Updated at 7:04 p.m. EDT, July 15, 2010
At least 16 Iraqis were killed and 32 more were wounded in the latest attacks. A large car bombing in Tikrit could produce more casualties as the day wears on. Meanwhile, the jail at Camp Cropper was handed over to the Iraqis and renamed al-Karkh prison.
With the handover of Camp Cropper now officially complete the number of Iraqi detainees in U.S. hands stands at 200 prisoners. Although government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh insisted that everyone’s rights will be honored, the family of former Iraqi foreign and deputy minister, Tariq Aziz, voiced their concerns and hopes the Vatican will work on the 74-year-old’s behalf. Aziz is a Chaldean Catholic and has been suffering from ill health. Their fears have some validity. In April, a large secret prison holding hundreds of allegedly tortured Iraqi detainees, many of them innocent Sunnis, was discovered.
During a visit to Washington D.C., Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari suggested that U.S. officials should help end the political impasse preventing the selection of a new prime minister. Meanwhile, a Kurdish Alliance leader, Mahmoud Othman, has asked the Marjaiya to do the same.
Nine people were killed and 15 more were wounded in Tikrit, where a car bomb exploded on a commercial street.
A late evening motocycle bombing left two dead and 10 wounded. in Mahmoudiya.
In Baghdad, a bomb on a minibus left two dead and five injured in the Sheikh Omar neighborhood. No casualties were reported after mortars fell in the Green Zone.
A shooting left one policeman dead and two wounded in Babel province.
In Ramadi, a gunman on a motorcycle killed a policeman.
A man blew himself up when police in Suleiman Bek arrived at his home.
Two suspects were arrested for their involvement in Karbala bomb attacks.
