Updated at 9:40 p.m. EST, Dec. 1, 2010
At least eight Iraqis were killed and eight more were wounded in light violence. Meanwhile, U.S. Army Col. Darsie D. Rogers Jr. said that American special forces now conduct about 25 operations a week–mostly to advise Iraqi forces–or about half as many as they did this time last year. Also, the Sadrists have likely made the greatest gains of any political group since March elections.
The support Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr gave Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in his campaign to retain the premiership is already paying off for the Sadrists. While they may not get all the posts they want, they have already seen many of their followers released from jail and placed back on the streets where they have begun to intimidate Iraqis who do not follow their fundamentalist take on Islam. Should they gain key security and other positions, many fear a return to the sectarian warfare that marked post-invasion Iraq.
A roadside bomb targeting the Qaim police chief killed two of his guards and wounded two others.
The bodies of three young men who were wanted on terrorism charges were discovered a day after their kidnapping from Balad and bearing gunshot wounds and torture marks.
In Baghdad, a bomb planted near the Health Ministry in Jihad wounded one person when it exploded. A large bomb factory was discovered in Saidiya. A Shabb market was evacuated after a car bomb was discovered. A human rights worker was killed in Suleikh.
Gunmen stormed an official’s home in Numaniya where they wounded the man’s mother and sister. His son was able to kill a gunman before the rest of them fled.
Near Diwaniya, police found a body belonging to a man who guarded the former provincial governor. That governor was assassinated two years ago.
A district police chief was wounded during an assassination attempt in Kirkuk. Separately, two suspects were arrested and weapons were confiscated.
In Mosul, soldiers wounded a man suspected of arming a car bomb that wounded three of their colleagues yesterday.
An I.E.D. wounded a man in Tal Afar.
No casualties were reported after a mortar attack on a U.S. tanker near Tikrit.
