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Insurgent attacks in Iraqi capital kill at least 11 people
[RUDAW.NET] Insurgents unleashed a series of attacks mostly targeting civilian areas in and around the Iraqi capital on Thursday, killing at least 11 and wounding many others, officials said. Meanwhile,
...back at the the conspirators' cleverly concealed hideout the long-awaited message arrived. They quickly got to work with their decoder rings...
Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group snuffies in the country's north set oil wells ablaze in an attempt to foil government forces battling to reclaim territory.

A bomb destroyed an outdoor market in the Baghdad suburb of Nahrawan, killing three civilians and wounding 12, a police officer said. Another bomb targeted a military patrol in the northeastern district of Rashdiya, killing three soldiers and wounding seven, he added.

Mortar shells hit a residential area in the southern district of Dora, killing two civilians and wounding six, another officer said. An kaboom in a market in Mahmoudiyah, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, killed three civilians and maimed seven.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to news hounds.

The attacks come as government forces, Iranian-backed Shiite militias and Sunni volunteers continued their fight to recapture key areas around Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, which fell to Islamic State snuffies in June.

On Thursday, snuffies set fire to some oil wells outside the city, an oil official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release information. The smoky fires were apparently meant to obscure targets from government bombing runs, part of the wide-scale operation that began Monday.

Ajeel oil field, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Tikrit, was one of at least four fields seized by the snuffies as a source of crude oil to sell to smugglers to finance their operations.

Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, in charge of recapturing Tikrit and surrounding areas, told state TV the burning oil wells "will not affect us." He said operations were continuing as planned, without elaborating.

Tikrit is strategically important as a major supply link for any future operation to reclaim djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, Iraq's second-largest city and the murderous Moslems' biggest stronghold.

Posted by: Fred 2015-03-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=412204