Insurgents kill 57 in Iraq

[rodeodance]

Source: From the Los Angeles Times



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq10oct10,0,3250646.story?coll=la-home-center

Insurgents kill 57 in Iraq
A private security company is blamed in the deaths of at least two women in Baghdad.

By Christian Berthelsen
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

8:51 AM PDT, October 9, 2007

BAGHDAD — Car bombs and other violence around Iraq claimed at least 57 lives today as insurgents followed through on threats of escalated violence during the holy month of Ramadan, while police in Baghdad said at least two women were killed in a shooting involving a private security company.

Details of the shooting were sketchy, but police said it occurred in eastern Baghdad's Karada district about 3 p.m. Initial information put the death toll at two, but a police official later said three women had died. The official, who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity, said the women were traveling in a 1990 white Oldsmobile when they were fired on.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, Marembe Nantongo, said the incident was "not connected" to the embassy or its security detail, which is provided by the private firm Blackwater USA. Reuters news service quoted Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh as saying an investigation was underway into which security company was involved.

The shooting comes on the heels of a Sept. 16 incident involving Blackwater, whose guards are accused of killing 17 Iraqis at a Baghdad intersection. Spokesmen for the firm say the shootings were in self-defense, but witnesses and the Iraqi government say they were unprovoked.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq10oct10,0,3250646.story?coll=la-home-center

[Crazy Dave]

1. "The surge is working"

:puke:

I'll bet we are way past Saddam's "war crimes" death toll already. At least kids could safely go and went to school back then.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

2. Violence in Iraq kills 56

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two suicide car bombs killed 22 people in northern Iraq on Tuesday in attacks targeting a police chief and a tribal leader working with U.S. forces, part of an upsurge in violence that killed 56 across the country.

The spate of attacks across Iraq, which also wounded nearly 120 people, marked one of the bloodiest days during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has vowed to target officials and Sunni Arab tribal leaders who have joined the U.S. military to combat the Sunni Islamist group, pledging to ramp up attacks in Ramadan, which is expected to finish on the weekend.

In Baghdad, guards escorting a convoy of vehicles killed two women when they opened fire on a car in the central district of Karrada, the government said. A Dubai-based security company, Unity Resources Group, said one of its teams was involved in a shooting in Karrada, but gave no details on casualties.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0554268320071009?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

[madeline_con]

3. Al Qaeda in Iraq = CIA n/t