Saturday: 4 GIs, 1 Pole, 43 Iraqis Killed

Updated at 11:10 p.m. EDT, April, 21, 2008 Saturday was unusually quiet in Iraq. Only 43 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead and 17 were wounded. One Polish soldier and three GIs and a Marine were also reported killed, while four Poles and eight Americans were reported wounded.

The U.S. military reported that an American soldier was killed during a roadside bomb attack 15 miles southwest of Baghdad; two more were wounded. A Polish soldier was killed and four more wounded in roadside bomb attack in Diwaniya. Two more Americans were wounded during a roadside bomb attack in Baladiyat. Later, another U.S. patrol struck a roadside bomb; one American soldier was killed and three others were wounded. A patrol came under small arms attack in eastern Baghdad; one soldier was killed and another wounded. And a Marine was killed today in Anbar province during security operations.

In Baghdad, 11 dumped bodies were collected. A bomb on a bus killed two people and injured five more in Sadr City. Mortars injured two people in the Green Zone. In Doura, mortars killed two people and injured two others. Mortars also fell in Adhamiya where they injured two people. Also, the home of parliamentarian Abdel-Wahab al-Hakim was attacked but no casualties were reported.

Eight bodies, four beheaded, were found in Khalis; they bore evidence of torture.

Mehdi Abdul Hussein al-Najem, the mayor of Mussayab, and two of his bodyguards were killed when a roadside bomb exploded next to their vehicle and then gunmen fired on them. A civilian was found shot dead as well. Another body was found in the Euphrates.

In Kirkuk, gunmen stormed a home where they killed a couple and their two children. A roadside bomb blast injured a policeman. Two roadside bombs exploded without causing casualties; another four bombs were disarmed in separate locations.

A three day curfew was placed in Birwana.

Katyusha rockets fell on the British consulate in Basra, but no casualties were reported.

The head of the Falluja municipal council, Sami al-Jumaily, was killed in a drive-by shooting; his predecessor was killed in February. Gunmen waged an attack on an Iraqi army base but no casualties were reported.

Five dumped bodies were found north of Kut. Four men suspected of being al-Qaeda were arrested in Kut.

Two nearly simultaneous car bombs killed one person and injured five in Madaen.

Four gunmen were killed in raids in the Shurqat area.

Seven suspected al-Qaeda members were detained south of Baquba. Several people, some Afghans, were arrested in several locations.

 

Casualties by Margaret Griffis

Author: Margaret Griffis

Margaret Griffis is a journalist from Miami Beach, Florida and has been covering Iraqi casualties for Antiwar.com since 2006.