Updated at 7:05 p.m. EDT, May 8, 2009
This prayer day was particularly quiet. Only two Iraqis were reported killed and another four were wounded. One U.S. soldier died yesterday from wounds sustained in a May 5 accident. Back in the U.S., an American soldier was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl and murdering her along with her family. The girl’s remaining relatives are pressing for the death penalty. Also, the Kurdish Regional Government claimed it was ready to start exporting oil, but the central government said no permission was given to use national pipelines for the transfer. Oil has been the source of tensions between the Kurds and Shi’ite-led central government.
A tribal chief’s grandson was found murdered near Kut.
In Mosul, a suicide car bomber wounded four people, including three policemen. A separate car bomb was safely defused. Army General Ray Odierno said he will make a final decision on the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Mosul next month.
Joint U.S.-Iraqi forces captured 14 suspects in Diyala province, where a major security operation is in effect. At least seven other suspects, five of them members of the Naqshabandiya group, were also detained.
Four suspects were detained in Missan province.
