Updated at 10:00 p.m. EST, Dec. 12, 2006
Several explosions rocked the capital today, including one that killed 70 people and wounded 236 others. Another bomb damaged the Golden Mosque in Samarra. Overall, at least 158 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 287 were injured in various incidents. Also, the U.S. Military announced the deaths of five GIs today, bringing the December total to 47 American servicemember deaths.
Three Marines died today from wounds sustained during combat in Anbar province; another Marine died on Monday in Anbar from “non-hostile causes”; and a soldier died from apparently natural causes near Diwaniyah, also on Monday. Coalition forces killed three militiamen in a separate incidents in the capital.
In Baghdad, a suicide car bomber killed at least 70 and wounded 236 after luring day laborers to his vehicle at Tayaran Square. About a mile away, a pair of roadside bombs wounded two policemen and seven civilians. Another suicide car bomber attacked a checkpoint in Radwaniya, killing one and wounding eight. Two people were injured when a mortar round fell on Haifa Street. And at least 47 dumped bodies were also discovered throughout the capital.
Police found 13 bodies in Baquba.
Mortars fell on Bani Saad where five people were killed and eights other wounded.
In Mosul, Aswan Fath Allah, an Associated Press TV cameraman, was gunned down. Also, four bodies, including that of an elderly woman, were found scattered about the city.
A mortar landed on a home in the northern city of Riyadh, killing a mother and her two children; two others were wounded in the attack.
Two policemen were gunned down near Hawija.
A gunshot riddled body was found near Chemin.
Five people were killed and 15 wounded in Kirkuk when a suicide car bomber drove towards an Iraqi army checkpoint. Another suicide bomber exploded his cargo in front of the home of police Col. Aazar; the colonel, his wife and children were among the seven injured.
Gunmen killed an Iraqi army colonel just north of Basra.
Gunmen killed two police officers in Loualwa.
Also, a bomb was discovered outside the Golden Mosque in Samarra. No casualties were reported, but the mosque was slightly damaged when the bomb exploded while Coalition forces were removing it. It is believed that an attack on the mosque last February ignited the sectarian violence that continues to this day.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis
