Updated at 6:45 p.m. EDT, Sept. 30, 2008
At least 9 Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded as Sunnis began observing the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Also, a U.S. soldier was killed in a small arms attack in Baghdad.
In Baghdad, four people were killed and nine were wounded near the national theater in Karrada. Shelling wounded three people in Ghazaliya. The Iraqi army killed an Iraqi and a Syrian during security operations that netted two other foreign fighters. Mortars wounded five people in Hurriya yesterday. A bomb was detonated in a controlled explosion in Amil. Two dumped bodies were found. Five al-Qaeda suspects were detained. Also, small motorcycles will now be banned in Baghdad.
In Mosul, gunmen killed an employee in a coffee shop. The body of a woman was found. Two policemen were wounded during an evening attack on a station.
A roadside bomb in Jalawla wounded a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
Fourteen suspects were detained in Kut.
Security forces arrested 25 suspects in Iskandariya.
U.S. forces detained 11 suspects in and around Mosul and Baghdad.
Seven detainees were transferred from U.S. custody to that of the Heit police.
A crackdown in Basra netted five suspects.
In Jalawla, the chief of emergency operations was arrested along with two officers on suspicion of "terror operations." Iraqi troops supported by U.S. forces then demolished their homes after removing other family members. Jalawla is within a heavily Kurdish area in Diyala province. The central government wants to replace the local security forces with their own and have been accused of harassing local officials in recent weeks.
Thousands of security personnel are in Karbala for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of Ramadan. The holiday begins with the sighting of the new moon. That has already occurred in many locations. In Iraq, Sunnis are already observing the holiday, while Shi’ites have to wait one more day.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis
