FACTBOX: Security developments in Iraq, April 19

Sat Apr 19, 2008 4:35pm EDT
 
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(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at 4: 30 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

* Indicates a new or update item.

* BAGHDAD - Three rockets hit the Sadr hospital in Sadr City late on Saturday, according to Ali Bustan, head of the health directorate in the eastern section of Baghdad. It was unclear if there were any casualties or who fired the rockets. The U.S. military said it was not to blame. Bustan also said the bodies of three women had been brought in along with 40 wounded people following fresh clashes.

* DIWANIYA - 16 decapitated and decomposed bodies were found in the desert near Diwaniya, 180 km (112 miles) south of Baghdad, a senior military official in Diwaniya said. The bodies and heads were in separate plastic bags.

* MOSUL - One civilian was killed and 5 others were wounded when an IED exploded in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

* MOSUL - Two bodies were found, one in southeastern Mosul and the other in a town south of the city, a senior military official in Mosul said.

NASSIRIYA - One policeman was killed and three wounded in clashes with gunmen near Nassiriya, 375 km (235 miles) southwest of Baghdad, hospital and police officials said.

MOSUL AND BAJI - U.S. forces detained 22 suspects in the northern cities of Mosul and Baji in security operations targeting al Qaeda militants, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Gunmen shot and seriously wounded an interior ministry official in eastern Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - Iraqi army forces arrested 44 al Qaeda militants and confiscated weapons in different areas of eastern Mosul, a spokesman for Mosul operations command said.

BASRA - Government forces said they captured the district of Hayaniya in Basra, long a stronghold of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, achieving an objective that had eluded them during a crackdown last month. Basra is 550 km (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

BAGHDAD - Twelve people were killed and 71 others wounded on Friday and Saturday in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, police said. Hospitals said the total wounded was more than 130.

MOSUL - A roadside bomb killed two people and wounded 12 others in eastern Mosul, police said.

KIRKUK - A parked car bomb killed one person and wounded three others in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

NEAR KIRKUK - A roadside bomb struck a police patrol, killing one policeman and wounding another in the southwest of Kirkuk, police said.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. helicopter gunship fired a missile, killing two gunmen in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said.  Continued...

 

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