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The week in Iraq

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 3, 2007

Attacks

- At least 64 Iraqis were killed or found slain May 27. Baghdad police recovered the bodies of at least 44 men shot and killed execution-style, the largest number recovered in a single day since the start of a security crackdown in mid February.

- A suicide car bomber struck a busy Baghdad commercial district Monday, killing at least 21 people, setting vehicles on fire and damaging a nearby Sunni shrine, police and hospital officials said. Several mortar and car bombing attacks in the capital left at least 15 other people dead.

- Gunmen in police uniforms and driving vehicles used by security forces kidnapped five Britons from an Iraqi Finance Ministry office in Baghdad on Tuesday, and a senior Iraqi official said the Mahdi Army, a radical Shiite militia, was suspected.

- Police said two car bombers hit Baghdad neighborhoods on opposite sides of the Tigris River on Tuesday, killing at least 40 people and wounding 123 others. A Shiite mosque was destroyed in the second of the two attacks.

- Gunmen in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, set up fake checkpoints on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday and abducted more than 40 people, most of them soldiers, police officers and members of two tribes that had banded together against local insurgents, police said.

- There were 72 people killed or found dead nationwide Wednesday.

- Sunni residents of Amiriyah, a neighborhood in west Baghdad, used assault rifles and a roadside bomb to battle the Sunni insurgent group al-Qaida in Iraq, leaving at least 28 people dead and six injured, residents said Thursday.

- An al-Qaida-linked suicide bomber struck a safe house Friday occupied by an insurgent group that has turned against the terror network. The attack northeast of Baghdad also killed two other militants, police said.

Military

- U.S. forces freed at least 41 kidnapped Iraqis during a raid May 27 on an al-Qaida hideout near Baqubah, the military said. It was apparently the largest number of people ever rescued from al-Qaida, said Col. Steven Boylan, spokesman for Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq.

- Maj. Gen. William Caldwell left his position as chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq last week after 13 months. He will take command of the Army's Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

- The U.S. military is working more aggressively to forge cease-fires with Iraqi militants and quell the violence around Baghdad, judging that 80 percent of enemy combatants are "reconcilable, " Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday. However, Odierno also warned that he may not be able to make a full assessment of the situation in Iraq by September, as demanded by lawmakers.

Rebuilding

- The United States and Iran held their first official high-level, face-to-face talks in almost 30 years on Monday in Baghdad to discuss the deteriorating security situation in Iraq, and officials emerged generally upbeat about the renewed dialogue, suggesting additional meetings were likely.

- Turkey's top general said Thursday that his army was prepared to attack separatist Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq in a cross-border offensive. The announcement put pressure on the Turkish government to support an offensive that risks straining ties with the United States and Europe and raising tensions with Iraqi Kurds.

- Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, the leader of Iraq's largest Shiite party, returned to Baghdad on Friday from Iran after completing the first phase of his treatment for lung cancer, according to the Web site of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, his political party.

Deaths

As of Saturday, 3, 479 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. Identifications as reported by the U.S. military and not previously published:

- Army Spc. Alexandre A. Alexeev, 23, Wilmington, Calif.; explosion Monday; Abu Sayda.

- Army Pvt. William L. Bailey III, 29, Bellevue, Neb.; explosion May 25; Taji.

- Army Cpl. Zachary D. Baker, 24, Vilonia, Ark.; explosion Monday; Abu Sayda.

- Army Pfc. Matthew E. Baylis, 20, Oakdale, N.Y.; died Thursday of wounds received from small-arms fire Wednesday; Baghdad.

- Army Pfc. Matthew A. Bean, 22, Pembroke, Mass.; died Thursday at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds received from small-arms fire May 19 in Lutifiyah.

- Army Spc. Clinton C. Blodgett, 19, Pekin, Ind.; explosion May 26; Baghdad.

- Army Spc. Mark R.C. Caguioa, 21, Stockton, Calif.; died May 24 at the National Naval Medical Center of wounds received in an explosion May 4 in Baghdad.

- Army Chief Warrant Officer Theodore U. Church, 32, South Point, Ohio; helicopter crash Monday; Muqdadiyah.

- Army Sgt. Richard V. Correa, 25, Honolulu; explosion Tuesday; Ilbu Falris.

- Army Sgt. Bacilio E. Cuellar, 24, Odessa, Texas; explosion Wednesday; Baghdad.

- Army Sgt. Chadrick O. Domino, 23, Ennis, Texas; small-arms fire Thursday; Baghdad.

- Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert E. Dunham, 36, Baltimore; explosion May 24; Baghdad.

- Army Sgt. Clayton G. Dunn II, 22, Moreno Valley, Calif.; explosion May 26; Salahuddin province.

- Army Sgt. Anthony D. Ewing, 22, Phoenix; explosion Monday; Abu Sayda.

- Army 1st Lt. Keith N. Heidtman, 24, Norwich, Conn.; helicopter crash Monday; Muqdadiyah.

- Army Pfc. Charles B. Hester, 23, Cataldo, Idaho; explosion May 26; Baghdad.

- Army Spc. Michael J. Jaurigue, 20, Texas City, Texas; explosion May 26; Salahuddin province.

- Army Spc. Mathew P. LaForest, 21, Austin, Texas; small-arms fire May 25; Taji.

- Army Pfc. Robert A. Liggett, 23, Urbana, Ill.; non-combat-related incident Tuesday; Rustamiyah.

- Marine Lance Cpl. David P. Lindsey, 20, Spartanburg, S.C.; noncombat-related incident May 25; Anbar province.

- Army Spc. James E. Lundin, 20, Bellport, N.Y.; explosion Wednesday; Baghdad.

- Army Staff Sgt. Thomas M. McFall, 36, Glendora, Calif.; explosion Monday; Baghdad.

- Army Spc. Gregory N. Millard, 22, San Diego; explosion May 26; Salahuddin province.

- Army Pfc. Joshua M. Moore, 20, Russellville, Ky.; explosion Wednesday; Baghdad.

- Army Cpl. Victor H. Toledo Pulido, 22, Hanford, Calif.; explosion May 23; Nahrawan.

- Army Staff Sgt. Russell K. Shoemaker, 31, Sweet Springs, Mo.; explosion May 24; Baghdad.

- Army Spc. Erich S. Smallwood, 23, Trumann, Ark.; explosion May 26; near Balad.

- Army Cpl. James E. Summers III, 21, Bourbon, Mo.; explosion Monday; Abu Sayda.

- Army Spc. Francis M. Trussel Jr., 21, Lincoln, Ill.; explosion May 26; Tahrir.

- Marine Lance Cpl. Emmanuel Villarreal, 21, Eagle Pass, Texas; noncombat-related vehicle accident May 27; Kuwait Naval Base, Kuwait.

- Marine Sgt. Nicholas R. Walsh, 27, Millstadt, Ill.; combat May 26; Anbar province.

- Army Staff Sgt. Joseph M. Weiglein, 31, Audubon, N.J.; explosion Tuesday; Ilbu Falris.

- Army 1st Lt. Kile G. West, 23, Pasadena, Texas; explosion Monday; Abu Sayda.

- Army Cpl. Jonathan D. Winterbottom, 21, Falls Church, Va.; explosion May 23; Nahrawan.

[Last modified June 3, 2007, 03:03:35]