Friday: 26 Iraqis Killed, 7 Wounded

Updated at 12:30 a.m. EST, Feb. 17, 2007

Friday is usually a quiet news days in Iraq. It is the weekly prayer day and curfews are in place in several cities; many reporters in Iraq consider this their day off. Overall though, 26 Iraqis were killed and seven were wounded in violent incidents. Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration released a grave report on the migration situation; millions have been displaced or fled the country. No foreign deaths were reported.

U.S. forces continued operations as part of a security crackdown. Among them was the controlled-demolition of a bomb-making facility in Salman Pak. Iraqi security forces arrested dozens of people in several raids. Six militants were injured during clashes with British forces in Basra.

In Baquba, militants bulldozed a Shiite shrine belonging to the son of the Seventh Imam Moussa Al-Kadem. Two kidnap victimes were rescued north of Baquba.

Fourteen bodies were recovered in Baghdad. An Iraqi soldier was killed and a second soldier injured when a roadside bomb blasted them on the Mohammed al-Qasim highway.

A girl was killed and her mother wounded during a mortar attack near their home in Balad.

In Samarra, the body of a young man who was shot in the chest was found; he has been kidnapped two weeks ago.

Three policemen were killed during a combat operaton in Falluja.

Katyusha rockets hit two homes in Hibhib where they killed two people.

Four dead bodies were found in Mosul.

A former security guard was assassinated in Kut; he had worked during the Saddam regime.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis