12 Iraqis Killed in a Mortar Attack, 15 Abducted by a Death Squad in Down Town Baghdad, an Initial August 19, 2007 Report

The Iraq News Agency (INA) reported the following initial news report for Sunday, August 19, 2007.

- Ten people were killed, 28 were injured in a mortar attack on Al-Ubaidi area, east of Baghdad.

- 15 Iraqi civilians were abducted in Bab Al-Mu'adham, in down town Baghdad. Perpetrators were masked to hide themselves as members of death squads which kill Iraqis on daily basis.

***

AP Headline: Mortar attack kills 12 in east Baghdad

Aug 19, 2007, 7:16 AM EDT

BAGHDAD (AP) --

A mortar barrage slammed into a mainly east Baghdad neighborhood Sunday, killing 12 and wounding 31, police said.

Women and children were among the dead and wounded in the Baghdad mortar attack, and some houses in the neighborhood were damaged, according to police. The victims were taken to Ibin al-Nafis and Sadr hospitals, police said.

Witnesses said U.S. helicopters were hovering above the attack site.

Hussein Saadon, 56, an owner of a small minibus station in the Ubaidi neighborhood, was soaked in blood after he drove four victims to the hospital.

"The attack occurred before noon. We heard sounds of four or five explosions, one after the other which hit central Ubaidi. We rushed to the place of the attack and we saw several houses which were hit. Two were badly damaged.

"We also saw a damaged car on the main street where one of the rockets landed. Two dead bodies were inside the car beside other wounded people," he said.

He said the district had been without electricity for several days and the people were suffering in the heat.

"It fills me with pain and anger to see an attack on such poor area where is no presence of police nor army bases or checkpoints," Saadon said.

In central Baghdad, gunmen driving several cars waylaid a minibus headed for Sadr City, and abducted 13 passengers.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.