47 Iraqis Killed, Including 17 by US Forces, 5 by Death Squads, Kurds Sign 8 Oil Contracts, October 7, 2007 Initial Report

The Iraq News Agency, INA, reported the deaths of 11 Iraqis, discovery of 6 bodies of Iraqis executed by death squads, the death of a US soldier and the injury of 6 others.

- It also added that US forces killed 15 Iraqi gunmen.

***

Iraqi soldier killed, two beheaded bodies found near Hilla

Babel - Voices of Iraq Sunday , 07 /10 /2007 Time 6:06:06

Hilla, Oct 6, (VOI)-

Unknown gunmen killed an Iraqi soldier on Saturday near Hilla, 100 km southwest of Baghdad, while two beheaded bodies were found north of the city, a police source said. "Unknown gunmen attacked and killed a soldier assigned to the Iraqi Scorpion forces near his house in Barnon village, 5 km north of Hilla," a source from Babel police told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). The source, who requested anonymity, added "the attackers fled to unknown place." Meanwhile, the same source said that police patrols found two beheaded bodies in north of the city.

"The body of a Jarf al-Sakhr Awakening Council member was found beheaded on a main road about 60 km northwest of Hilla, while a second beheaded body belonging to a college student was found near al-Messayab district, 40 km northwest of Hilla," the source added. The Awakening councils are anti-Qaeda fighters who were grouped and backed by the government to fight al-Qaeda militants in Sunni provinces and areas. The bodies also bore marks of torture, he said. Hilla, capital city of Babel province, is 100 km southwest of Baghdad. SK

Five unidentified bodies found in Baghdad

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq Sunday , 07 /10 /2007 Time 6:06:06

Baghdad, Oct 6, (VOI) -

Five unidentified bodies were found in different areas of the Iraqi capital Baghdad during the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. "Police patrols found five unidentified bodies in different areas of Baghdad, with most being found on Baghdad's western side (al-Karkh)," the source told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). "Four corpses were found in different neighborhoods of al-Karkh: two in al-Aamel, one in al-Bayya, and one in al-Saiydiya," he explained. "One body was found in Ur neighborhood, eastern side of Baghdad," the source also said. "Most of the bodies found bore signs of gunshot wounds to different parts of the body, mainly to the head," he noted.

SK/SR

Car bomb leaves 7 casualties in central Baghdad

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq Sunday , 07 /10 /2007 Time 6:06:06

Baghdad, Oct 7, (VOI) –

Two civilians were killed and five others wounded when a car rigged with explosives ripped through central Baghdad on Sunday morning, police said.

"The roadside car bomb, which went off in the area of al-Salihiya, central Baghdad, killed two people and injured five others and damaged two civilian vehicles parked nearby," an Iraqi security source, who requested anonymity, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Security forces sealed off the area while ambulances rushed the wounded to a hospital, the source added. Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told VOI the explosion occurred near the Baghdad governorate building, adding that security personnel also closed the al-Sanak bridge and al-Salihiya and denied civilians access to the area out of concern for more explosions.

AE/SR

U.S. forces killed 2 first aid workers in Mosul – police

Ninewa - Voices of Iraq Sunday , 07 /10 /2007 Time 6:06:06

Ninewa, Oct 7, (VOI) –

U.S. soldiers killed two first aid workers on duty in eastern Mosul, the Ninewa police operations chief said on Sunday.

"The two first aid workers were on duty at the neighborhood of al-Khadraa, eastern Mosul, when the U.S. soldiers opened fire on them during a late hour on Saturday," Brig. Abdul-Kareem al-Juburi told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Juburi did not provide further details and no comments were issued by the U.S. side on the incident. Mosul, the capital of Ninewa province, is 402 km north of Baghdad. Workers in the Mosul Medical City staged a sit-in to protest the killing of their two colleagues – an ambulance driver and a first aid worker – by U.S. fire. "About 60 workers in the Medical City took part in the sit-in," a medic, who declined to have his name mentioned, told VOI, adding the protesters called for an investigation into the incident.

AE/SR

IED leaves 9 casualties in eastern Baghdad

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq Sunday , 07 /10 /2007 Time 6:06:06

Baghdad, Oct 7, (VOI) –

Two civilians were killed and seven others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, the Iraqi police said. "The IED was planted on a road in the area of al-Baladiyat, eastern Baghdad, killing two and wounding seven others, two of them are in serious condition," a security source, who preferred not to be named, told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI). Security forces sealed off the area and moved the wounded to a nearby hospital, he added. Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said the IED went off when an Iraqi police patrol was passing by but all of the patrol personnel survived unscathed. Earlier on Sunday, the Iraqi police said two civilians were killed and five others wounded by a car bomb in central Baghdad.

***

AP Headline: Joint US-Iraqi Blackwater Review Underway, Baghdad Bombings Kill at Least 9 Iraqis

By KIM CURTIS Associated Press Writer

Oct 7, 2007, 9:48 AM EDT

BAGHDAD (AP) --

A joint U.S.-Iraqi commission reviewing American security operations after a deadly shooting of Iraqi civilians at the hands of Blackwater USA guards met for the first time on Sunday, the U.S. embassy said. Across the Iraqi capital, bombings killed at least nine Iraqis in three separate attacks, including one near Iran's embassy, police said.

Sunday's attacks in Baghdad started with an early morning explosion near a minibus carrying workers into central Baghdad. Three people were killed and four wounded in roadside bombing, which apparently targeted a police patrol, according to a police official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The inside of the mangled minibus was soaked in blood, the metal hulk was pummeled by shrapnel and the windows were shattered, according to AP Television News footage.

A half-hour later, in the neighborhood of Dora in southern Baghdad, a second roadside bomb targeting a U.S. patrol missed its target, killing three Iraqi civilians and wounding three others, police said.

And in the downtown commercial area of Salihiyah, a bomb planted in the back of a car parked near the Iranian Embassy exploded about 8:30 a.m., killing three Iraqi passers-by and wounding five others, according to police.

Also Sunday, five crossing points in Kurdish-run northern Iraq - closed last month by Iran to protest the U.S. detention of an Iranian - were expected to reopen.

Also Sunday, the leader of the self-governing Kurdish region spoke out in an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal about new oil agreements with several international companies. The central government in Baghdad is upset about the deals, saying the Kurds should wait until the passage of a national oil law before signing any new contracts.

Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said the Kurdish regional government has signed eight production-sharing contracts with international oil and gas companies since enacting its own law governing foreign oil investments in August and expected to sign two more "in the near future."

---

Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin and Hamid Ahmed contributed to this report.

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