Thursday: 2, GIs, 43 Iraqis, 4 Filipino Contractors Killed; 30 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 12:59 a.m EDT, May 34, 2007

Although very few reports of violence came out of Iraq today, at least one high-profile militant leader was killed and perhaps a second one as well. Overall, 43 Iraqis and four Filipinos were killed and 30 Iraqis were injured. In southern Baghdad, two U.S. soldiers were killed and six wounded during an armed attack.

U.S. forces today reported the death of Muharib Abdul Latif al-Jubouri, who was the senior minister of information for al-Qaeda in Iraq. He was killed in a security operation near Taji. Al-Jubouri was believed involved in a number of high-profile foreign abductions including that of Jill Carroll. DNA testing confirmed his identity.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, was also reported killed but that death is still unconfirmed. Earlier this week the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was also reported killed, but proof of his death remains elusive as well.

In Baghdad, four Filipino contractors were killed during the third consecutive day of rocket/mortar attacks on the heavily fortified Green Zone. Gunmen stormed a Sunni mosque in Mansour and killed the imam there. In Bayaa, another mosque was blown up, but no casualties were reported. Nearby, gunmen stormed a home and killed a family of nine. In Baghdad’s al-Jamia neighborhood, gunmen twice attacked the Radio Dijlah station. A security advisor was killed and two guards were wounded repelling the first attack. Iraqi troops chased off the attackers who returned hours later.Also, 25 dumped bodies were recovered in separate locations.

Mortars fell throughout the capital. A mortar in Abu Dsheer wounded three people. Later, new mortar fire killed one and injured nine in the same neighborhood. In Baladiyat, mortars damaged a home. In Jisr Diyala, one person was killed and were two injured during shelling. One person was killed and seven injured in Shurta Kamisa. Two were injured by mortas in the Amil neighborhood.

Three gunmen were wounded in clashes with a British patrol in Basra today. British bases were attacked with indirect fire, but no casualties were reported.

Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in a blast in Fallujah.

In Baiji, the bodies of six Ramadi policemen were discovered.

A woman was killed and two members of her family wounded when a shell hit their home in Khalis.

In Mosul, a communist party official, Abu Thabet, was assassinated.

At the border with Turkey, a Turkish soldier was killed when he stepped on a landmine set by Kurdish rebels.

Chemical attacks were foiled in Sulaymanyah.

An electrical tower was bombed in Kirkuk.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis