March 27th 2006 in Iraq

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM722433.htm

FACTBOX-Developments in Iraq on March 27
27 Mar 2006 18:46:20 GMT

Source: Reuters

March 27 (Reuters) - Following are security incidents in Iraq on Monday as of 1800 GMT.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have been battling a Sunni Arab insurgency against the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led interim government. The bombing of a Shi'ite shrine on Feb. 22 has been followed by a surge in sectarian attacks.

Asterisk denotes a new or updated item.

MOSUL - A suicide bomber strapped with explosives killed 40 people at an army recruiting post near Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. It said 30 people were also wounded in the attack.

*BAGHDAD - Gunmen kidnapped 16 employees of the Baghdad trading company Al Saeed Import Export, Interior Ministry sources said. The abductions took place in the upscale Mansour district of the capital.

*BAGHDAD - Iraqi police officials said a rocket slammed into a commercial building in the Za'afaraniya section of capital, killing at least seven people and wounding 30.

The blast was followed by another rocket attack that hit a nearby house, killing one person and wounding two in the Za'afaraniya area of Baghdad.

*BAGHDAD - Iraqi authorities arrested a police major-general on Monday accused of corruption and threatening security, security sources said.

Ghassan al-Bawi, the police chief in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, was arrested one day after the authorities detained his brother, police major Arkan al-Bawi, on accusations of taking part in death squads in Baquba, north of Baghdad.

*BAGHDAD - Foreigners rescued from an Iraqi Interior Ministry bunker by U.S. forces on Sunday were being held for visa violations, not terrorism charges, and are free to go home, the Interior Minister said.

Asked about the incident in a news conference, Bayan Jabor did not comment on the 40 Iraqi Interior Ministry forces controlling the secret bunker who were arrested by U.S. troops.

Jabor said 17 Sudanese and one Egyptian had been detained.

NEAR BALAD - Police said they found the body of a man who works as an Iraqi army supplier in the town of Yathrib, near Balad, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad.

NEAR DUJAIL - Police found the body of a man with gunshot wounds in an area near Dujail, 90 km (55 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said.

BAGHDAD - A policeman and three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the city's south.

BAGHDAD - Four mortar rounds landed in different districts of the city, wounding two civilians, police said.

BAQUBA - A mortar round landed on the Sadr office in Baquba, wounding two guards, police said.

MOSUL - Five policemen were wounded when insurgents threw a grenade at their patrol in the northern city, police said.

BAGHDAD - At least one person was killed and three wounded when a car bomb exploded in Sadr city, a Shi'ite Muslim slum, police said.

NEAR TIKRIT - Four people who work in the U.S. military base near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, were wounded when gunmen attacked them while they were heading to the base.

:sarcasm: There just isn't any to tell, is there?