28

Ninewa - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 20 /09 /2008 Time 10:26:34
NINEWA, Sept. 20 (VOI) –

Deaths from Saturday evening's earlier suicide car bombing attack in a football pitch Talafar district rose to three and the wounded to 25, according to a local police source.

"The death toll rose to three and the wounded to 25. The ages of the bombing victims range between 15 and 25 years," the source, who refused to have his name published, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

Earlier in the day, a security source said that a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vehicle in a football pitch inside Talafar, killing two people and wounding 17 others, including six in serious condition.

"The blast occurred in a football playground that was crammed with young men from al-Mualimeen neighborhood, central Talafar, killing two and injuring 17 others," the source, who asked for anonymity, told VOI.
Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.

The original city of Mosul stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient biblical city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial areas on both banks, with five bridges linking the two sides.

Despite having an amount of Kurdish population, it does not form part of the area controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

AmR (S)

Policeman killed, 7 wounded in Anbar blasts

Anbar - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 20 /09 /2008 Time 10:26:34
ANBAR, Sept. 20 (VOI) –

A policeman was killed and seven others wounded in two separate blasts that targeted two Iraqi police patrols in al-Anbar, a police source in the province said on Saturday.

"An improvised explosive device went off today near an Iraqi police patrol very close to the H3 refinery west of Haditha city, (250 km) west of Baghdad, killing one policeman and injuring three others," the source told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) on customary condition of anonymity out of security concerns.

Meanwhile, the same source said that a hand grenade today targeted a police patrol in al-Debes area, central Hit city, wounding four men, including an officer in the city police.

AmR (S)

BOC: Syndicate chief was target of explosion

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Saturday , 20 /09 /2008 Time 10:26:34
BAGHDAD, Sept. 20 (VOI) –

The improvised explosive device (IED) that detonated earlier today at the entrance of the press syndicate building in northern Baghdad mainly targeted its chief, the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) said on Saturday.

"Muayyad al-Lami was in the syndicate's garden when the explosion occurred," a spokesperson for the command, Maj. Gen. Qassem Ata, told Aswat al-Iraq- Voices of Iraq- (VOI), noting that the device was detonated at a close distance.

Lami's injury was the result of shattered glass, the spokesperson noted.
Meanwhile, a source close to the press chief, who requested anonymity, told VOI that Lami was slightly injured in his left hand.

An official source from the syndicate told VOI earlier today that an explosive charge planted by unknown men at the entrance of the press syndicate building in Baghdad's northern area of al-Waziriya detonated at 11:00 a.m. during a syndicate board meeting, slightly wounding a number of civilians, including the syndicate chief, Muayyad al-Lami.
"The explosion caused damage to three cars and totally destroyed four others, all belonging to syndicate employees," the source noted.

SS (S)