Thursday: 2 GIs, 53 Iraqis Killed; 107 Iraqis Wounded; Iraqi Parliament Bombed

Updated at 11:29 a.m. EDT, April, 13, 2007

A bomb at the Iraqi Parliament building in the fortified Green Zone and another on a major bridge shook Baghdad today and underscored weaknesses in the security crackdown. Overall, at least 53 Iraqis were killed and 107 injured during violent attacks today. One GI was killed when his patrol was attacked with smalls arms fire north of Baghdad. Another U.S. soldier died from non-combat related causes.

In a daring attack, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb inside the Iraqi Parliament’s cafeteria. One lawmaker was killed in the blast. At least 22 were injured. The Parliament is inside the Green Zone, which is a heavily fortified area in central Baghdad. Another lawmaker was injured in a separate incident, when gunmen opened fire upon him as he was headed to Parliament.

The Sarafiya bridge connecting the neighborhoods of Wazariyah and Utifiyah in northern Baghdad collapsed when a suicide truck bomb was detonated on it. At least 11 people were killed. Two people are still missing and 39 were injured. Police and frogmen searched the waters below for as many as 20 people who had fallen into Tigris River. The river bisects the capital and the bridge was one of several important connections between the two halves.

Elsewhere in Baghdad, two separate but nearly simultaneous roadside bombs in the Hurriyah district injured two civilians and damaged a U.S. humvee. One person was killed and another injured during a mortar attack in the Shurta area. A separate mortar injured one person in the Jihad neighborhood. In Wazariyah, gunmen shot a civilian dead. Gunmen killed one and injured another in Saidiya. A roadside bomb in Karrada killed one and wounded five others. Gunmen killed one guard and wounded a second guard who works for the former justice minister. Also, 12 dumped bodies were scattered around the capital.

A bomb near a bus in Kirkuk killed six passengers and injured 19 more. Gunmen killed a man and wounded two others. Also, a convoy belonging to the head of the Joint Iraqi-U.S. Coordination Centre of Kirkuk was blasted by a roadside bomb; two guards were wounded in the incident.

In Mosul, a gunman and a guard were killed during an attack on a bus carrying civil servants. A policeman was killed in a separate incident. Also, four people were injured and two buildings destroyed in a car bomb attack.

U.S. forces killed three people and injured scores in Haditha. Later, mortar rounds were fired at a U.S. base.

Gunmen fired upon the Sunni Islamic Party offices in Iskandariya; one guard was injured.

Near the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, gunmen killed a man.

The body of an abducted policeman was discovered in Kut.

Gunmen killed an Iraqi soldier in Hawija.

Two guards were wounded when gunmen attacked a motorcade belonging to a police official.

The Baquba hospital received four bodies belonging to policemen and two injured persons who were in a roadside bomb attack directed at a police patrol. Two more people were injured in a separate roadside bomb.

The British bases in Basra received indirect fire, but no injuries resulted from the attack.

In the Tahrir region, militants killed TV anchor Iman Youssef Abdullah and her husband then set fire to the bodies.

Tal Afar was placed under a curfew after bomb threats were made.

Clashes between gunmen and villagers erupted near Khalis.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis