Updated at 6:49 p.m. EST, Feb. 26, 2010
At least four Iraqis were killed and 48 more were wounded in prayer day violence. It appears that reporters have returned to Mosul after a brief hiatus. Regular reports of attacks have resumed, perhaps in response to a surge in attacks against Christians. In nearby Suleimaniyah, however, reports are having a difficult time leaking out. Also, three mass graves holding hundreds of children killed during the Saddam era were discovered in Kirkuk.
Updated at 8:29 p.m. EST, Feb. 25, 2010
At least six Iraqis were killed and five more were wounded in the latest violence. A blast in Fallujah could increase those figures as details about the bombing emerge later. Meanwhile, a leading Sunni party has decided to participate in next month’s elections despite the barring of one of its most popular members.
Violence was light today, but several stories that are all possibly election related made the headlines. The most important ones are the creation of a new Ba’athist blacklist, attacks against Christians, and the strange story about 67 unidentified bodies that a candidate told at a press conference. Unless those 67 corpses turn up, only one Iraqi was killed today and five more were wounded.
Updated at 7:15 p.m. EST, Feb. 23, 2010
With elections just a couple weeks away, the Iraqi government will continue using fraudulent bomb-detection devices even as Baghdad residents brace themselves for more pre-election violence. At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 16 were wounded in light violence today. Also, a U.S. soldier was killed in a vehicular accident in Baghdad today.
At least 31 Iraqis were killed and 15 more were wounded in a storm of attacks across the country. Most of the attacks occurred in and around Baghdad, which has been unusually quiet in recent days. Also, Gen. Ray Odierno admitted that there is a “Plan B” for a slower drawdown of U.S. forces should the political landscape remain chaotic after March elections.
Updated at 7:34 p.m. EST, Feb. 21, 2010
At least 10 Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded in various attacks across Iraq. Two U.S. helicopter pilots were killed during a hard landing at a base in northern Iraq. Meanwhile, analysts wonder what the withdrawal of a key Sunni group from March elections will mean for Iraq, and whether it will re-ignite the sectarian bloodshed..
Only three Iraqis were reported killed on a very quiet day. Iraqis are still concerned over the fallout of a candidate blacklist that could nullify the legitimacy of the elections. Some Iraqis face a long jail term if they choose to criticize the elections through vandalism.
The first official boycott of March 7 elections was called when MP Mutlaq took himself and his party out of the running. The prayer day was otherwise fairly quiet with only two Iraqis having been reported killed while a third Iraqi was wounded. Also, Iraq has rejected international calls to end its death penalty.
A pair of attacks in two major cities took the lion’s share of casualties today. At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 55 more wounded across the country. Meanwhile, many provincial governments and agencies are tightening security ahead of elections, but they have also given journalists more freedom to cover them.
Memories of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib have resurfaced as a military appeals court reviews whether the judge in one case conducted the trial properly. Meanwhile, Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani encouraged voters to participate in next month’s national elections. At least eight Iraqis were killed and five more were wounded in light violence. Also, there are rumors that the Mahdi Army may be resurfacing as sectarian violence appears to be re-igniting.
