Updated at 7:55 p.m. EDT, Sept. 24, 2010
At least one Iraqi was killed and 13 more were wounded in light violence. Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari announced that full diplomatic ties with Syria will be resumed. Also, for the first time since the invasion of Iraq, more contractors have died in the country than have U.S. troops.
Although full results of an investigation into a deadly Iraqi-U.S. joint raid in Fallujah have not been released, sectarian tensions were clearly a significant factor at play in the decision to conduct the operation. At least 11 people died in the raid, three more than had previously been confirmed for the Sept. 15 event.
A lawyer for former Deputy Prime Minister and Saddam confidant, Tariq Aziz, said Aziz will be tried on new charges of "wasting public funds."
A spokesman for Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr‘s movement said that it has rejected Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki‘s offer to release detained Sadrists in exchange for their political support for his return to the premiership.
In Mosul, a suicide bomber killed a policeman and wounded two others when he tried to attack a mosque. Provincial governor Athil al-Najafi said that U.S. troops violated the U.S.-Iraqi S.O.F.A. agreement during a raid in Mosul last night and suggested the operation was politically motivated.
Five civilians were wounded when a rocket struck their Hawija home. An abducted policeman was liberated.
In Baghdad, three policemen were wounded in a hand grenade explosion in Mashtal, while a sticky bomb wounded two more wounded in Baladiyat. A rocket fell in Karrada, wounding one person. Rockets struck Waziriya and the Green Zone, but no casualties were reported. Mortars fell on the riverbank, but no casualties were reported.
Hilla police defused a bomb at the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council headquarters in Madhatiya.
Thirty-one suspects were captured in Tuz Khormato.
