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Letter to the editor

Last week in Iraq

By Times Wires
Published January 20, 2008

Attacks

-At least three Iraqi police officers were killed when a booby-trapped house exploded in the northern province of Diyala on Monday, and gunmen assassinated a high-ranking Sunni judge in Baghdad.

-A female suicide bomber struck worshipers preparing for Shiite Islam's holiest day in a village south of Baqubah, killing at least nine Wednesday in an attack that highlighted insurgents' widening array of tactics against a U.S.-led offensive.

-A suicide bomber struck Shiites worshipers at a mosque in Diyala province on Thursday, killing at least 11 people.

Military

-The Iraqi defense minister said Monday that his nation would not be able to take full responsibility for its internal security until 2012, nor be able on its own to defend Iraq's borders from external threat until at least 2018. The comments suggested a longer commitment than either the U.S. or Iraqi government had previously indicated.

-American and Iraqi troops killed 60 Sunni insurgents and captured nearly 200 more during a weeklong offensive in northern Iraq against al-Qaida in Iraq fighters, U.S. military officials said Monday.

-Friendly fire may have taken the lives of three Army soldiers during a firefight in Salahuddin province north of Baghdad on Jan. 8, military officials said Tuesday. The incident is being investigated to determine whether the soldiers were killed by shots from the enemy or by U.S. troops.

-Members of an obscure messianic cult fought pitched battles Friday with Iraqi security forces in the southern cities of Basra and Nasiriya, leaving at least 80 people dead, injuring scores and spreading panic among worshipers marking Shiite Islam's holiest holiday, Ashoura.

Rebuilding

-Iraqi Arab lawmakers from rival sects joined forces Jan. 13 to criticize what they claim is overreaching by the Kurds, alleging that the powerful U.S.-backed minority's go-it-alone style in oil and other major issues threatens national unity.

-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Baghdad with a double-edged message Tuesday: praise for progress toward ending the nation's sectarian rifts, but also a warning not to squander the momentum after many false starts on reconciliation.

Deaths

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

-MarineLance Cpl. Curtis A. Christensen Jr., 29, Collingswood, N.J.; noncombat Jan. 11; Anbar.

-Army Pfc. Danny L. Kimme, 27, Fisher, Ill.; explosion and small-arms fire Wednesday; Balad.

-Army Pfc. Keith E. Lloyd, 26, Milwaukee; explosion Jan. 12; Tal Afar.

-Army Pfc. David H. Sharrett II, 27, Oakton, Va.; explosion and small-arms fire Wednesday; Balad.

-Army Spc. John P. Sigsbee, 21, Waterville, N.Y.; explosion and small-arms fire Wednesday; Balad.

[Last modified January 20, 2008, 00:02:43]