Reply #1: Suicide bomber kills 26 in Iraqi village [View All]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070707/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber struck outside a cafe in a tiny Kurdish village near the Iranian border Friday, killing 26 people in a remote part of a province where U.S. forces are waging an offensive against Sunni insurgents, police said.

The blast ripped through the coffee shop near a market of Iranian goods in the village of Ahmad Maref, 87 miles northeast of Baghdad, said an official at the joint security coordination committee of Diyala province. At least 33 people were wounded, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The village is home to about 30 Kurdish families who had been expelled under Saddam Hussein's rule and returned after his fall. Many Kurds in the area are Shiite Muslims.

The village lies in the remote end of Diyala, a province where U.S. forces have been waging two offensives since mid-June, one focusing on Baqouba, Diyala's capital northeast of Baghdad, the other on Salman Pak, a region southeast of the capital.

The sweeps aim to close off an escape route for insurgents fleeing a security crackdown in Baghdad and to uproot al-Qaida militants and other fighters who use the region as a staging ground for attacks in the capital.

and you know, I 'm just thrilled that Lindsey Graham thinks things are wonderful and he is heartened...we are at 3598 dead soldiers.