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Last week in Iraq

By Times Wires
Published December 9, 2007

Attacks

-At least 17 people were killed or found dead across Iraq on Dec. 2. The deadliest attack killed at least three police officers in Ramadi.

-A top government aide and an education official were assassinated separately Monday.

-A suicide bomber attacked a police station northeast of Baghdad, killing at least eight people, police and hospital officials said Tuesday. Four Iraqi police officers, two Kurdish troops and two civilians died, police said.

-A car bomb exploded in a largely Shiite Baghdad neighborhood Wednesday, killing at least 16 people, police said.

-A woman with explosives strapped to her body attacked the office of a Sunni group that had turned against al-Qaida in Iraq - one of two suicide bombings in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad that left at least 22 people dead Friday, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

Military

-The U.S. military said Tuesday it captured or killed 40 al-Qaida fighters in the past month, including a Syrian who died in a Nov. 17 raid. The Syrian, identified as Abu Maysara, had escaped from an Iraqi prison in March, said Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a U.S. military spokesman.

-U.S. military commanders in northern Iraq told Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday that they need more troops to battle increased attacks by al-Qaida terrorists who fled north after being pushed out of the Baghdad region.

-Gates said Thursday he came away from his visit to Iraq feeling "very good about the direction of things in the security arena." The top U.S. commander in the country, Gen. David Petraeus, described a 60 percent decline in violence in the past six months.

Rebuilding

-Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said on Dec. 2 that Iraqi lawmakers must take advantage of the decline in daily violence in recent months to pass crucial legislation and improve basic government services. He said if Iraq's sharply divided Parliament did not reach a consensus "in the near future" to improve the lives of Iraqis, it risked losing the recent gains in security.

-Iraq's government acknowledged Tuesday that it cannot handle a massive return of refugees, as the United Nations announced an $11-million relief package to help the most vulnerable Iraqi families trickling back to their war-ravaged homeland. The U.S. military, meanwhile, warned that a massive return of refugees could rekindle sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shiites and that some returnees have found their Baghdad homes occupied by members of the other Muslim sect.

-A Pentagon audit of a $5.2-billion fund used to train and equip Iraqi security forces found U.S. commanders used sloppy accounting and could not always show that equipment, services and construction were delivered properly, according to a report released Thursday.

-Iraqi legislators suspended parliamentary sessions Thursday until the end of the month because of the Muslim religious season - the end of much-delayed efforts to pass U.S.-backed legislation aimed at achieving national reconciliation this year.

Deaths

As of Saturday, 3,886 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. Identifications as reported by the U.S. military and not previously published:

-Army Sgt. Kyle Dayton, 22, El Dorado Hills, Calif.; noncombat Monday; Ashwah.

-Army Cpl. Blair W. Emery, 24, Lee, Maine; explosion Nov. 30; Baqubah.

-Army Sgt. Eric J. Hernandez, 26, Waldwick, N.J.; explosion Tuesday; Beiji.

-Army Spc. Matthew K. Reece, 24, Harrison, Ark.; explosion Dec. 1; Baghdad.

-Army Pvt. Dewayne L. White, 27, Country Club Hills, Ill.; explosion Tuesday, Beiji.

[Last modified December 9, 2007, 00:02:08]