MORE VIOLENCE HITS IRAQ

While the mainstream focuses 24/7 on the political race for POTUS, there is a growing concern in Iraq that violence is on the upswing. Late Tuesday, the following took place in Iraq:


5 killed in fresh Iraq violence Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:51:22

http://tinyurl.com/27kxmg

At least five people have been killed and eight wounded in a series of separate attacks in Iraq, police and officials have announced. The head of the municipality of Baghdad's neighborhood of Yarmouk was killed when a bomb attached to his car exploded on Tuesday, a police officer said Tuesday on condition of anonymity. To the south, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a checkpoint manned by police special forces in the Madain area, about 25 kilometers southeast of Baghdad, killing two policemen and wounding eight others, police said. In another incident also on Tuesday in the capital, a police colonel was shot dead by unidentified attackers in the Zafaraniyah neighborhood, an interior ministry official said. In the western Mansour district, a tax department official was shot dead by gunmen as he left his home.

IRAQ ERUPTS IN VIOLENCE. MAINSTREAM MEDIA REMAINS MUM

All across Iraq violence has erupted and yet the mainstream media in the United States remains mum on what is taking place in Iraq. Here is just a partial list of what took place in Iraq on Tuesday, January 8, 2008.

Posted by Bill Corcoran, host of CORKSPHERE.

http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/

Security incidents:Baghdad:#1: The same day, gunmen kidnapped eight Awakening members at a checkpoint in Shaab, a mainly-Shiite neighbourhood in northeastern Baghdad where Awakening members have taken control of security, an Iraqi official said. "Gunmen in five cars arrived in Shaab neighbourhood on Monday evening and abducted eight Shiite Awakening members who were controlling a checkpoint," the interior ministry official said on Tuesday.

#2: Ismael Abbas, the Awakening leader in Shaab, was shot dead in the street by gunmen using silencers, he added.

#3: In other violence in the capital on Tuesday, a police colonel was shot dead by unknown attackers in the mainly-Shiite Zafaraniyah neighbourhood in southeastern Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.Around 7 a.m., gunmen assassinated an officer of the ministry of interior “ Mohammad Aziz Al-Gatia in his car in Zafrania neighborhood ( east Baghdad)

#4: In the western Mansour neighbourhood, a tax department official was shot dead by gunmen as he left his home.Gunmen using weapons with silencers killed the deputy manager of the Mansour district tax office in western Baghdad, police said.

#5: A roadside bomb killed the chief of the Yarmouk District Council, Salih Mansour Hussein, and wounded two of his bodyguards in the Yarmouk district of western Baghdad, police said.

#6: Around 3 p.m., two mortars hit Medain district ( south of Baghdad ) injuring 2 people.

#7: Around 3 .30 p.m., a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol at Rashid camp neighborhood ( south east Baghdad) . No casualties reported.

#8: Police found 5 unidentified dead bodies in the following neighborhood in Baghdad: ( 3 ) dead bodies were found in west Baghdad ( Karkh bank ) ; 1 in Doura , 1 in Bayaa and Amil . While ( 2 ) were found in east Baghdad ( Risafa bank) ; 1 in Ubaidi and 1 in Fudhailiyah.Diyala Prv:#1: U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a major operation Tuesday to strike against al-Qaida in Iraq and other extremists, a top U.S. commander in Iraq said in a statement. The location for the division and brigade-level operation, dubbed Phantom Phoenix, was not announced. But extremists have been pushed out of their former stronghold in Anbar province west of Baghdad to the east and north and appear to be concentrated in the province of Diyala to the northeast of the capital.#2: A civilian was injured when unknown armed men opened fire on him in al-Saadiya region in Khaniqeen district, northeast of Baaquba," the source continued.Muqdadiya:#1: An explosive device went off near a house in Muqdadiya, northeast of Baaquba, injuring a woman," the source, who requested anonymity, told the independent news agency Voices of IraqLatifiya:#1: Gunmen killed a neighbourhood patrol volunteer at a checkpoint in Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.Madaen:#1: A suicide bomber wearing an explosives vest attacked a police checkpoint, killing one policeman and wounding another along with two civilians in Madaen, 45 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.Hilla:#1: Gunmen shot and wounded a former army officer on Monday south of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.Kut:#1: Police said they had killed a lawyer with stray bullets when they returned fire after being shot at in northern Kut, 170 km (100 miles) southeast of Baghdad.Salman Pak:#1: At Salman Pak, around 25 kilometres (16 miles) southeast of Baghdad, two policemen were killed and eight people, four of them police, were wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a security checkpoint, police said. The male bomber disguised himself in the all-covering abaya garment worn by women, a police official said.Hawija:#1: Three people of the same family were killed in an armed attack in the district of al-Huweija, southwest of Kirkuk, on Tuesday, an official security source in Kirkuk police said."Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a civilian vehicle carrying a man, his wife and his son, who is a soldier in the Iraqi army, in al-Hueweija, (70 km) southwest of Kirkuk, killing them instantly," the source, who refused to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of IraqMosul:#1: Two bodies were found in eastern Mosul, one of them handcuffed and blindfolded, police said.#2: A roadside bomb went off on al-Shura district road, south of Mosul, killing a civilian and causing severe material damage to his car," the source, who asked to be unnamed, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq#3: the same source said, "police patrols found this afternoon three bullets-riddled bodies: one in al-Qahera neighborhood in northern Mosul, while the two remaining bodies were found in al-Mulawatha and al-Sahagi regions in western Mosul."Sulaimaniya:#1: Police forces found two bodies of workers in a house under construction west of Sulaimaniya, a source from the Sulaimaniya emergency police department said on Tuesday."A citizen informed the police of the two bodies in a house under construction in Kani Kourda west of Sulaimaniya," Lieutenant Umed Mohammad Ahmad told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq

TWIN BOMBINGS IN BAGHAD. VIOLENCE ESCALATES

There is increased concern that violence is escalating in Iraq. Although the media in the United States is not reporting, twin bombs were set off in Baghdad Monday killing 14 and injuring scores of others. Also not reported by the mainstream media in the United States is the death of two U.S. soldiers in Iraq on Sunday. Meanwhile, there has been little or no progress with the Iraqi government and most of Iraq is still suffering from lack of electricity and water. Posted Tuesday, January 7 at 5 AM CST by Bill Corcoran, blog host.


Twin suicide bomb kills 14, including Baghdad anti-Qaida leader

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/08/content_7381383.htm

Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Up to 14 people were killed, including an anti-Qaida leader, in a twin suicide bombing in a northern Baghdad neighborhood on Monday, raising fears of a return to violence after a period of a relative lull in the past months.
One suicide bomber detonated a vest packed with explosives at the entrance of the office of the Sunni Endowment, a government agency that looks after Sunni mosques and shrines, at about 11a.m. (0800 GMT) in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Adhamiyah, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

MORE PROOF THE "SURGE" IS NOT WORKING

Iraq death rate belies US claims of success

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article3315022.ece



By Kim Sengupta
Published: 07 January 2008


The death rate in Iraq in the past 12 months has been the second highest in any year since the invasion, according to figures that appear to contradict American claims that the troop "surge" has dramatically reduced the level of violence across the country.
The research comes from Iraq Body Count (IBC), which has extensive experience of working in the country, and concludes that deaths outside Baghdad actually rose until September.


However, the group also concludes that the number of those killed in Baghdad, where the majority of American reinforcements for surge operations were deployed, has fallen significantly during the year.


IBC compiles its data from official sources, including the Pentagon, and found that between 22,586 and 24,159 civilian deaths were documented for 2007, with the vast majority of those killed between January and August.


The most lethal violence took place in Nineva, where the number of deaths rose by 143 per cent. Baghdad on the other hand saw a decline of around 39 per cent after a drastic fall in numbers of deaths in the last three months of the year.


The first eight months of 2007 also saw the highest number of car-bombings in the Iraq. The report claims that last year there were 20 explosive devices that killed more than 50 civilians, compared with 12 bombings in 2006.



The number of civilians killed during operations involving US forces in the past 12 months also rose, from between 544 and 623 in 2006 to between 868 and 1,326 in 2007. The report claims that most of these casualties were linked to air strikes, in which 88 children were reported to have died.


Around 900 US and 47 British troops have also been killed in the past year.