19 Iraqis Killed in Attacks, Including 13 in the Ramadi Explosion, December 12, 2010

19 Iraqis Killed in Attacks, Including 13 in the Ramadi Explosion

December 12, 2010

Al-Alam TV reported that the Ramadi explosion resulted in 13 deaths and 57 injuries. See the news story in Arabic below ( http://alalam.ir/node/312210 ).

Suicide attacks kill more than a dozen across Iraq

Double suicide attacks targeting a police checkpoint near provincial government offices in Ramadi and a Shiite Muslim procession killed up to 13 people on Sunday, including six policemen and a journalist. By News Wires (text)

AFP -

Suicide attacks targeting a police checkpoint and a Shiite Muslim procession in western and central Iraq killed up to 13 people on Sunday, including six policemen and a journalist.

The violence comes two weeks ahead of a deadline for Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki to form a cabinet in a bid to end months of government impasse, and days before the climax of the Shiite Muslim commemoration of Ashura.

In the western city of Ramadi, a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near Anbar provincial government offices, killing 11 people, including six policemen, a doctor said.

"Lots of people were waiting to go into the governorate building when the car exploded close to the checkpoint," said Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a police officer who suffered a leg injury from the attack.

"I saw bodies blown into the air, people were screaming, others were running in all directions," the 30-year-old said from Ramadi hospital where he was being treated.

The blast occurred at a police checkpoint in the centre of the city, 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Baghdad, and left 41 people wounded, according to police Major Rahim Zabin and a hospital doctor.

The force of the explosion destroyed three cars and left behind a crater two metres (six feet) in diameter, an AFP journalist at the scene said.

"A suicide car bomb targeted a police checkpoint in the centre of the city, about 200 metres (yards) from the Anbar government offices," Zabin said.

A doctor at Ramadi hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, put the toll at 11 dead and 41 wounded.

Among the dead were six police and a cameraman for local satellite television channel Al-Anbar TV, 24-year-old Omar Rassim al-Qaisi. A woman was also killed in the blast, while women and children were among the wounded.

Zabin, however, put the death toll at eight, including the six police.

"Me and 30 others were thrown to the ground by the explosion," said Ali Mahmud, a 45-year-old civil servant. "I was lucky, though -- I've only been wounded by shrapnel, while others lost an arm or a leg."

Ramadi is the capital of the predominantly Sunni Arab province of Anbar, Iraq's biggest by area.

The province was a key Sunni insurgent base in the years after the 2003 US-led invasion, but since 2006 local tribes have sided with the US military and day-to-day violence has dropped dramatically.

Major attacks do still take place, however.

On February 18, a suicide bomber killed 10 people, including four policemen and a young girl, and wounded 15 in an attack on a checkpoint near the city's provincial government offices.

In the ethnically-mixed city of Baquba, capital of Diyala province to Baghdad's north, two people were killed and three wounded on Sunday as a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest near a Shiite procession, said police Major Furat al-Dulaimi.

It came as Shiites from around the world descend on Iraq for the commemoration of Ashura, which marks the slaying of the revered Imam Hussein by the armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680.

Every day, thousands of pilgrims, many from Iran and other countries with large Shiite populations, visit Karbala and Iraq's other major Shiite shrines in Samarra, Najaf and Baghdad.

That number rises dramatically for Ashura as millions of pilgrims travel -- many on foot -- to Karbala, the home of shrines to Imam Hussein and his half-brother Imam Abbas.

According to the calculations of Iraq's top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Ashura is to climax this year on Friday.

Though attacks remain common, violence has dropped dramatically since its peak in 2006 and 2007 -- the number of people killed in violence across Iraq last month was the lowest in a year for the second month running.

IRAQ Iraqi forces thwart suicide bomb attack near French embassy
IRAQ Series of deadly blasts strike Baghdad's Shiite areas
IRAQ Hostage drama ends in bloodbath at Baghdad church

=============================

However, Aswat al-Iraq's early story reported only one civilian death as follows:

Civilian killed, four others injured in car blast in Ramadi

December 12, 2010 - 12:42:38

ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq:

An booby-trapped car explosion, led by a suicide bomber, that took place on Sunday against a government compound in Ramadi has killed one civilian and injured four others, according to an Anbar police source.

“A civilian has been killed and four others injured, in a preliminary result of a blast of a booby-trapped car, driven by a suicide bomber, close to a checkpoint based near the main entrance of a Ramadi government compound, on Sunday,” the police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

He said the compound comprises the Provincial building, its Council and Police Command, along with other security offices, adding that the blast had been the fifth against the same target this year.

The police source said that the security forces had closed all the roads leading to the venue of the blast in Central Ramadi, as a precautionary measure against other possible attacks.

Ramadi, the center of Anbar Province, is 110 km to the west of Baghdad.

SKH/SR

Five civilians killed, injured in Shiite procession in Diala

December 12, 2010 - 12:19:36

DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq:

Two civilians have been killed and three others wounded when a suicide gunner wearing an explosive belt blew himself up amid a Shiite procession in northeast Iraq’s Diala Province on Sunday, a Diala police source said.

“A (Shiite) Husseini Procession’s leader in west Diala’s Gatoun district was killed, together with his son, and three others have been wounded, when a suicide bomber, wearing an explosive belt, blew himself up in the middle of the procession,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that the wounded persons were driven to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Baaquba, the center of Diala Province, is 57 km to the northeast of Baghdad.

SKH/SR

Strong explosion rocks Anbar’s Government Compound

December 12, 2010 - 11:22:41

ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq:

A strong explosion has rocked west Iraq Anbar Province’s compound on Sunday, causing several victims, killed or injured, an Anbar police source said.

“An explosion, cause of which was not known, has blown up the main entrance of the Government Compound in Ramadi city, the center of Anbar Province, comprising its Provincial Building, its Council and Police Command, along with other offices,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

He said that ambulance and civil defense cars rushed to the venue of the explosion, whilst the security forces closed all the roads leading to the place, amid reports that several civilians have been killed and injured, but their total was not known yet.

Ramadi, the center of Anbar Province, is 110 km to the west of Baghdad.

SKH/’SR

Police officer gunned down in Mosul

December 11, 2010 - 08:42:27

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq:

A Ninewa police officer in the rank of First Lieutenant was shot dead by unidentified gunmen fire in eastern Mosul city on Saturday, a security source said.

“Unidentified gunmen opened fire on an officer of the Mosul Police Department’s Arbil Checkpoint near his house in al-Zuhoor neighborhood, eastern Mosul, today (Dec. 11),” killing him instantly,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

He did not give more information about the incident.

Mosul, the capital city of the violence-stricken multi-ethnic province of Ninewa, lies 405 km south of Baghdad.

AmR (P)

Police officer assassinated in west Baghdad

December 11, 2010 - 11:38:29

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

An Iraqi police officer with captain rank has been assassinated by a group of armed men, who shot him with silencer-pistols west of Baghdad on Saturday, a Baghdad security source said.

“A group of armed men, opened fire from silencer-pistols on a police officer with captain rank, working for the anti-criminal investigations office, while he was in a police vehicle in west Baghdad’s Mansour district on Saturday,” the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

He said the police captain was shot with three bullets in the head, killing him on the spot.

SKH/SR

2 explosions leave nine casualties in Baghdad

December 10, 2010 - 12:03:43

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

One policeman and a civilian were killed and seven others were wounded in two separate incidents in Baghdad, a police source said on Friday.

“An explosive charge went off on Friday morning (Dec. 10) in al-Aalam region, western Baghdad, targeting a police vehicle patrol, killing a policeman and injuring two more,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“Another bomb exploded inside a restaurant in al-Awierej region, southwestern Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding five,” he added.

SH (P)

مقتل واصابة العشرات في انفجار سيارة بمدينة الرمادي العراقية
الأحد, 12/12/2010 - 13:03 GMT العالم (Al-Alam)
قتل سبعة اشخاص على الأقل واصيب العشرات في انفجار سيارة ملغومة قرب مبان حكومية في مدينة الرمادي العراقية اليوم الأحد، في الوقت الذي يواصل فيه القادة السياسيون جهودهم لتشكيل حكومة جديدة.

وقال مسؤولون: "ان ما يصل الى 13 شخصا قتلوا واصيب57 في الانفجار الذي وقع في محافظة الانبار غرب العراق".

وقال حكمت زيدان خلف نائب محافظ الانبار: "ان الانفجار الذي وقع في وسط الرمادي على بعد100 كيلومتر غربي بغداد استهدف مجمعا يوجد به مقر المجلس المحلي للمحافظة".

واشار زيدان انه قتل 7 اشخاص واصيب 25 اخرين، واضاف: "الانفجار وقع في تقاطع طريق عادة ما يكون مزدحما بشدة في مثل هذا الوقت، وهو أيضا المدخل الذى يؤدي الى العديد من البنايات الحكومية المهمة في المحافظة.

وتابع زيدان: "هذه الحصيلة ليست نهائية وهي قابلة للزيادة لأن العديد من الجرحى اصابتهم خطيرة"، واكد ان العديد من السيارات التي كانت تمر لحظة الانفجار احترقت.

من جهته، قال مسؤول صحي بالمحافظة طلب عدم نشر اسمه: "ان تفجير اليوم اسفر عن مقتل ثمانية اشخاص واصابة57 آخرين"، في حين قال مصدر في مستشفى الرمادي "ان عدد القتلى13 بينهم ستة من ضباط الشرطة والمصابين41".

وفي ذات السياق، اكد مصدر في الشرطة إن عدد القتلى11 منهم ستة من رجال الشرطة والمصابين41، في انفجار سيارة ملغومة في مدخل المجمع الاداري في محافظة الأنبار حيث يوجد ايضا مقر شرطة المحافظة ومبان حكومية اخرى.

http://alalam.ir/node/312210

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