COMPLETE ROUNDUP OF NEWS FROM IRAQ, IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN

The following is a complete roundup of news from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan with each story sourced and in "Blue" or "Green" so you can get further details by clicking on the color part of the lead.

News
04/11/08 AP: Gunmen kill senior Sadrist official in Iraqi holy city of Najaf
Iraqi officials say gunmen have killed a senior aide to anti-U.S. cleric Moktada al-Sadr near his home in the Shiite holy city of Najaf....He was shot dead as he was driving home from Friday prayers in the adjacent city of Kufa.

04/11/08 Reuters: Airstrikes in Iraq kill 12 in Baghdad, Basra
U.S. and British forces killed 12 gunmen in airstrikes on Iraq’s southern oil-hub of Basra and the eastern Baghdad militia stronghold of Sadr City overnight, military officials said Friday.

04/11/08 UPI: British officer denies snub in Basra
British troops had a "significant" role in the Basra military operation, despite claims Iraqi forces sought U.S. assistance first, a British commander said.

04/11/08 Reuters: Iran cleric rejects Bush's accusations on Iraq
An influential Iranian cleric on Friday rejected President George W. Bush's accusations that Iran was arming and funding Shi'ite militias in Iraq to kill American soldiers, state radio reported.

04/11/08 AP: US shifts focus to Shiite 'special groups'
The top U.S. commander has shifted the focus from al-Qaida to Iranian-backed "special groups" as the main threat to a democratic Iraq — a significant change that reflects both the complexity of the war and its changing nature.

04/10/08 UPI: Three die in Mosul car blasts
Two car bombs targeting checkpoints in Mosul, Iraq, exploded, killing three people and injuring as many as 30 others, U.S. military officials said.

04/10/08 doncasterfreepress: Amputee soldier takes on the slopes
Sergeant Mick Brennan, 28, a former pupil of North Border Comprehensive School in Harworth, lost both of his legs when a car bomb exploded when he was working as part of a bomb disposal squad in Baghdad in 2004.

04/10/08 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills one civilian and wounds 4 others
A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol, killing one civilian and wounding four, including two policemen, in central Baghdad, police said.

04/10/08 Reuters: Roadside bomb wounds 3 policemen, 3 civilians in central Baghdad
A roadside bomb wounded six people, including three policemen, on patrol near al-Shaab National Stadium in central Baghdad, police said.

04/10/08 Reuters: U.S. soldier wounded by IED attack
A U.S. vehicle in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, was struck by an improvised explosive device on Wednesday night and one U.S. soldier was wounded, the U.S. military said.

04/10/08 Reuters: U.S. Soldiers kill person at checkpoint in Sadr City
U.S. soldiers manning a checkpoint in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, with Iraqi police killed one person on Wednesday when they were attacked by small-arms fire, the U.S. military said.

04/10/08 Reuters: U.S. soldiers kill 4 people in northwestern Baghdad
U.S. soldiers killed four people in two different locations in northwestern Baghdad after they were attacked with small-arms fire late on Wednesday, the U.S. military said.

04/10/08 Reuters: Gunmen in army uniforms attacked home in Hawija
In the town of Hawija near Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, gunmen wearing army uniforms attacked a house, killing two boys and wounding the mother and father.

04/10/08 Reuters: U.S. soldier wounded by RPG
A U.S. fighting vehicle took a rocket-propelled grenade round in northwestern Baghdad on Wednesday night, wounding one U.S. soldier, the U.S. military said.

04/10/08 AFP: US air strikes kill six in Baghdad Shiiite bastion
Two US air strikes in Baghdad's embattled Sadr City district on Thursday killed six people as fighting raged for a fifth straight day between Shiite militiamen and security forces, officials said.

04/09/08 turnto23: Soldier Injured By IED Awaits Test Results
Army Specialist Matthew McCool is in a military hospital in Palo Alto and is undergoing testing for his brain injury suffered while on tour in Iraq. McCool 's family said he is doing well and they are waiting for a prognosis...

04/09/08 TheNation: Iraq's Ruined Library Soldiers On
Five years ago this month, US troops stood by as looters sacked the Iraq National Library and Archives (INLA)--one of the oldest and most used in the world. In Arab countries the old expression was "Cairo writes, Beirut publishes, and Baghdad reads."

04/09/08 AP: US commander says he will not request fresh troop buildup for Ira
America's war commander in Iraq says he is unlikely to endorse any fresh buildup of troops even if security in the country should deteriorate, a signal that the limits of the U.S. military have been reached for now.

04/09/08 AP: Military strained by suicides, long deployments
U.S. soldiers are committing suicide at record levels, young officers are abandoning their military careers, and the heavy use of forces in Iraq has made it harder for the military to fight conflicts that could arise elsewhere.

04/09/08 theaustralian: Super sniper kills six Brits in Basra
SIX British soldiers serving in Iraq were killed by the same Western-made rifle within three months last year, an inquest was told yesterday.

04/09/08 whnt: Soldier Killed in Green Zone had Huntsville Ties
Scott lived for the Army and lived for running. Sunday, he took a jog with a buddy in Baghdad's Green Zone. But he didn't expect to be attacked. "He had just got off work. Which is normal. He went for a normal run with a friend which is normal," ...

04/09/08 MCT: Iraqi detainees languish uncharged in crowded jails
Barefoot in his yellow jumpsuit, the young detainee's eyes welled up as he described in a shaking voice how he landed in an Iraqi army detention facility on the outskirts of Baghdad.

04/09/08 Reuters: Blockade on Iraq's Sadr City to be lifted Saturday
A two-week old ban on vehicles in Baghdad's eastern Shiite slum of Sadr City will be lifted on Saturday, the Iraqi military said on Wednesday.

04/09/08 MNF: Iraqi Police checkpoint attacked, 3 killed, 33 wounded
An Iraqi Police checkpoint was attacked by two vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices, killing three IPs in Mosul, April 9.

04/09/08 AP: AP photographer granted Iraqi amnesty
An Iraqi judicial committee has dismissed terrorism-related allegations against Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein and ordered him released nearly two years after he was detained by the U.S. military.

04/09/08 Reuters: 23 people killed, 83 injured in Sadr City
23 people were killed and 83 injured in the eastern Baghdad slum of Sadr City on Wednesday, Iraqi security sources said.

04/09/08 Reuters: Gunmen kill civilians and policeman near Kirkuk
Gunmen killed a civilian in Tal al-Hadeed village near Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad, police said...Gunmen killed a policeman and a civilian in Tuz Khurmato, south of Kirkuk, police said.

04/09/08 Reuters: Car bombs kill 3 policemen, 1 civilian in Mosul
Two successive car bombs killed three policemen and a civilian and wounded 20 people including three policemen when they targeted a police patrol in central Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

04/09/08 Reuters: Two bodies found in Baghdad on Wednesday
Two unidentified bodies were found in Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.

04/09/08 AP: Violence kills 16 in Iraq's Sadr City
Iraqi security forces and Shiite militiamen clashed Wednesday in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, where attacks killed 16 people on the fifth anniversary of the U.S. capture of the capital.

04/09/08 AFP: Australia offers residence to Iraqis who helped troops
Australia said Wednesday it would offer permanent residence to hundreds of Iraqi employees when Canberra pulls its combat forces out of the strife-torn country later this year.

04/09/08 AP: More assaults reported
A woman who worked as a paramedic for a contractor in Iraq has testified she was raped in February by a soldier and co-worker. The assault on Dawn Leamon came a little more than a month after Congress began investigating other similar assaults.

04/09/08 AFP: Top Qaeda militant arrested in western Iraq
Iraqi police on Wednesday arrested a senior militant and close aide of Al-Qaeda in Iraq chief Abu Ayyub al-Masri in western Iraq's Anbar province, the provincial police chief said.

04/10/08 NPR: Assessing Iraq's Security Forces
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, emphasized the growth of Iraq's security forces in his opening statement to a House committee Wednesday. Steve Inskeep talks to Bing West...about assessing the Iraqi security forces.