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| Iraq |
| Violence in Iraq kills 56, bombs target officials |
| 2007-10-10 |
| BAGHDAD - Two suicide car bombs killed 22 people in northern Iraq on Tuesday in attacks targeting a police chief and a tribal leader working with US forces, part of an upsurge in violence that killed 56 across the country. In Baghdad, foreign security guards escorting a convoy of four vehicles through the city centre killed two women when they opened fire on a car, the government said. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said private US security firm Blackwater was not involved in the deaths of the two women in Baghdad. “There has been an incident, an attack on civilians. Two Iraqi women were killed,” Dabbagh said, adding the company was also not Iraqi, but declining to give more details. One witness said the guards fired a warning shot when a car carrying two women and children pulled out of a side road. But the driver edged forward and the security guards opened fire. US embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo, referring to the incident, said “there may be a contractual relationship” with a US non-governmental organisation (NGO). She did not elaborate. In the northern town of Baiji, officials said the police chief was wounded and the condition of the Sunni Arab tribal leader was unknown after the two suicide car bombings. Baiji, 180 km (110 miles) north of the capital in Salahuddin province, is a major oil refining centre fed with crude oil and gas from the vast fields under the nearby city of Kirkuk. “We were standing beside the mosque waiting for sunrise. We saw a blue minibus approaching,” the imam of Baiji’s Abdullah al-Nami mosque told Reuters Television. “One of those killed told me earlier that he wanted to lead prayers tomorrow.” Police said the other bomb was in a pick-up truck aimed at Baiji’s police chief, Colonel Saad Nifous, who was wounded in the blast. Police and the US military both said the bomb by the mosque had targeted a Sunni Arab tribal leader. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 ...part of an upsurge in violence that killed 56 across the country. The use of the word "upsurge" would not be an accidental play on words here. Clearly "The Surge" is not working. Additionally, the "upsurge" would infer a previous state of reduced violence, but since as HU6667 notes, the headline "Another Boring Day in Iraq" would not be a story, we can only conclude that today the "upsurge" follows closely on the "jump" from yesterday while the reporter waits with copy ready for the "leap" tomorrow. Furthermore, it is only "part" of the whole "upsurge", so if you think 56 deaths is a bad day, things are a lot worse. |
| Posted by: Skunky Glins5285 2007-10-10 19:58 |
| #4 Security firm is Australian. They could be using anyone - especially ex-South African security folks. They don't give a s**t about anyone darker than white bread. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-10-10 16:36 |
| #3 The MSM finally has something to report. Must be boring over there in the green zone bars. My nephew says its kinda boring where he is, and my ex-employee (Ks. Nat/ Grd.)says its boring running convoy security. Isn't boring Great? |
| Posted by: Heriberto Ulusomble6667 2007-10-10 10:52 |
| #2 The "foreign security guards" are from a Dubai firm. Link |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2007-10-10 09:29 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-10-10 03:40 |