Hibhib: 4 severed heads, US shell kills 3, Zarqawi & 7 killed in 1 week

In Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, police Lt. Nadhum Ali Lattif of the town of Hibhib reported recovering the heads of four men, at least three of whom had disappeared after being detained by police in northern Baghdad last month.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/01/AR2006060101808.html

US test fire kills three Iraqis

The US military has admitted that three Iraqi civilians killed in an explosion on Friday died because of an artillery training exercise that went wrong.

An artillery round fired from a US military base near Hibhib (about 20km north of Baquba) struck a building in the nearby town, a statement said.

Two Iraqis were killed instantly, while a third died later from her wounds.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5047098.stm

Disbelief in Iraqi hamlet where Zarqawi was killed

Hibhib, about 70 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, is typical of the rural Iraqi villages where U.S. troops hunt Sunni Arab insurgents and al Qaeda militants.

Located in Diyala, one of the country's most dangerous provinces, it is a tiny place with one road surrounded by date palm orchards and streams.

Zarqawi is said to have moved to Diyala as part of a strategy of constantly moving around to evade U.S. and Iraqi forces. The province is a volatile mix of majority Shi'ites and Arab Sunnis and Kurds that has suffered some of the grisliest violence.

But Hibhib seems worlds away from the insurgent and sectarian bloodshed pushing Iraq toward civil war.

http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-06-08T133919Z_01_L08234504_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-ZARQAWI-VILLAGE.xml