Source:
New York TimesBAGHDAD — Four marines died in Anbar Province when an improvised explosive device exploded near the vehicle they were driving and in the capitol the Iraqi president’s wife narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed’s, the wife of President Jalal Talabani, was in a motorcade heading to the National Theatre, where a cultural festival is going on this week, when an improvised explosive device hit the car carrying four of her bodyguards. She was not wounded but four of her bodyguards were injured when the car was struck in the Karrada district.
The death of the marines in Anbar was one of the deadliest attacks on American troops in the province in recent months. The last attack on troops in Anbar was on April 22 when two marines were killed. For much of the past 18 months, Anbar, once one of the most violent places in Iraq, has been mostly quiet. But recently there have been several suicide bombings and other attacks, primarily aimed at Iraqis who have joined the Awakening movement, groups of former fighters and tribe members, who decided to work with the American military to chase extremists from the area.
Clashes continued in the capital’s Sadr City district and nearby areas, with the American military reporting that it had killed nine “criminals,” five in Sadr City and four in the neighboring district of New Baghdad. In Sadr City, three of those killed were believed to be preparing an attack on soldiers building a wall between the American held southern part of the neighborhood and the militia-held northern section.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/world/middleeast/05iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin