Round-up of events in Iraq
The following are security incidents and political developments in Iraq reported on Saturday 25 February.
Baghdad: At least three members of Iraq’s security forces were killed in attacks on the funeral procession of an Al Arabiya journalist killed earlier in the week, the Arab
television station and police said.
Baghdad: Eleven bodies were found in five areas of Baghdad, police said. All were male and all had been shot.
Baghdad: Police and a spokesman for a Shia movement led by Muqtada al-Sadr said three people were killed and six wounded by mortar and rocket fire in Sadr City, Baghdad.
Tikrit: The body of a police officer with gunshot wounds was found near his home east of Tikrit, police said.
Karbala: A car bomb exploded in a street market in the southern city of Karbala, killing at least eight people and wounding 31, police said.
Baquba: Armed men killed 12 members of a Shia family near Baquba, north of Baghdad, Interior Ministry sources say.
Baghdad: Armed men opened fire on the house Harith al-Dari, the head of the Association of Muslim Scholars, in an attack he blamed on government forces. Al-Dari’s security personnel opened fire and there appeared to be injuries on both sides, police said.
Baghdad: The bodies of 14 police commandos were found near one of the mosques attacked in southern Baghdad where clashes occurred overnight, police said. Gunmen attacked the Qubaisy mosque and the Abu Hanifa shrine. One commando was killed in the initial attack on the Qubaisy mosque, the US military said.
Baquba: Clashes erupted overnight between Iraqi troops and Sunni fighters in a village near Baquba, north of Baghdad. Army sources said four militants were killed and 17 arrested in the violence which was not related to the Samarra shrine crisis.
Baghdad: The US military says it has a rapid reaction force standing by in the city.
Political developments
Baghdad: Saadun al-Dulaimi, the Iraqi defence minister, says a civil war would never end if it erupts. He said Iraq was ready to put armoured vehicles on the streets to end violence and impose security. He also said the number of attacks on Sunni mosques had been exaggerated.
Baghdad: Iraq will extend a security clampdown and ban on cars travelling in the streets of Baghdad until 6am on Monday, Bayan Jabur, the interior minister says.
Baghdad: Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim bloc said it would consider ending its boycott of talks on the formation of a new government after Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the prime minister, promised to protect all places of worship.