Updated at 11:15 p.m. EST, Dec. 15, 2006
Today, American military authorities reported that two U.S. Marines were killed in Anbar yesterday from "wounds sustained during enemy action." This raised the number of Americans killed in Iraq during December to 53 deaths. Overnight, British bases in Basra were bombarded by katyusha rockets, but no casualties were reported. Also, 60 Iraqis were killed or found dead and two were injured in violent attacks.
Two car bombers exploded their cargo outside two separate U.S. bases in Ramadi. The attacks followed clashes between U.S. forces and gunmen earlier in the day; four Iraqi civilians were killed in the incident. Coalition forces also killed ten militiamen during clashes in between the villages of Dojamah and Zanboor and four militiamen who were burying a roadside bomb near Fallujah.
The day in Baghdad began with a mortar attack on a mosque in the Doura district; no casualties were reported. At least 22 bodies were recovered in different areas; some were hancuffed or tortured. Because it is Friday, the day of prayer, a car curfew was in effect. This usually dampens violent activity in the capital.
Muhsin al-Kanani, a Shi’ite sheikh, and two of his guards were killed when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in Basra.
According to hospital sources, thirteen people were killed in various events in Mosul.
In an attack in Diwaniya, a Iraqi intelligence member and an oil company guard were killed by gunmen.
Gunmen opened fire on a civilian standing near a bus station in Kut.
And, one civilian was killed, two others injured, when a roadside bomb exploded near a railway station in al Qadisyah.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis
