Updated at 6:49 p.m. EDT, June 20, 2010
At least 58 Iraqis were killed and 98 more were wounded mostly in Baghdad and Tikrit. Turkish troops also struck in northern Iraq where civilians were among the casualties. Meanwhile, an American-born al-Qaeda spokesman repeated the group’s demands, which include the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
In Baghdad, two suicide car bombers struck in Nisour Square, where they killed about 28 people and wounded 57 more in an apparent attack on the Trade Bank of Iraq and Citizenship Directorate. The blasts come a week after an attack on the Central Bank. It was thought last week’s attack might have been to procure funds for more attacks. Security has been tightened around goldsmiths and jewelers as part of the response.
Also in Baghdad, eight bodies, belonging to women and children, were discovered recently buried in a suspected brothel’s backyard in Zayouna. Last night in Hurriya, three roadside bombs killed four people and wounded 16 others. A blast in Nisour Square last night left a man dead and his wife wounded. Three people were killed and four others were wounded in rocket attacks in Obeidi. A large arms cache was discovered.
Five people were killed and 12 more were wounded when a suicide bomber used a roadside bomb to lure victims to him in Tikrit.
Turkish airstrikes north of Arbil killed one Iraqi girl and wounded two others in one incident. Three more people were killed as Turkish troops advanced on suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) strongholds in the Qandil Mountains, but it is unknown if they were civilians or rebels. One Turkish soldier was killed and another was wounded in a rebel attack in Turkey. During a speech at a Turkish airport where coffins carrying Turkish soldiers killed in yesterday’s attacks were being transferred, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that the PKK rebels will "drown in their own blood." Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who is a Kurd, condemned the Turkish operations as "definitely a violation of Iraqi independence, sovereignty and good neighborly relations." The deadlock in forming the new Iraqi government undercuts any ability for Iraq to protect its borders from foreign incursions.
In Mosul, four policemen were wounded in an I.E.D. blast.
An I.E.D. attack on an assistant director of the Dalouiya police department left one policeman dead and two bystanders wounded.
An Iraqi soldier’s body was found in Kirkuk.
Kurdish Asayesh forces found old ordinance and "military scraps" near al-Dabis.
