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Last week in Iraq

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 24, 2006

ATTACKS

- A wave of suicide car bombs and explosions rocked the northern city of Kirkuk Sept. 17, killing at least 24 people and wounding 84, police said. The day's toll across Iraq was at least 59 dead.

- Bombers and gunmen killed at least 41 people and wounded dozens across Iraq on Monday.

- At least 16 civilians were killed and dozens of others were wounded across Iraq on Tuesday.

- At least 23 people died in bombings and shootings around the country Wednesday, and 10 bodies were found. A United Nations report on civilian deaths in Iraq released Wednesday says 3,009 people were killed in August, a slight decrease from July's toll of 3,590.

- The Iraqi Defense Ministry warned Thursday of a new tactic used by insurgents who kidnapped drivers, secretly rigged their vehicles with explosives and let them go. After threatening them to use particular routes and following the victims, the insurgents blow the vehicle up by remote control at check points, public places or other venues.

- The United Nations' chief antitorture expert said Thursday that reports indicate torture in Iraqi is "totally out of hand" and some people said the situation was worse than under Saddam Hussein.

- More than a dozen apparent victims of death squads were found across Baghdad on Thursday.

- Sectarian violence in Baghdad continued Friday, as gunmen opened fire on Sunni mosques and homes in the religiously mixed neighborhood of Hurriya, killing four people in an attack that drew the condemnation of Sunni leaders across the city. In east Baghdad, police found the blindfolded and bound bodies of nine men from a Sunni tribe who had been dragged out of a wedding dinner the night before by men dressed in Iraqi army uniforms, police said.

- An explosion on Saturday morning in Baghdad killed at least 37 people, mostly women and children, when a bomb detonated next to a line of women waiting to receive heating fuel from a tanker truck, according to residents and Iraqi officials.

MILITARY

- The U.S. military relinquished control of a second Iraqi army division Monday.

- The U.S. military is likely to maintain and may even increase its force of 147,000 troops in Iraq through the spring, Gen. John Abizaid, the top American commander in the region, said Tuesday in one of the gloomiest assessments yet of when troops may come home.

- Cpl. Donald Payne pleaded guilty to treating Iraqi detainees inhumanely in a landmark court-martial on Tuesday, making him Britain's first service member to admit committing a war crime.

- Italy handed over command of the relatively quiet province of Dhi Qar to Iraqi forces Thursday. It was the second of Iraq's 18 provinces to be transferred into local control.

- The United States needs 3,000 more Iraqi forces to join the battle in Baghdad, but requests have not been met because Iraqi soldiers are reluctant to leave their home regions, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, Maj. Gen. James Thurman, said Friday.

REBUILDING

- Predominately Sunni Arab tribes in volatile Anbar province have joined the fight against insurgents in the region. Tribal leaders and clerics set up a force of about 20,000 men to secure the provincial capital of Ramadi, Sheik Fassal al-Guood said Monday.

- The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial was replaced Tuesday amid complaints from Shiite and Kurdish officials that he was too easy on the deposed Iraqi leader.

- Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, the new chief judge in the Saddam Hussein genocide trial, threw the former Iraqi president out of court Wednesday, and his lawyers also left in protest.

- School resumed Wednesday in what many view as a major test of people's confidence in the government after a summer of sectarian violence. There were reports of high absenteeism at some schools.

- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told the U.N. General Assembly on Friday that terrorist forces are using his country as "a stepping stone" for spreading violence and that military action alone won't stop them. He also said the government would not talk about a timetable for withdrawing U.S.-led forces until the Iraqi armed forces are capable of ending terrorism and maintaining security.

- About 3,000 people demonstrated Friday outside a mosque in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, demanding the return of the former dictator to power, organizers said. Hussein is on trial in Baghdad on genocide charges.

DEATHS

As of Saturday, 2,699 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. Identifications as reported by the U.S. military and not previously published:

- Army Cpl. Marcus A. Cain, 20, Crowley, La.; explosion Sept. 14; Baghdad.

- Army Sgt. David J. Davis, 32, Mount Airy, Md.; explosion Sept. 17; Baghdad.

- Army Sgt. Jennifer M. Hartman, 21, New Ringgold, Pa.; explosion Sept. 14; Baghdad.

- Army Sgt. Adam L. Knox, 21, Columbus, Ohio; small-arms fire Sept. 17; Baghdad.

- Army Spc. Russell M. Makowski, 23, Union, Mo.; explosion Sept. 14; Taji.

- Army Master Sgt. Robb G. Needham, 51, Vancouver, Wash.; small arms fire Wednesday; Baghdad.

- Army 2nd Lt. Emily J.T. Perez, 23, Fort Washington, Md.; explosion Sept. 12; Kifl.

- Navy Petty Officer 2nd class David S. Roddy, 32, Aberdeen, Miss.; Sept. 16; Anbar province.

- Marine Cpl. Yull Estrada Rodriguez, 21, Alegre Lajas, Puerto Rico; Wednesday; Anbar province.

- Army Pfc. Jeffrey P. Shaffer, 21, Harrison, Ark.; explosion Sept. 13; Ramadi.

- Army Sgt. Aaron A. Smith, 31, Killeen, Texas; explosion Sept. 14; Baghdad.

- Army Sgt. Clint E. Williams, 24, Kingston, Okla.; explosion Sept. 14 ; Baghdad.

- Army Sgt. James R. Worster, 24, Broadview Heights, Ohio; nonhostile incident Monday; Baghdad.

[Last modified September 24, 2006, 01:38:24]