Updated at 12:45 p.m EST, Jan. 9, 2006
At least 99 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 88 were injured during violent attacks; two Yemeni citizens associated with a militant group were also killed. U.S. military authorities also reported that two American soldiers were killed in separate events on Sunday. And, Iraqi police said that a U.S. vehicle was attacked in Mosul, but no casualties have been reported there.
The UN has asked for $60 million to cover the costs of helping millions of Iraqi refugees who fled to other countries or were internally displaced within Iraq. They estimate that one out of every eight Iraqis has relocated to avoid increasing violence. A new report in the Washington Post counted almost 23,000 Iraqi deaths in 2006, with the bulk occurring during the second half of the year.
U.S. military authorities reported that soldiers, who were protecting a road repair crew, came under small arms fire just north of the capital; one American soldier was killed in the incident. Another GI died from injuries sustained during combat operations in Salah ad Din province. Both events took place on Sunday. The Defense Ministry reported that Iraqi army troops killed 27 militia members and wounded 43 others in several locations, including 23 in Baghdad. Also, witnesses on Palestine Street reported that gunmen had set up a fake checkpoint. Local residents engaged them in battle, but U.S. forces thwarted their attempt by chasing off the gunmen.
In Baghdad, a bus carrying workers from Sadr City to the airport was ambushed; 15 were killed and another 15 injured. Gunmen killed a family of six in Doura, and another six bodies belonging to people, who were returning from funerals in Najaf, were discovered there. In the Sulaikh district, clashes between gunmen and the Iraqi army left one civilian dead and two injured. And 25 dumped bodies, believed to be victims of sectarian death squads, were recovered in various neighborhoods.
Several explosions were heard in the capital: A bomb placed under a car killed three people and wounded one in the Zaafaraniya district. One policeman was killed and two people were injured by a roadside bomb. A separate roadside bomb in southeastern Baghdad injured three pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia. Another roadside bomb in the area targeted a convoy of official vehicles; two civilians were killed and five wounded. Falling mortars injured 10 people in southern Baghdad. Also, two people were killed and four injured by mortars in a western neighborhood.
In Ramadi, two policemen were killed and three more wounded when a suicide truck bomber attacked a checkpoint. A tribal council official reported that a leader from a militant group Ansar al Sunna was captured; two Yemeni aides were killed during the incident.
A body bearing gunshot wounds was discovered in Mosul. At least four other bodies were also found.
Four people were killed in unspecified attacks in Baquba.
Also, kidnappers abducted a senior tribal chief from Salah ad Din province while he was traveling on a road near Samarra, four Sunni women in Baghdad, and three Iraqi contractors in Hawija.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis
