95 Iraqis Killed on a July 13, 2007 Initial Report, Including 28 Executed by Death Squads

ccun.org, July 2007

Editor's Note:

Browsing Iraqi online newspapers, in Arabic, yields a lot more deaths and injuries than what the Iraqi government and US forces spokespersons announce to the media daily. As a result, no one exactly knows how many Iraqis are killed everyday. But the number is in the hundreds (95 today), as the following quick survey of some Iraqi newspapers has yielded.

The Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported the following news on July 13, 2007:

- The Iraqi correspondent of the New York Times was killed today.

- Ten Iraqis were killed and injured in a bomb targeting new army recruits in Falloujah.

- Iraqi police found 28 bodies of Iraqis executed by death squads in Baghdad.

- Reuters correspondent and his driver were killed in Baghdad.

- Driver of police chief for counter-terrorism in Najaf was killed.

***

The pro-government Iraq National News Agency (WANA) reported the following news:

- US-led forces killed 24 Iraqi fighters and arrested 20, east of Ba'aqouba.

- A woman was killed and four people were injured in a Za'afaraniya explosion.

- Five policemen were killed, 12 were injured in an attack on the watch towers of the Interior Ministry in Baghdad.

- Two children were killed, five were injured in a Samawa explosion.

- Six Iraqi soldiers and policemen were killed in Al-Dora.

The US news agency, the Associated Press, reported that US forces killed 6 Iraqi policemen and 7 Iraqi fighters. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in the Green Zone by the Iraqi resistance fires

Rice: Wait 'Til Fall for Iraq Decision

Jul 13, 2007, 8:26 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) --

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, exhorted congressional critics of Iraq war policy Friday to give the Bush administration and the fledgling government in Baghdad until September to "make a coherent judgment of where we are."

On the morning after the House voted 223-201 for a Democratic proposal to force a U.S. troop withdrawal by next spring, Rice acknowledged in a round of television interviews that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government hasn't achieved "as much progress as we would like."

U.S. Troops Battle Iraqi Police, Gunmen

By LEE KEATH Associated Press Writer

Jul 13, 2007, 8:25 AM EDT

BAGHDAD (AP) --

U.S. forces battled Iraqi police and gunmen Friday, killing six policemen, after an American raid captured an Iraqi police lieutenant accused of leading a cell of Shi'i militiamen, the military said.

Seven gunmen also were killed in the fight, a rare open street battle between American troops and policemen. Washington has demanded the government purge its police force of militants, and U.S. and Iraqi authorities have arrested officers in the past for militia links. But the Bush administration said in an assessment Thursday that progress on that front was "unsatisfactory."

The lieutenant was captured before dawn in eastern Baghdad, but the soldiers came under "heavy and accurate fire" from a nearby Iraqi police checkpoint, as well as intense fire from rooftops and a church, the military said in a statement.

As the Americans fired back, U.S. warplanes struck in front of the police position, without hitting it directly, "to prevent further escalation" of the battle, it said. There were no casualties among the U.S. troops, but seven gunmen and six of the policemen firing on the Americans were killed, the statement said.

The Iraqi police is still reporting 20 to 30 bodies a day found dumped in the city, apparent victims of sectarian slayings.

On Friday, a volley of at least four mortars were fired from the city's southern districts at the Green Zone, the heavily fortified district where al-Maliki's offices and the U.S. Embassy are located. The mortars hit near the home of a senior Iraqi military official, killing two Iraqi soldiers, an Iraqi army official said.

There was no immediate word from American authorities on casualties. It would be the second time in a week that mortar fire into the Green Zone - nearly a daily occurance - has caused deaths. A heavy barrage Tuesday night killed three people, including an American.

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.