Updated at 4:17 p.m. EDT, June 25, 2009
The surge in bombings continues in Iraq. At least 19 Iraqis were killed and 91 more were wounded across the country. Nine Coalition servicemembers were also wounded during a bombing in Baghdad.
Some blame the increase in successful attacks on the planned U.S. withdrawal of troops from Iraqi cities next week. Those mostly likely to benefit from slowing down the withdrawal are Sunni groups who mistrust the Shi’ite-led government and fear a return of sectarian violence. Other parties behind the surge could simply desire to embarrass the government and demonstrate that the army is not ready to handle security. Late in the day, senior military commanders announced that a deal had been reached in the peculiar case of restive Mosul; some military advisers and trainers will remain in five locations there. Authorities separately noted that al-Qaeda activity is actually on the wane and the number of foreign fighters in Iraq is steadily dropping.
In Baghdad, a bomb at a bus station in the Bayaa neighborhood killed seven Iraqis and wounded 31 others. A second bomb in Bayaa wounded five more civilians. A bomb in Baladiyat killed one police officer and wounded three more Iraqis. In Jihad, a bomb at a billiard hall killed one and wounded ten others. A mortar attack on Karrada wounded two people, while a bomb blast there wounded two policemen. A bomb in Orfali left two wounded. In Saidiya, a blast wounded four people. Three civilians were wounded when their bus struck a roadside bomb in Amil.
More blasts have been reported in Baghdad. Among them, a pair of bombs in east Baghdad wounded nine Coalition servicemembers. Gunmen also targeted the electrical infrastructure with explosives and rocketed a power station.
In Mosul, a bomb killed an Iraqi army soldier and wounded 13 others in al-Arabi. Three policemen were wounded during a clash with gunmen. A bomb killed a police colonel. Gunmen killed a 16-year-old boy.
A bomb blast in Amiriyat al-Fallujah killed five policemen and wounded nine more.
One policeman was killed and three more were wounded during an attack on a checkpoint just south of Fallujah in Asdaan village.
A roadside bomb near Fallujah in al-Fuhaylat villag killed a police colonel.
Last night in Diwaniya, gunmen wounded a local Shi’ite leader, who is a follower of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Twenty suspects were arrested in connection with the assassination attempt.
No casualties were reported after a bomb blasted a U.S. patrol in Duluiya.
Fifty rockets were confiscated in Numaniya.
A suspect was captured in Kut. Police were tipped off to three I.E.D.s being stored in an abandoned home.
