Today’s attacks unsurprisingly targeted Awakening Council (Sahwa), security personnel and even a gold merchant as gunmen continue to stalk Iraq’s politically valuable targets. At least five Iraqis were killed and 29 more were wounded across the country. Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry released 198 inmates, mostly in Baghdad and Basra, over a lack of evidence against them.
In Baghdad, a bomb killed a Sahwa member and wounded nine others, including civilians, in the Doura neighborhood. A double bombing in Yarmouk killed a soldier and wounded seven others, including civilians. A bomb in Adil wounded three people.
A Sahwa member was killed and his two brothers were wounded in Samarra when gunmen detonated a bomb as his home.
In Mosul, a bomb killed a 13-year-old girl.
A bomb in Azim wounded three civilians riding in a car.
In Garma, a bomb wounded a civilian.
A bomb late yesterday wounded four policemen in Tuz Khormato.
Gunmen killed the owner of a gold shop in Aziziya. Attacks on banks, jewelers and goldsmiths are thought to often be the work of al-Qaeda members securing more financing for their operations.
No casualties were reported in Jalawla, after a mobile phone tower was sabotaged.
In Hit, four gunmen wearing suicide belts were arrested. A large weapons cache was also discovered. Hit has suffered a number of attacks in recent days.
Bomb experts in Nasariya were able to defuse a bomb planted outside the home of a former provincial councilman.
Four suspects were captured in Wassit province.
In Imam Weis, 12 Ansar al-Sunna suspects were arrested.
In Turkey, two Turkish guards, 3 village guards and 12 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels were killed in clashes. Meanwhile, Turkish shells rained down on northern Iraq near Bidawi, but no casualties were reported. Also, Baghdad lodged a complaint over a dam being built in Turkey.
Syria reported the arrests of 400 suspected PKK members and the deaths of 11 of them last week. The PKK would like to see an independent Kurd state stretched across Syria, Turkey, Iraq and neighboring countries. The group has fought a decades long guerilla war, chasing this goal. It recently ended a yearlong, self-imposed truce with Turkish forces.
