At Least 23 Killed in Ambush Near Baghdad

[Rose Siding]

BAGHDAD, July 30 -- Gunmen killed at least 23 Iraqis on Sunday on a highway south of Baghdad, commandeering three minibuses and herding their occupants into nearby palm groves, where they were lined up and shot, according to police and a witness.
.....
The gunmen stopped three minibuses that were traveling together, Janabi said. The passengers and drivers were taken into one of the groves of palm trees lining the highway, where the attackers took their identification cards "and lined them up against the palm trees and shot them all," said Janabi, who lives about 500 yards from the expressway.
.....
A U.S. F-16 fighter jet dropped two precision-guided bombs on a building near Baghdad used by insurgents affiliated with a group believed responsible for a mortar-and-rocket attack last week that killed at least 31 people in a Shiite district of the capital, the Associated Press reported. Two insurgents and a child were killed in the airstrike, and four suspects were arrested, U.S. officials said, expressing regret about the child's death.

In the northern oil center of Kirkuk, a car bomb near a gas station killed six people and wounded 17. It was the city's seventh bombing this month, and at least the fourth to target motorists waiting in long lines for gas.

Police in Kirkuk said the decapitated bodies of four policemen were found about 30 miles south of the city. The four had been kidnapped while traveling between Kirkuk and Tikrit, said police Col. Firas Mahmoud, and their remains showed signs that they had been tortured and fatally shot before they were beheaded.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/30/AR2006073000372.html

[Erika]

1. Genocide marching on

Under the imperial control of the W.

[Barrett808]

2. k & r

[hang a left]

3. All that Bagdad calm is gone.

Baghdad calms as US troops go back on patrol

HEAVILY armed American troops have returned to some of the most violent areas of Baghdad, patrolling the streets and setting up checkpoints in an attempt to regain control of the city and quell increasing sectarian violence.

Their return sparked fierce criticism from opposition leaders but was welcomed by many ordinary Iraqis desperate for peace after months of murderous violence between rival militias.

US soldiers in tanks and armoured vehicles have moved back into many parts of the capital handed over to the Iraqi police last March after the opening of the country’s new parliament.

Yesterday proved to be one of the most peaceful days in months with no deaths reported in the capital by late afternoon, although two Sunni mosques were raked by gunfire which injured a guard. In contrast, an average of 100 people have been dying in sectarian attacks every day in Baghdad.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2291292,00 ...

[Doctor_J]

4. How long till the green zone is breached?

Will the Embassy eventually be overthrown?

:cry:

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Two insurgents and a child

US Protocol: If it was killed, and it is older than eight, it is an insurgent. If it is killed, and it is younger than eight, express regret, and blame the insurgents.

[uppityperson]

6. k&r for SNAFU