Updated at 5:00 p.m. EST, Jan. 19, 2007
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made an unannounced trip to southern Iraq today to meet with Coalition leaders. Ahead of the visit one GI was killed and three were wounded in the capital; six British soldiers in Basra were hurt in a separate incident. Also, 37 Iraqis were killed and 22 wounded in violent attacks today.
The U.S. military reported that a roadside bomb killed an American soldier and wounded three more in a northwestern section of Baghdad. Combined Iraqi/U.S. forces arrested Abdul-Hadi al-Darraji, a prominent follower of Moqtada al Sadr. In Kut, Iraqi troops backed by U.S. forces detained two members of the Wasit provincial council on suspicion of weapons smuggling. Also, Coalition forces rescued 29 people following a skirmish in Baquba.
Rocket attacks on British military installations in Basra continued. Six British soldiers were injured, one seriously, during last night’s attack.
In Baghdad, 17 dumped bodies were recovered. A mosque in the Doura neighborhood was badly damaged in an explosion; two guards were killed and one more badly injured in the incident. A roadside bomb killed a traffic officer and wounded a second in the Karada district. Near Haifa Street, a mortar round fell, killing two civilians and wounding three others. Another mortar fell near Bayaa where it injured one person. One woman was killed and three people were injured by a mortar round in the Sharaa area. Gunmen killed one person and injured two others in southwest Baghdad. Also, a chief tourism official was assassinated outside his Ghazaliya district home. And a truck driver carrying supplies to U.S. forces was kidnapped in northern Baghdad.
A family fleeing Baghdad was stopped at a checkpoint where a man named Omar was accused of having false identification. He was allowed to continue, the family was stopped by men in an unmarked car. They asked for Omar and then killed him. His brother was stabbed in the incident. The family then drove to a hospital in Tikrit.
Three Iraqi policemen were killed and one wounded in Iskandariya.
In Fallujah, gunmen shot dead two former policemen, and a sniper killed an Iraqi soldier.
Gunmen killed a Sunni preacher at his home in Kirkuk. No casualties were reported in a bomb attack on a convoy belonging to an Iraqi army officer.
Near Irbil, a Kurdish Peshmerga fighter was killed and two more injured in an unspecified explosion.
A Katyusha rocket fell on a home in a village near Muqdadiyah; five members of one family were wounded in the attack.
In Hilla, gunmen shot at a minibus, injuring two people. Also, a butcher was killed when his shop was blown up.
In Ramadi, the body of a kidnapped traffic officer was found.
A pharmacist, Safaa Farhan, was killed in Baji.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis
