Following Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani’s call for the swift execution of terror suspects, the United Nations has asked Iraq to abolish its death penalty. At least eight Iraqis died in new attacks and another 11 were wounded.
Updated at 5:19 p.m. EDT, June 20, 2009
During a speech to a Turkmen group in Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to enforce a June 30 deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraqi cities. This pronouncement came hours before a massive truck bomb ripped through the Turkmen village of Taza. Overall at least 94 Iraqis were killed and 231 others were wounded across Iraq. Also, a pair of bodies was handed over to British authorities belong to two British hostages who were kidnapped in 2007. Three other British hostages still missing.
