Residents chant slogans as they gather on a road after U.S. troops abandoned roadblocks in Baghdad's Sadr city, October 31, 2006. Iraq's prime minister, in a very public demonstration of his influence over the U.S. military, ordered the lifting on Tuesday of a week-old cordon around the Baghdad militia stronghold of one of his key Shi'ite allies. REUTERS/KAREEM RAHEEM
Over 40 Iraqis kidnapped north of Baghdad - police
31 Oct 2006 16:53:12 GMT
Source: Reuters
TIKRIT, Iraq, Oct 31 (Reuters) - More than 40 people are missing after armed kidnappers ambushed minibuses travelling to Baghdad on a main road north of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, police in the city of Tikrit said.
An Iraqi spokesman for the Joint Coordination Center of the Iraqi police and U.S. forces in the mainly Sunni Arab province of Salahaddin said "about 42" people were missing after the incident near Tarmiya, 30 km (20 miles) north of Baghdad.
The gunmen set up a fake checkpoint and stopped vehicles to ask drivers if they came from the Shi'ite villages of Balad and Dujail, the spokesman said.
In what has become a grim feature of the sectarian violence gripping Iraq, gunmen select their victims at random checkpoints based on their religious denomination. Most appear dead later.
Last week, fierce clashes broke out in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of the capital, involving Iraqi police that blocked Iraq's main highway north from Baghdad to Mosul and the Turkish border.
Dujail is the Shi'ite village where Saddam Hussein survived an assassination attempt in 1982, prompting a government crackdown for which the toppled leader has been tried. He is expecting to hear a possible death sentence verdict on Nov.5.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO159712.htm
FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, Oct 31
31 Oct 2006 16:21:03 GMT
Source: Reuters
More Oct 31 (Reuters) - Following are security and other developments in Iraq as of 1600 GMT on Tuesday.
*NAJAF - Sixty gunmen of the Mehdi Army militia loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will be disciplined by an internal court for "wrongdoings", an aide said. Abdul Razzak al-Nidway said the gunmen are said to have carried out killings and forced people to leave homes in different parts of Baghdad.
*BAGHDAD - A car bomb ripped through a wedding procession in the northeastern district of Ur in Baghdad, killing 15 people, including four children, Interior Ministry and police said.
*TIKRIT - More than 40 people are missing after armed kidnappers ambushed minibuses travelling to Baghdad on a main road north of the capital, police in the city of Tikrit said.
TARMIYA - More than 40 people were missing after gunmen mounted a mass kidnap attack on minibuses travelling to Baghdad near Tarmiya, 30 km (20 miles), north of the capital, a spokesman for the Joint Coordination Center for Iraqi and U.S. forces in the northern city of Tikrit said.
NEAR SUWAYRA - The bodies of five gunmen were found in an orchard which was the scene of clashes between gunmen and the police several days ago near the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.
SUWAYRA - The bodies of three people were recovered from the Tigris river in the town of Suwayra, police said.
BAQUBA - The bodies of eight people were found, bound and gagged, in Baquba, police said. All the victims were shot in the head.
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed a policeman and wounded three others near the southern Doura district of Baghdad, an Interior Ministry said.
BAQUBA - Clashes between gunmen and police left a policeman dead and three others wounded in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
BAQUBA - Gunmen suspected of belonging to a militia run by Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, shot and wounded the owners of two shops in Baquba, police said.
FALLUJA - An Iraqi army soldier died in clashes with gunmen in the Sunni city of Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.
TAL AFAR - Four gunmen and an Iraqi army soldier were killed in clashes in the northern town of Tal Afar, about 420 km (260 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.
BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was on Monday shot dead by insurgents during combat operations in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed on Monday when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed three civilians and wounded 10 others in northeastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said.
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
*BAGHDAD - A Kurdish man told a court trying Saddam Hussein for genocide he saw Iraqi soldiers marching Kurdish prisoners from a bus and killing them before dumping their bodies in a ditch. The judge later adjourned proceedings until Nov. 7.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered all joint U.S. and Iraqi checkpoints in Baghdad's Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City and other parts of the capital to be lifted as of 5 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Tuesday. ((Baghdad bureau))
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31325264.htm