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Letter to the editor

Last week in Iraq

By Times Wires
Published March 9, 2008

Attacks

-Two car bombs killed at least 24 people and injured 56 in Baghdad on Monday, officials said.

-Two bombs struck a bustling shopping district in the heart of Baghdad on Thursday evening, killing 68 people and wounding more than 120, Iraqi authorities said.

Military

-An Army paratrooper unit that led the U.S. troop surge into Baghdad last year is returning home, marking a resumption of a troop drawdown that will test the durability of recent security gains. A senior military official told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division is heading back to Fort Bragg, N.C.

-An Iraqi military helicopter crashed in a sandstorm, killing the seven Iraqis and one American service member on board, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Tuesday.

-Turkey launched airstrikes on Kurdish separatist rebels in northern Iraq on Wednesday, less than a week after the end of a large-scale ground operation, an Iraqi official said.

Rebuilding

-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took swipes at the Bush administration on Monday, telling the "foreigners" that it was time to go home so that Iran and Iraq could develop their "brotherly connections." During his two-day visit to Baghdad, he also signed agreements on trade, transportation, electricity, industry, customs, mining and finance.

-Two former high-ranking Shiite government officials charged with kidnapping and killing scores of Sunnis were ordered released Monday after prosecutors dropped the case for lack of evidence.

-U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker plans to leave Baghdad as early as January, leaving the most critical U.S. diplomatic post. Crocker, 58, plans to retire from the foreign service.

-Shiite cleric and militia leader Muqtada al-Sadr has decided to drop out of politics for a while because his disillusionment with the political scene in Iraq has left him sick and anxious, he said in a letter Friday to followers.

Deaths

As of Saturday, 3,974 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. Identifications as reported by the U.S. military and not previously published:

-Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher S. Frost, 24, Waukesha, Wis.; helicopter crash Monday; near Baiji.

[Last modified March 9, 2008, 00:37:02]