Updated at 6:45 p.m. EDT, May 19, 2008
Light violence was reported throughout Iraq today. At least 29 Iraqis were killed and 39 more were wounded. Authorities in Mosul continue security operations there and may have netted an important al-Qaeda leader. No Coalition deaths were reported.
Iraqi authorities say they have captured an al-Qaeda leader in Mosul. At least 1,300 people have been arrested during a security crackdown, but about 20% of the detainees were cleared of suspicion and released immediately. Many of the actual gunmen and their leaders may have already fled the city, as they did in Baghdad after the U.S. surge in troops last summer. Neighboring Daquq province increased checkpoints on highways leading to Mosul to thwart such movement there. One gunman was killed during operations.
Eleven policemen, mostly recruits, were slain near the Syrian border at Baaj. Their minibus was riddled with bullets.
In Baghdad, three dumped bodies were found. U.S. soldiers killed a man placing a roadside bomb. Five people were injured when a Katyusha rocket fell in Hurriya. In Doura, three people were injured when a roadside bomb blasted them. Iraqi forces arrested five people and confiscated weapons at a mosque in Shabb. A police commando captain was wounded during a shooting in Zaafaraniyah; in a separate incident, police defused a rocket. One Iraqi soldier was killed and 11 others were wounded during security operations. Three policemen were wounded during a shooting in Qadisiyah. Late in the day in Shabb, the local police chief and three policemen were wounded during a roadside bombing. A bomb in Ghadeer wounded two people. Also, four suicide bombers were stopped and arrested in Abu Ghraib.
Gunmen killed a police intelligence officer in Sadr City. His driver was wounded.
In Suq al-Shiyoukh, a bomb in the police chief’s office killed him.
One person was killed and six were wounded when a car bomb was detonated in Tikrit.
A policeman was killed and three others were wounded during an attack on a checkpoint last night in Basra. Police launched raids today and have at least 22 suspects in custody.
Two bodies were fished out of the Tigris River at Suwayra. They bore gunshot wounds and torture marks. One of the victims had been beheaded.
Two bodies were found near Rutba. They bore the usual gunshot and torture wounds.
Three suspects from Mosul were arrested in Makhmour.
Iran continued launching artillery at suspected Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) rebel locations near Suleimaniya.
In Fallujah, a man and his wife were killed after a suicide vest he had given her blew up.
Gunmen killed two civilians in Zahra’a.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis
