Tuesday: 72 Iraqis Killed; 62 Iraqis, 3 GIs, 2 Britons Wounded

Updated at 12:34 a.m. EST, Feb. 14, 2007

At least 72 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 62 more wounded. Many of the casualties occurred during a suicide truck bombing in Baghdad, which came a day after a similar attack in the capital killed over 70 people. Also, three American soldiers were wounded in Duluiya, and two British troops were injured in Amara.

Gunmen using hand grenades attacked a U.S. patrol, injuring three GIs, and damaging their vehicle in Duluiya. Near Amara, a Hercules C-130 aircraft supplying British troops was severely in an "incident" at an airstrip; two people were injured, but the British say that no hostile ground fire was involved. The Rasafa neighborhood in Baghdad was sealed off by U.S. troops as part of increased troop deployment in the city. Also, U.S. forces demolished a hotel in Haditha; the public had been warned of the operation beforehand, so there were no casualties.

In Baghdad, a suicide truck-bomb killed 18 and wounded 40 near the College of Economic Sciences in the Iskan district. Four people were killed and another four injured when a car bomb exploded in the al-Ameen district. Mortar rounds falling in Abu Disheer injured two people. Also, 20 bodies bearing the usual gunshot and/or torture wounds were discovered scattered around the capital.

Three bodies were found in Mahmudiya; they bore gunshot wounds and torture marks.

Mortar rounds fell on Nahwaran where they killed five people and wounded 12 more.

Two Mahdi army members were gunned down in Amara.

Six gunmen were killed in Mandili when the car bomb they were loading was set off prematurely.

In al-Hakimiya, two kidnapped children were freed by police.

Police in Kharnabat became suspicious of men bearing a coffin. The coffin turned out to be booby-trapped and was disarmed; however, two of the policemen were killed and a third kidnapped by the gunmen.

A suicide bomber was killed by police when he tried to detonate his vest in a crowd of people waiting for kerosene.

The main hospital at Baquba received 12 bodies and four injured.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis