Sunday: 40 Iraqis, 1 US Soldier Killed; 109 Iraqis Wounded

Although Anbar province took the brunt of today’s attacks, Baghdad and Mosul also saw a surge in violence. At least 40 Iraqis were killed and 109 more were wounded in those and a few other attacks. An American soldier died of unknown causes in Babel province as well. Meanwhile, the death toll in yesterday’s massive triple bombing in Basra rose to 43 dead; about 185 others were wounded.

The son of former Iraqi foreign minister Tariq Aziz says his father’s health is deteriorating quickly and calls for his release from prison on humanitarian grounds. Aziz was handed over to the Iraqis last month but continues to proclaim his innocence. As a close associate of Saddam, he was found guilty of conducting execution and displacing Kurds.

Twenty people were killed and about 44 were wounded during a car bomb attack in Ramadi. Because the blast occurred near a social services building, many of the victims were women and children.

In and around Fallujah, a series of blasts claimed about three-dozen casualties. Two people were killed and nine more were wounded in a central Fallujah car bombing. A suicide bombing outside Fallujah in Halabsa left seven more wounded. A suicide bomber killed two civilians and wounded 11 others in nearby Saqlawiya. Two more people were apparently killed in the bombings. One of the bombings may have been a diversion for a robbery at the home of a currency trader; the man was shot in the neck but he later died. A fourth blast wounded two more people, including a policeman whose leg was blown off.

In Baghdad, a bomb left at a restaurant on Palestine St. wounded five people when it exploded. Four people were wounded during a bomb attack at an intersection in Kadhimiya; another blast wounded three more. At the Bayaa bus station, two traffic policemen were wounded in a blast, the latest in a string of attacks on traffic cops.

In Mosul, nine civilians were wounded at a souk. A pair of blasts targeting the provincial governor, who is a member of the Iraqiya list, killed two people and wounded at least one more. Three policemen were killed in clashes. Roadside bomb blasts hurt at least four others. A bomb in Wahda neighborhood killed a man and wounded his wife. Also, a suspect was killed in a U.S.-Iraqi operation that netted five others.

A bomb left outside a home in Abu Saida wounded six people.

Gunmen killed a district chief in Kirkuk.

A Sahwa leader was killed in an unnamed northern location.

In Jalawla, two men were killed as they were preparing a bomb.

A roadside bomb in Saidiya wounded a soldier.

An explosion blamed on the PKK killed three soldiers in Turkey.

Author: Margaret Griffis

Margaret Griffis is a journalist from Miami Beach, Florida and has been covering Iraqi casualties for Antiwar.com since 2006.