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MAHMUDIYA, Iraq, Sept 5 (AFP) - An Iraqi nuclear scientist has been assassinated in the Sunni Muslim insurgent bastion of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, his brother told AFP Sunday. Mohammed Toki Hussein al-Talakani, who had practised nuclear physics since 1984, was shot dead on Saturday as he was driving in Mahmudiya, Alaa Toki Hussein said. The 40-year-old scientist lived in the small town of Al-Kifl, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital. Another man was killed in the town on Sunday during clashes between insurgents and Iraqi forces, while a woman was also wounded, the head of the...

IRAQI witnesses began testimony in a US military court in Baghdad today to decide whether to court-martial four US soldiers for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family in March. The Mahmudiya case, the fifth involving serious crimes being investigated by the US military in Iraq, has outraged Iraqis and led Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to call for a review of foreign troops' immunity from Iraqi prosecution. The court began by taking testimony from Iraqi witnesses, a part of the process which is supposed to be held behind closed doors, and the...

On Aug. 6, Sgt. Paul Cortez will face the first steps in the military trial process. Cortez will undergo an Article 32 hearing in Iraq for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family while serving in Mahmudiya.

5 U.S. GIs Charged in Iraq Rape-Slay Case Jul 9, 10:26 AM (ET) By ROBERT H. REID BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Four more U.S. soldiers have been charged with rape and murder and a fifth with dereliction of duty in the alleged rape-slaying of a young Iraqi woman and the killings of her relatives in Mahmoudiya, the military said Sunday. The five were accused Saturday following an investigation into allegations that American soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division raped the teenager and killed her and three relatives at her home south of Baghdad. Ex-soldier Steven D. Green was arrested last...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were charged with the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and killing her family, bringing to five the number of Americans accused of the four deaths in March, the U.S. military said on Sunday. A fifth soldier was charged on Saturday with dereliction of duty for failing to report the case. Last week a sixth soldier, Steven Green, who has now left the army, was charged with rape and murder in a U.S. civilian court over the killings at Mahmudiya, near Baghdad.

LATIFIYAH, Iraq (AFP) - A car bomb exploded in the trouble spot of Mahmudiya, south of Baghdad, leaving many killed and wounded, the local hospital director told AFP. "There were many dead and wounded," said Dr. Daoud al-Tai, head of the hospital in Latifiyah, the town after Mahmudiya. The doctor said he could not keep track of the casualties because many were taken to Baghdad. The powerful blast ripped the Husseiniyah district, where there are numerous stores and homes, at 6:30 pm (1530 GMT). "Columns of smoke shot up in the sky after the blast, which destroyed at least four...

...The first of the troublesome cities to return to Iraqi government control was Samarra.... Most important, allied forces seem poised finally to take control of Fallujah, which has been a no-go zone since the end-of-April deal that turned the town over to ex-Baathists called the Fallujah Brigade. That decision was easily the biggest mistake of the war, since it caused both friend and foe to question American resolve and gave the thugs a safe haven from which to stage car bombings and other attacks. ...[T]he Marines have established a cordon around the city and the Iraqi government is negotiating with...

U.S. soldier killed south of Baghdad Sun 8 February, 2004 19:12 BAGHDAD (Reuters) - One U.S. soldier has been killed by a bomb planted on a road south of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman said. He said the soldier died at about 4.30 p.m. on Sunday near the town of Mahmudiya, about 20 km (12 miles) south of Baghdad. His death brought the number of American soldiers killed in combat since the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq to 370.   

A Polish officer has been killed in Iraq after an attack on a military convoy - the first fatality suffered by Warsaw's troops in the country. A Polish military spokesman in Warsaw says no further information on the incident is immediately available. Earlier, guerrillas firing rocket-propelled grenades and guns killed one US soldier and wounded two others in an ambush south of Baghdad. The US Central Command says the attack took place near the town of Mahmudiya, and involved soldiers involved from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division.