Updated at 10:40 p.m. EST, Feb. 11, 2009
At least 31 Iraqis were killed and 94 more were wounded during attacks that included a significant bombing in Baghdad. No Coalition deaths were reported, but the mystery of four Guantánamo detainees who were handed over to Iraq has apparently been solved. Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, today joined the parade of foreign dignitaries visiting Baghdad.
Four Guantánamo detainees, who went “missing” after being handed over to Iraqi authorities, have turned up in an Iraqi jail. According to an acting justice minister, the four will remain in custody until investigations are completed and the four have been cleared of any charges. The fate of the four might have remained unknown were it not for one prisoner’s relatives complaining that they did not know the whereabouts of their family member. Although the four have been in Iraq for weeks, as recently as Saturday justice ministry officials claimed to have no knowledge of them.
A U.S. general in charge of a detainee transfer program said that all prisoners will have been handed over to Iraq by the end of the year. Almost 15,000 detainees are held in U.S. custody in Iraq. Today alone, 107 detainees were released from Camp Cropper.
Three U.S. soldiers were wounded during a hand grenade attack in Tikrit.
In Baghdad, a pair of car bombs exploded at a bus station in Bayaa leaving 16 dead and 45 wounded. One Arbaeen pilgrim was killed and 12 others were wounded when their minibus struck a roadside bomb in Waziriya. A second bomb killed one pilgrim and wounded eight more in a southern district. In Ghadir, gunmen killed an engineer working for the Electricity Ministry. A roadside bomb in Ghazaliya wounded a driver transporting a police official, who was unhurt. In Yarmouk, a sticky bomb failed to injure an employee working for the prime minister, but it did injure a passerby. Two civilians were injured during a blast in Mansour. Late in the day, a bomb in Talbiyah injured three civilians.
Yesterday in Baghdad, gunmen wounded three Awakening Council members at a checkpoint in Shabb, while two more were wounded at a Doura neighborhood checkpoint. Four Iraqi soldiers were wounded during security operations. Also, weapons caches were discovered across southern Baghdad.
Gunmen killed two guards as they stormed a police officer’s home in Buhriz. As police responded to the incident an I.E.D. exploded, killing one and injuring another. In what may be a separate incident, gunmen attacked the home of an Awakening Council member and killed him.
In Mosul, a suicide bomber killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded five others, including civilians. A policeman and a civilian were wounded during a roadside bomb attack that targeted a police patrol. Three policemen were killed in a shooting. A hand grenade tossed at police wounded a civilian instead. Another civilian was wounded in a roadside bomb blast. An unidentified body was found. Police detained two Islamic State of Iraq. Also, gunmen killed an Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) leader.
Two policemen were killed and three more were wounded in Iskandariya.
A blast in Hamdaniya left no casualties.
A bomb in Kirkuk left no casualties.
A bomb using an oxygen tank and C4 explosives was defused near a school in Nasariya.
A weapons cache was found in Qaim.
Nine suspects were arrested in Kirkuk.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis
