Saturday: 187 Iraqis, 1 GI Killed; 83 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 1:35 a.m. EST, Dec. 4, 2006

The U.S military reported the first American servicemember death for December, and at least 187 Iraqis were also killed, another 83 were wounded, in various events. The most notable incident was a triple bombing of a Shi’te commercial neighborhood in central Baghdad, which killed almost 100 people. Also, a Turkish diplomat was shot and injured at the embassy in Baghdad.

In military news, a U.S. soldier died from hostile gunfire in Anbar province yesterday. The soldier is the first American to die in Iraq during December. In November, a total of 69 American servicemembers were killed. Also, Coalition forces and the Iraqi army concentrated troops on Baquba in order to quell recent violence; one militiaman was killed, and a child hostage was freed.. In Haqlaniyah, American troops raided a market and engaged gunmen in battle, but no casualties were yet reported. U.S. forces also killed a person planting a roadside bomb in southern Iraq.

In central Baghdad, three separate car bombs killed at least 91 people and wounded 43 others, most of them at a busy farmer’s market. Also, a Katyusha rocket, believed intended for a mosque where Sunni politicians were meeting, instead landed on a private home; the explosion killed two and injured six members of the same family. At least one policeman was killed and two wounded when gunmen attacked a police checkpoint near Yarmouk hospital. Iraqi police Captain Hayder Mousa was shot dead in the New Baghdad area. A soft drink salesman and his assistant were killed while delivering goods in the Doura neighborhood. Also, 44 unidentified bodies were found in the capital and another two just south of Baghdad..

South of the capital in al Wahada, an errant truck drove into a bus stop at high speed. Twenty people were killed and 15 wounded in what authorities believe to have been a deliberate act. The driver fled but was caught, and another body was found inside the vehicle.

Gunmen shot dead five people as they traveled along a main road outside Balad.

A funeral procession in Khalis was interrupted by gunmen who killed two Shi’ites and wounded three others. Another two people were shot dead in a market.

One person was killed and wounded six when a roadside bomb targeting a security patrol exploded in Yusufiya.

A gunshot-riddled body was found in Mussayab.

In Mosul, a contractor was shot dead and a roadside bomb injured three policemen.

Last night a bomb killed one person and wounded a second in Iskandariya.

Near Fallujah in Ezejiyah village, a roadside killed an Iraqi soldier and injured three others aboard a Humvee.

Gunmen killed six people, including two children, in Garma.

In Samawa, clashes between militia and police left one bystander dead.

And a roadside bomb in Mussayib killed one motorist.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis