Because of a Shi’ite religious observance, news reports from Iraq are scant, but at least 12 Iraqis were reported killed over the last two days. At least 10 more were wounded. Also, plans to close Camp Ashraf with the help of the International Red Cross appear to be moving forward.
In Baiji, a police commando team stormed the home of a former policeman. Before the team killed him, he managed to wound a commando. Upon hearing the raid, the man’s neighbors came out and wounded three more commandos. The town is under curfew. Separately, a pipeline suffered serious damage after an explosion of unknown origins.
Baghdad was under a curfew Saturday to facilitate the safe travel of Shi’ite pilgrims into the Kadhimiya neighborhood. A bomb blasted a U.S. patrol but no casualties were reported. A policeman was gunned down in Mansour. In Amin, gunmen killed an employee of the Electricity ministry. Two people were wounded in a blast on Palestine Street. Gunmen killed a policeman just west of the city as he left work on Friday.
A policeman and his wife were killed on Friday, during a home invasion in Tikrit.
Last night in Garma, a blast killed a civilian and wounded three others.
At an Abu Ghraib home, gunmen killed a man and his nephew. The man belonged to the municipal council.
In Mosul, two soldiers were shot to death at a checkpoint. Friday, a civilian was shot to death.
In Kirkuk, gunmen wounded a soldier. A bomb was defused near an oil well. A pediatrician was kidnapped yesterday.
No casualties were reported after a captain’s house was blown up in Falluja.
Twenty-seven suspects were arrested across Diyala province.
Basra‘s provincial council voted to demand the withdrawal of U.S. troops at Basra International Airport and to deny entry to the city by those forces.
