At least 8 killed in suicide bombing in Iraq's Tikrit

TIKRIT, Iraq, April 1 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and 15 wounded when a suicide bomber struck the police headquarters in central Tikrit city, capital of Salahudin province, on Monday, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

The attack occurred in the morning when a suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden tanker near the police headquarters and a nearby oil facility in central Tikrit, 170 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

"Our latest report said that eight people were killed and 15 wounded by the huge blast which destroyed parts of the two buildings," the source said.

Iraqi security forces blocked all the roads leading to central Tikrit, while ambulances and police vehicles were evacuating the victims to the city hospitals and medical centers, the source added.

The toll could rise as a rescue team and security forces are removing the debris looking for more victims, he said.

Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks are still common in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease in violence since its peak in 2006 and 2007, when the country was engulfed in sectarian killings.

from XINHUA
2013-04-01 15:29:14

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5 killed, 13 injured in Iraqi violence

BAGHDAD, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Four people were killed and 13 others wounded in separate attacks in Iraq Monday, while an al- Qaida militant leader was shot dead in a raid, the police said.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, two policemen were killed when a roadside bomb struck a joint police-army patrol in the western part of the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Iraq's capital Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Five policemen and three soldiers, including an officer, were wounded by the blast, the source said.

In a separate incident, a paramilitary member of local Awakening Council group was killed and three others wounded when gunmen, believed to be affiliated to al-Qaida network in Iraq, attacked their checkpoint at a village some 35 km northeast of Baquba, the source said.

The Awakening Council group, also known as Sons of Iraq, consists of armed groups, including some powerful anti-U.S. Sunni insurgent groups, who turned their rifles against al-Qaida after the latter exercised indiscriminate killings against both Shiite and Sunni communities.

Also in the province, an Iraqi army and police force shot dead Abu Jihad, a suspected al-Qaida leader, when they raided his safe house at the village of Makheisah, some 30 km northeast of Baquba, the source said.

Abu Jihad is believed to have been involved in many attacks against Iraqi military patrols in Diyala province, he added.

In addition, two soldiers were wounded when gunmen attacked their checkpoint in the same village, he said.

In Salahudin province, a policeman was killed when a sticky bomb attached to his car detonated while he was driving in north of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, a provincial police source anonymously told Xinhua.

Violence is still common in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease since its peak in 2006 and 2007, when the country was engulfed in sectarian killings.

from XINHUA
2013-03-26 00:17:33

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Suicide bombing kills 35 at funeral in northern Iraq

TIKRIT, Iraq, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral in a Shiite mosque in a city in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing at least 35 people and wounding 75 others, a local police source told Xinhua.

The attack occurred on Wednesday afternoon when a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up among mourners at a funeral inside the Sayd al-Shuhadaa Shiite mosque in the city of Tuz-Khurmato, some 200 km north of the capital Baghdad, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The attacker targeted the funeral of a government employee killed the day before, who is a relative Ali Hashim, Shiite member of the Council of Salahudin province, the source said.

Hashim and the deputy governor of Salahudin province were among the wounded, the source added.

The toll could rise as many of the victims were evacuated by ambulances and civilian cars to several hospitals and medical centers in the city, he said.

Salahudin province is a Sunni-dominated province. Its capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, is the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein.

Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks are still common in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease in violence since its peak in 2006 and 2007, when the country was engulfed in sectarian killings.

from XINHUA
2013-01-23 21:47:38

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3 soldiers killed in attack in central Iraq

TIKRIT, Iraq, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- At least three soldiers were killed by gunmen near the city of Samarra in Salahudin province which lies to the north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Sunday, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

The attack occurred in the morning when gunmen opened fire and threw hand grenades at an Iraqi army checkpoint on a highway near Samarra, some 110 km north of Baghdad, a source from the provincial police command said on condition of anonymity.

Salahudin is a Sunni-dominated province. Its capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, is the hometown of the former President Saddam Hussein.

Violence in Iraq has decreased from its climax in 2006 and 2007, when sectarian conflicts pushed the country to the brink of a civil war, but tensions and sporadic shootings and bombings are still common across the country.

from XINHUA

2013-01-13 21:02:19

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Al-Qaeda prisoners escape in Baghdad, officials say

At least a dozen inmates, including several prisoners linked to Al-Qaeda who have been sentenced to death, escaped from a jail north of Baghdad early on Friday, security officials said.

Sources mooted the possibility of collusion on the part of prison guards in allowing the jailbreak, which occurred shortly after midnight in the town of Taji, 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the capital.

An interior ministry official said all 12 prisoners who escaped were Iraqis, but a military source put the number of escapees at 16.

"They escaped from Taji prison after they got hold of the guards' weapons," said the military officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It could be there was cooperation from the guards."

The officer said most of the escapees were linked to Al-Qaeda's front group the Islamic State of Iraq, while the interior ministry official said several had been sentenced to death.
Jailbreaks and prison unrest are relatively common in Iraq.

On September 27, more than 100 prisoners escaped from a jail in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, although several were killed or recaptured in subsequent weeks, officials said.

In March last year, 19 inmates escaped from a prison in the northern city of Kirkuk, and last January, 11 prisoners tunneled out of a prison in the northern Kurdish province of Dohuk.

from AL ARABIYA
Last Updated: Fri Jan 11, 2013 17:50 pm (KSA) 14:50 pm (GMT)

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Al Qaeda in Iraq claims credit for Tikrit jailbreak

By Bill Roggio - October 12, 2012 - LWJ

The Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda in Iraq's political front, claimed credit for a complex assault on the Tasfirat prison in Tikrit that freed more than 100 prisoners, including dozens of terrorists.

In a statement that was released yesterday on jihadist Internet forums and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, the Islamic State of Iraq said it executed the Sept. 27 prison break. The terror group said the operation was part of its "Destroying the Walls" campaign, which was announced at the end of July by Abu Du'a, the Islamic State of Iraq's emir. In that statement, Abu Du'a said that emphasis would be placed on efforts "to release the Muslim prisoners everywhere."

In yesterday's statement, al Qaeda in Iraq detailed its complex attack. The group claimed that "silenced weapons, hand grenades, and explosive belts" were smuggled into the prison, and then operations were coordinated between the "imprisoned brothers inside the jail" and the assault team outside.

The prisoners seized control of the prison "while their brothers on the outside kill the main gate's guards by detonating a parked car bomb and cutting off all roads leading to the security compound against the support patrols," according to the SITE translation. The car bomb is thought to have been detonated by a suicide bomber.

After taking control of the prison, the al Qaeda fighters attacked the prison archives and destroyed "the data and database of the prisoners and those who are wanted," according to SITE. "Also, sensitive documents were taken and that which could benefit the apostates in pursuing the mujahideen was burned."

Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed that the operation resulted in "the death and injury of nearly 80 apostates," and the escape of "tens" of its fighters. News reports indicated that two Iraqi policemen, an Iraqi soldier, and 11 al Qaeda in Iraq fighters were killed during the fighting.

Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/10/al_qaeda_in_iraq_cla_3.php#ixzz29AhZMCmz

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13 Iraqi police killed in Tikrit prison clashes

Clashes killed at least 13 policemen at a prison in the Iraqi city of Tikrit that was seized by militants but has since been retaken by security forces, officials said on Friday.

And at least 83 prisoners were able to escape during the unrest, the officials said.

The violence at the prison comes after al-Qaeda’s Iraqi front group announced a campaign to regain territory and said it aimed to help its jailed members escape.

Salaheddin provincial deputy governor Ahmed Abdul Jabbar told AFP by telephone that the Tikrit prison had been retaken from militants who seized it on Thursday night, but that 83 prisoners escaped.

A hospital official in Tikrit, the ancestral home of slain dictator Saddam Hussein, said 13 police were killed and 34 wounded in the violence.

A source in the Salaheddin police command meanwhile said 15 policemen and seven prisoners were killed, and put the number of escaped prisoners at about 100.

“We took control of the prison, and the gunmen handed over their weapons,” the official said.

Accounts differed on the specifics of the unrest, but it appears militants attacked from outside the prison, while inmates may have seized weapons from guards inside.

A police lieutenant colonel said Thursday that a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at the gate of the prison, after which it was assaulted by gunmen.

And a traffic police lieutenant colonel who was near the scene of the attack said militants blew up a portion of the prison fence, and that between 30 and 40 prisoners were able to escape.

A police colonel meanwhile said that riots broke out in the prison, while witnesses in the area said prisoners seized the guards’ weapons, and that more than 100 of them escaped and fought security forces in the surrounding area.

The tactics reportedly employed in the assault were reminiscent of those used in attacks in July and August.

Gunmen attempted to use bombs to breach a prison gate in Taji, north of Baghdad, on Aug. 1, after using similar tactics on the anti-terrorism directorate in the capital the day before in an attack the interior ministry said was an attempt to free inmates.

Al-Qaeda’s front group the Islamic State of Iraq said in July that it was launching a “new military campaign aimed at recovering territory.”

An earlier message posted on jihadist forums said the ISI would begin targeting judges and prosecutors, and try to help its prisoners break out of jails.

from AL ARABIYA 
Last Updated: Fri Sep 28, 2012 12:23 pm (KSA) 09:23 am (GMT)

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9 killed, 7 wounded in attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Nine people were killed and seven other wounded in separate bomb and gunfire attacks in central and eastern Iraq, the police said on Sunday.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, gunmen attacked a police checkpoint with bombs and gunfire late on Saturday night in western the city of Samarra, some 110 km north of Baghdad, killing three policemen and wounding three others, a provincial police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

After the attack, a police vehicle took the three wounded policemen to a nearby hospital, but on the way collided with a civilian car, killing one policeman and three civilians, the source said.

On Sunday morning, three roadside bombs separately detonated outside three schools in central Salahudin's provincial capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, killing one policeman and injuring three others, the source added.

In Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a member of al-Qaida militant group was killed while trying to plant a roadside bomb in the industrial area in the provincial capital city of Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, a provincial police source anonymously told Xinhua.

In a separate incident, a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in al-Gatoun area, some 6 km west of Baquba, wounding a policeman, the source said.

Also in Diyala, Iraqi security forces carried out search operations across the province during the past 24 hours and arrested seven suspects, including three wanted individuals, the source added.

Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks are still common in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease in violence since its peak in 2006 and 2007 when the country was engulfed in sectarian killings.


from XINHUA
2012-07-01 22:37:59

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Three killed, 35 injured in Iraq's violence

BAGHDAD, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and 35 injured in separate bomb attacks in west and north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Sunday, the police said.

A roadside bomb went off in central the city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, killing a child and wounding three civilians, a local police source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

In a separate incident, three Iraqi soldiers were injured when a booby-trapped car struck their patrol while travelling on a main road in central Fallujah, the source said.

Three passers-by were also wounded by the attack, the source added.

Insurgent attacks continue in the once volatile Sunni Arab area in west of Baghdad that stretches through Anbar province to Iraq's western borders with Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Earlier in the day, a security source from Salahudin province in north of Baghdad reportedly said that a car bomb went off in the morning near a gas station in central the city of Shirqat, some 120 km north of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, killing a policeman and wounding 24 people including seven policemen.

Also in the morning, the source said that a roadside bomb struck a police vehicle near the city of Tuz-Khurmato, some 90 km east of Tikrit, killing a police officer and wounding another officer and a policeman.

Salahudin province is a Sunni-dominated province. Its capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, is the hometown of the former President Saddam Hussein.

Violence and sporadic high-profile bomb attacks still common in the Iraqi cities despite the dramatic decrease in violence since its peak in 2006 and 2007 when the country was engulfed in sectarian killings.

from XINHUA
2012-06-17 22:43:59

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Six people killed in attacks in Iraq

BAGHDAD, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and three others wounded in separate attacks in the Iraqi provinces of Diyala and Salahudin on Saturday, the police said.

Two Kurdish residents were killed when two sticky bombs attached to their cars separately detonated in the city of Saadiyah, some 60 km northeast of Diyala's capital city of Baquba, the source from the provincial operations command told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The ethnically-mixed city is part of disputed areas between the Kurds and both Arabs and Turkomans. The area has long been the hotbed of insurgency since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

In a separate incident, a civilian was killed when gunmen in their car opened fire on him in the town of Khalis near Baquba, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said.

Also in the province, gunmen shot dead a policeman in the al- Hadid area, some 10 km northwest of Baquba, the source added.

In addition, a sticky bomb attached to a minibus carrying passengers went off in eastern Baquba, wounding two people aboard, he said.

On Thursday, Diyala province was the scene of a deadly attack, when a car bomb went off near a village market some 30 km off Baquba, killing seven people and wounding 19 others.

Diyala, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the country's eastern border with Iran, has long been a stronghold for al-Qaida militants and other insurgent groups since 2003.

In Salahudin province, gunmen opened fire Saturday morning on a car carrying two off-duty policemen and a civilian in a village near the city of Sherqat, some 280 km north of Baghdad, killing the civilian and one of the policemen and wounding the other, a local police source anonymously told Xinhua.

Salahudin province, located in northern-central Iraq, is a Sunni-dominated province. Its capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, is the hometown of Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein.

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Suicide bomber wounds 4 policemen in Iraq

TIKRIT, Iraq, March 6 (Xinhua) -- A suicide bomber blew up himself in a town in Iraq's Salahudin province on Tuesday, wounding four policemen, while the police captured three suspects who were accompanying the bomber, a provincial police source said.

The incident took place in the early morning at a police checkpoint in the southern entrance of the city of Baiji, some 30 km north of the provincial capital city of Tikrit, when policemen stopped four suspects in their car and ordered them to leave the car for a search, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

One of the men refused to leave the car and blew up his explosive vest, wounding four of the policemen and left the car totally charred at the checkpoint, while the other three suspects were captured, the source said.

Initial interrogation indicates that the three suspects may have involved in the deadly shooting spree that occurred the day before in the city of Haditha in the neighboring province of Anbar that killed 27 policemen and three of the attackers.

Salahudin province, located in northern central Iraq, is a Sunni-dominated province. Its capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, is the hometown of former President Saddam Hussein.

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3 killed, 7 wounded in Iraq's violence

BAGHDAD, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and seven others injured in separate gunfire and bomb attacks in central and northern Iraq, the police said on Sunday.

In Baghdad, an official of the Iraqi Ministry of National Security was gunned down in a drive-by shooting by armed men using silenced weapons when he was driving on a high way in Baghdad's western district of al-Adil, an interior ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Also in western Baghdad, two civilians were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car exploded in Khadraa district, the source said.

In northern Iraq, gunman threw a hand grenade on civilians in a commercial street in central Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad, killing a woman and wounding four people, a local police source said.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, an employee working for the provincial council was injured when a sticky bomb attached to his car detonated in central Salahudin's capital city of Tikrit, some 170 km north of Baghdad, a provincial police source anonymously told Xinhua.

In a separate incident, gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead a brother of a police officer late on Saturday night in front of his house in a village in south Balad, some 80 km north of Baghdad, the source added.

Iraqi cities have been plagued by several attacks, including suicide bombings, since the U.S. troops pulled out of the country late last year.

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