.Militants Kill 18 in Baghdad Parking Lot
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Gunmen raided a parking lot and blew up a parked oil tanker in northeastern Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 18 people and injuring at least 37, police said.
Fighting between suspected insurgents and Iraqi police killed at least six civilians in Baghdad and officials said roadside bombs had killed three U.S. soldiers.
The gunmen at the parking lot and small market in the Shaab neighborhood first shot five guards, police Capt. Ali al-Obeidi said.
As bystanders rushed to the scene, a car bomb detonated next to an oil tanker, which exploded and engulfed the area in a fireball. AP Television News video showed the remnants of an exploded car and sandals and clothes of the many dead and injured.
The attack seemed to be organized and aimed at killing as many people as possible.
The motivation for the attack was unclear, but it may have been sectarian. The Shaab neighborhood is mainly Shiite.
Another bomb destroyed a liquor store in Baghdad in what appeared to be the third attack on the shop by militants determined to impose Islamic customs by closing down such establishments. The blast, one of three heard just past dawn, shook much of central Baghdad.
The gunbattle in Baghdad broke out about 10:30 a.m. between suspected insurgents riding in three cars and Iraqi police in Dora, one of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods.
At least six civilians were killed and four wounded in the crossfire, said police 1st Lt. Maithem Abdel-Razaq.
One U.S. soldier died when a roadside bomb exploded near Rasheed airfield, a former Iraqi air force installation in southern Baghdad, damaging a Humvee and also wounding an Iraqi civilian, said police Lt. Mohammed Hanoun. The soldier was on a foot patrol near the convoy at the time, the U.S. command said.
Two other soldiers from 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were killed Monday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad.
The attacks raised to at least 2,448 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the start of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
At 6:10 a.m., a roadside bomb exploded in central Baghdad's Karradah shopping district, destroying the liquor store and damaging two nearby shops. None of the stores in the area had opened yet, and the blast caused no casualties, police said.
"This liquor shop has been targeted three times," said Falah Hassan, 50, the owner of one of the two damaged shops. "The first time it was hit by a grenade. The second time gunmen stormed it, hurt its workers and stole their money. Today, militants placed a bomb beside it," Hassan told AP Television News.
Some Muslim religious leaders have tried to ban the drinking of alcohol, even though it is legal under Iraq's new constitution. Many of Baghdad's liquor stores are operated by Iraq's Christian minority, and some have been threatened or closed by Islamist militants, who also often demand that women wear veils while in public.
The violence came as Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki said the formation of a Cabinet was "mostly complete," but an influential Shiite group and some Sunni Arab lawmakers signaled the deal was far from done.
Al-Maliki met with deputies from the United Iraqi Alliance, a powerful Shiite bloc that includes his Dawa Party, and said that they were waiting only for a response from the Fadhila Party, a Shiite group that last week withdrew from negotiations. The party ridiculed the process as flawed and driven by U.S. pressure and sectarianism, among other problems.
The Cabinet is "mostly complete," and "we are waiting today for a final response from the Iraqi List and our brothers in the Fadhila Party," al-Maliki said after the meeting.
The Iraqi List is a secular coalition headed by former Shiite Premier Ayad Allawi. It has demanded the defense portfolio, among other ministries.
Shiite lawmakers told the AP that the overall distribution of the Cabinet posts had been agreed to.
Under that plan, the Shiite bloc would secure 16 posts; the Kurds would get five; the Sunni Arab Accordance Front three; the Iraqi List four; and the independent Sunni Arab National Dialogue Council three.
In other violence, according to police:
- Suspected insurgents attacked a police patrol Tuesday in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, killing two policeman.
- A drive-by shooting in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, killed a man who had served as a secret agent in Saddam Hussein's government.
- A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in western Baghdad, wounding one policeman.
- Gunmen in eastern Baghdad killed a policeman who worked in Interior Ministry intelligence.
- Amir Latif Ali Yahya, the Electoral Commission director in Diyala province, escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded near his car in Buhriz, 35 miles north of Baghdad.
- Gunmen killed the manager of a local soccer team near his home in the southern city of Basra on Monday night. Suspected insurgents also fired rockets at the Shat al-Arab Hotel, headquarters of the British army in Basra, causing no casualties.
Iraq's Interior Ministry also said it had arrested two al-Qaida in Iraq members on Monday in Baghdad
MyWay
When are the Iraqi people going to stand up against these monsters.
Fighting between suspected insurgents and Iraqi police killed at least six civilians in Baghdad and officials said roadside bombs had killed three U.S. soldiers.
The gunmen at the parking lot and small market in the Shaab neighborhood first shot five guards, police Capt. Ali al-Obeidi said.
As bystanders rushed to the scene, a car bomb detonated next to an oil tanker, which exploded and engulfed the area in a fireball. AP Television News video showed the remnants of an exploded car and sandals and clothes of the many dead and injured.
The attack seemed to be organized and aimed at killing as many people as possible.
The motivation for the attack was unclear, but it may have been sectarian. The Shaab neighborhood is mainly Shiite.
Another bomb destroyed a liquor store in Baghdad in what appeared to be the third attack on the shop by militants determined to impose Islamic customs by closing down such establishments. The blast, one of three heard just past dawn, shook much of central Baghdad.
The gunbattle in Baghdad broke out about 10:30 a.m. between suspected insurgents riding in three cars and Iraqi police in Dora, one of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods.
At least six civilians were killed and four wounded in the crossfire, said police 1st Lt. Maithem Abdel-Razaq.
One U.S. soldier died when a roadside bomb exploded near Rasheed airfield, a former Iraqi air force installation in southern Baghdad, damaging a Humvee and also wounding an Iraqi civilian, said police Lt. Mohammed Hanoun. The soldier was on a foot patrol near the convoy at the time, the U.S. command said.
Two other soldiers from 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were killed Monday when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad.
The attacks raised to at least 2,448 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the start of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
At 6:10 a.m., a roadside bomb exploded in central Baghdad's Karradah shopping district, destroying the liquor store and damaging two nearby shops. None of the stores in the area had opened yet, and the blast caused no casualties, police said.
"This liquor shop has been targeted three times," said Falah Hassan, 50, the owner of one of the two damaged shops. "The first time it was hit by a grenade. The second time gunmen stormed it, hurt its workers and stole their money. Today, militants placed a bomb beside it," Hassan told AP Television News.
Some Muslim religious leaders have tried to ban the drinking of alcohol, even though it is legal under Iraq's new constitution. Many of Baghdad's liquor stores are operated by Iraq's Christian minority, and some have been threatened or closed by Islamist militants, who also often demand that women wear veils while in public.
The violence came as Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki said the formation of a Cabinet was "mostly complete," but an influential Shiite group and some Sunni Arab lawmakers signaled the deal was far from done.
Al-Maliki met with deputies from the United Iraqi Alliance, a powerful Shiite bloc that includes his Dawa Party, and said that they were waiting only for a response from the Fadhila Party, a Shiite group that last week withdrew from negotiations. The party ridiculed the process as flawed and driven by U.S. pressure and sectarianism, among other problems.
The Cabinet is "mostly complete," and "we are waiting today for a final response from the Iraqi List and our brothers in the Fadhila Party," al-Maliki said after the meeting.
The Iraqi List is a secular coalition headed by former Shiite Premier Ayad Allawi. It has demanded the defense portfolio, among other ministries.
Shiite lawmakers told the AP that the overall distribution of the Cabinet posts had been agreed to.
Under that plan, the Shiite bloc would secure 16 posts; the Kurds would get five; the Sunni Arab Accordance Front three; the Iraqi List four; and the independent Sunni Arab National Dialogue Council three.
In other violence, according to police:
- Suspected insurgents attacked a police patrol Tuesday in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, killing two policeman.
- A drive-by shooting in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, killed a man who had served as a secret agent in Saddam Hussein's government.
- A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in western Baghdad, wounding one policeman.
- Gunmen in eastern Baghdad killed a policeman who worked in Interior Ministry intelligence.
- Amir Latif Ali Yahya, the Electoral Commission director in Diyala province, escaped unharmed when a roadside bomb exploded near his car in Buhriz, 35 miles north of Baghdad.
- Gunmen killed the manager of a local soccer team near his home in the southern city of Basra on Monday night. Suspected insurgents also fired rockets at the Shat al-Arab Hotel, headquarters of the British army in Basra, causing no casualties.
Iraq's Interior Ministry also said it had arrested two al-Qaida in Iraq members on Monday in Baghdad
MyWay
When are the Iraqi people going to stand up against these monsters.
posted by madtom at 10:24 AM
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