Updated at 7:40 p.m. EST, Jan. 15, 2010
At least 33 Iraqis were killed and 127 more were wounded in today’s attacks. Among them was a multiple bomb attack in the holy city of Najaf. Meanwhile, a former Iraqi leader criticized the controversial decision to ban 500 Iraqis from running in March elections.
Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi warned Iraqis that the de-Ba’athification process is being manipulated and used to intimidate voters. Last week, 14 political lists were barred from participating in March elections. Among them was Saleh al-Mutlaq’s Iraqi Front for National Dialogue which is part of a coalition of parties that includes Allawi’s. Mutlaq is a popular Sunni lawmaker whose former ties to the outlawed Ba’ath Party have been known for years, but were considered unimportant until now. About 500 more Iraqis have been banned from the election. Public demonstrations followed the announcement of the ban, including today’s protest in Mosul.
Eleven Iraqis were convicted on involvement in last August’s deadly bombings in Baghdad and sentenced to death by hanging. The group may appeal their verdicts.
Twenty-seven people were killed and as many as 111 were wounded during an apparently coordinated bomb attack in the holy city of Najaf. A car bomb blew up on a street that leads to the Imam Ali Shrine, and then two more blasts occurred at a nearby market.
A bomb in Baquba left two dead and 10 wounded at a market.
In Mosul, gunmen entered a restaurant where they shot and wounded a diner. A bomb wounded an Iraqi soldier. A man and a woman were killed in a drive-by shooting.
A high school student was shot dead in Khalis.
In Udhaim, gunmen killed a leader from the local Awakening Council (Sahwa). The man’s uncle was wounded as well.
A bomb near Fallujah in Khalidiya wounded two people.
South of Kirkuk in the Lilan area, a shepherd was wounded in a landmine blast.
Five suspects were detained in Fallujah.
An al-Qaeda suspect was captured in Jurf al-Sakhar.
Police in Qebla arrested a gang.
Two Naqshabandiya Army members were captured near Makhmour.
An al-Qaeda leader was arrested in Kirkuk.
