Updated at 11:01 p.m. EDT, Sept. 9, 2009
At least 44 Iraqis were killed and 61 more wounded in attacks, including a significant bombing in a Kurdish village. Meanwhile, two Saddam-era officials were acquitted of war crimes involving the deaths of two British soldiers during the U.S.-led invasion, even as yesterday’s U.S. servicemember deaths have left planners wondering about the feasibility of the U.S. drawdown. Also, Iraqi and Syrian diplomats met behind closed doors in Cairo but failed to resolve tensions over Syria allowing foreign fighters entry into Iraq.
East of Mosul in the Kurdish village of Wardek, a suicide bomber driving a truck bomb killed 19 people and wounded 25 more. Kurdish Peshmerga forces killed a second bomber before he was able to detonate his explosivs.
Eight family members were killed and at least two were wounded in Kirkuk, when a car bomb they were apparently loading prematurely exploded while still parked in their yard. Children were among the dead. The family had recently moved from Diyala into the home, which is owned by an Awakening Council member. Another report said that a suicide bomber was targeting the Sahwa leader and at least seven more people were wounded. A blast on a highway outside town left two policemen dead and three more wounded.
In Baghdad, U.S.-backed Iraqi troops stormed a home in Zaafaraniya, killing two people and arresting a third one, who is an intelligence officer. The three men were related. During the 2:00 a.m. raid, the two victims fired upon the troops, which lead to their deaths. The deaths angered area residents and relatives.
A bomb in Baghdad‘s Karrada district wounded two people. In Bab al-Sham, an explosion wounded three people, including a policeman. A bomb on a minibus wounded two in northern Baghdad. Yesterday, a bomb in Jamiaa wounded three people, while a blast in a southern neighborhood left one dead and seven wounded.
A roadside explosion killed four in Karbala.
A bomb in Abu Ghraib killed one soldier and wounded two more.
In Mosul, a bomb attached to a car killed an army colonel and wounded two civilians. Gunmen killed a civilian. Two gunmen were killed after they opened fire on a policeman and wounded him.
One civilian was killed and two more were wounded during a blast in Imam Weis.
Two hostages were freed in Garma al-Falluja after a ten-day ordeal. Two of their kidnappers were arrested.
Joint U.S.-Iraqi forces staged a raid in Baiji where they arrested a refinery official and two employees.
Seventeen detainees were released in Diyala province.
Southwest of Kirkuk in Senaai, 15 suspects were detained.
Ten wanted men were captured in Basra, where such arrests are often a form of harassment between rival Shi’ite groups.
Six suspects were captured in Jalawla.
Four suspects were arrested near Diwaniya.
Two suspects were captured in Suwayra.
A C-4 bomb was defused under an electrical line in Nasariya.
