MP killed in Baghdad

June 12, 2009 - 11:34:54

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

The Baghdad satellite television said on Friday that Head of the Iraqi Accord Front (IAF) at the parliament, Dr. Hareth Al-Ubaidi, was killed in Baghdad.

The television said in breaking news that gunmen shot and killed al-Ubeidi while leaving al-Shawaf mosque in Baghdad after the Friday prayer.

SH (P)

Girl killed, mother wounded in northwest of Ba'aqouba

June 12, 2009 - 11:29:09

DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq:

A girl was killed and her mother was wounded by unknown gunmen in northwest of Ba'aqouba, according to a security source.

“Unknown gunmen stormed the house of an Iraqi army soldier in Baladruz district, northwest of Ba'aqouba, killing his 17-year-old daughter and injuring his wife,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The wounded woman was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” he added.

Baladruz is 45 km northwest of Ba'aqouba, the capital of Diala, which lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.

SH (P)

3 killed in two incidents in Salah el-Din

June 12, 2009 - 07:30:02

SALAH EL-DIN / Aswat al-Iraq:

Police forces on Friday found a body of a young man, while two brothers were killed in an explosion in north of Salah el-Din, a police source said.

“Police patrols found a body of a 17-year-old young man in al-Balaj region in north of Tikrit,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq, noting that the body bore signs of gunshot wounds.

“Local residents identified the victim as Ali Shoukr and he is one of the region’s residents,” he added.

“A boy and his sister, 14 and 12, were killed when the C5K rocket they were playing with exploded in al-Neft neighborhood in Baiji district,” he said, noting that investigation indicated that their father was hiding the rocket at his house.

Tikrit, the capital of Salah el-Din, lies 175 km north of Baghdad.

SH (P)

IED blast kills child, wounds 2 south of Khanaqin

June 11, 2009 - 05:03:41

DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq:

One child was killed and two children others wounded when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off in the area of Hamrin, south of Khanaqin district on Thursday, a local security source said.

“An IED planted on a main road in Hamrin, northern al-Saadiya district, (35 km) south of Khanaqin, went off, killing a seven-year-old child and wounding two others,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Khanaqin lies 155 km northeast of the city of Ba'aqouba.

“The wounded children were in serious condition and were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source added.

Ba'aqouba, the capital city of Diala province, is 57 km northeast of Baghdad.

AmR (P)

2 IEDs wound 7 civilians in Baghdad

June 11, 2009 - 01:54:05

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

Seven civilians were wounded when two improvised explosive devices went off in two separate places in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Thursday, police said.

“An IED emplaced by unidentified persons on the main road on Falastine street, eastern Baghdad, leaving four civilians wounded,” a security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“A sticky IED attached by unidentified persons to a civilian vehicle in al-Mansour neighborhood, western Baghdad, went off, wounding three people and severely damaging the vehicle,” the source added.

“Security forces have rushed the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment,” he said.

AmR (P)

Car bomb injures 4 in Mosul

June 11, 2009 - 12:15:28

NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq:

Four persons, including three Iraqi soldiers, were wounded on Thursday in a car bomb blast in southern Mosul, according to a security source.

“A car crammed with explosives went off Thursday (June 11) targeting an Iraqi army vehicle patrol in al-Saylo street in southern Mosul, wounding four, including three army soldiers,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The wounded were rushed to the Mosul public hospital for treatment,” he added, without giving further details. Mosul, the capital of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.

SH (P)

Police release 3 U.S. contractors

June 11, 2009 - 10:56:42
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

The Los Angeles Times Thursday reported that the Iraqi police Wednesday released three of the five U.S. contractors who were detained last week in connection with the slaying last month of an American in Baghdad’s Green Zone enclave, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

The men were freed on bail, but were forbidden to leave Iraq during the investigation of the death of Jim Kitterman, a 60-year-old construction contractor from Texas, Rafae Munahe, a senior advisor to Interior Minister Jawad Bolani, told the daily.

“They cannot leave the country. When the court meets, they have to attend,” Munahe said. “They may or may not be charged.”

Judy Feeney, the wife of one of the detainees, confirmed that her husband, Donald Feeney Jr., 55, had been released but had no information about the other men, including her son Donald Feeney III, 31.
Judy Feeney said a U.S. Embassy official told the wife of one of the other men that the embassy expected all five Americans to be released soon.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy said it had no information about the matter.

The five men were arrested Friday in a raid on their compound, where Feeney Jr. and his son directed the Iraq branch of their security firm, Corporate Training Unlimited. Two of the other detainees worked for CTU; the fifth had been staying with them.

The Feeney family has insisted that all five men are innocent. Feeney Jr.’s other son, John Feeney, said Sunday that his father had flown back to Iraq from the Philippines on May 22, the day Kitterman’s body was discovered, and his brother and two of the other detainees were at an embassy party at the time the contractor was thought to have been killed. He described his father and Kitterman as close friends.
If the five men are charged in the case, they will be the first Americans brought before an Iraqi court since the U.S. and Iraqi governments signed a security agreement late last year.

The agreement, which hands full responsibility for security to the Iraqi government and calls for U.S. forces to leave Iraqi cities at the end of June, allows for Western contractors to be tried in Iraqi courts. Previously, contractors working for the U.S. government and military had immunity from the Iraqi legal system.

The policy had led to resentment and outrage among Iraqis over repeated incidents in which Western security contractors opened fire on civilians and weren’t prosecuted.
MH (S)/SH