Updated at 7:50 p.m. EST, Jan. 7, 2010
At least 12 Iraqis were killed and 31 more were wounded during attacks in three cities. A U.S. soldier died of non-combat injuries. Meanwhile, Iran and Iraq’s foreign ministers met to resolve at border dispute. Also, Blackwater Worldwide has settled a number of civil lawsuits stemming from a controversial 2007 shootout in Baghdad.
Iran’s Manouchehr Mottaki, met with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari to discuss border tensions that came to a head in December when Iran took over an Iraqi oil well before subsequently retreating. Much of the Iran-Iraq border remains contested as previous attempts to delineate the border have fallen short. Iran has separately admitted to holding Iraqi suspects as well.
A string of blasts in Hit killed seven people and wounded six more. The first two blasts struck the home of the anti-terrorism unit and his father’s next door. Lt. Col. Walid Slaiman was wounded but his mother, sisters, and two other family members, including a child were killed. In some reports, however, he is also listed as dead. Two more blasts separately killed a lawyer, who was part of Lt. Colonel’s clan, and wounded a policeman. At least four others were wounded, three of them policemen who came across a bomb near a cemetery. After a curfew was lifted another bomb killed two bodyguards working for Col. Omar Rabea.
Three policemen were killed and at least 18 others were wounded in Khanaqin, when a bomb was detonated near a police station.
In Mosul, a bomb exploded in the 17 Tammuz neighborhood, wounding a policeman. Also, three suspects were arrested.
In Baghdad, a bomb wounded six in Ameriya.
Gunmen in al-Barghaliya, al-Ayadiya kidapped a man.
A bomb was defused in Qayara.
Fourteen lists have been barred from upcoming elections for alleged Ba’ath Party affiliations.
