Tuesday: 2 GIs, 114 Iraqis Killed, 127 Wounded, 30 Kidnapped

Updated at 1:00 a.m. EDT, May 9, 2007

At least 114 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and 127 more were wounded thanks to ongoing violence. The mass abduction of 30 people was also reported. A significant bombing took place in Kufa, while U.S. forces bombed a school in Mandali. Southeast of Baghdad, two GIs were killed and another wounded in a roadside bomb attack.

In related news, a report by the organization Save The Children noted that the child mortality rate has increased faster in Iraq than anywhere else in the world. One in eight children now die before they reach the age of five.

In Kufa, a suicide bomber drove a minibus into an open-air marketplace, killing at least 45 people and wounding 80 others. The Shi’ite city is a stronghold of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Entrances to the city and nearby Najaf were closed, and casualties are expected rise.

Thirty people were kidnapped at a fake checkpoint in Diyala province.

U.S. helicopters shelled a school in Mandali, near the Iranian border. Seven schoolchildren were killed and three injured in the attack.

In Baghdad, 25 unidentified bodies were dumped in various locations. The corpses of three of the minister of Higher Education’s bodyguards were found; their driver had been killed during the kidnapping yesterday. An Interior Ministry officer was killed on his way to work. In Shaab, a bomb was detonated in a controlled explosion; no one was injured. In Husseiniya, a bomb blew up without causing injuries. A traffic cop was killed in Waziriya. An American patrol was targeted by a bomb in Saidiya, but no casualties were reported. Five civilians were wounded in a bombing in northeastern Baghdad.

Mortars injured four civilians at a leather factory in the Za’afaraniya area, a car exploded at a nearby petrol station, and a roadside bomb killed three and injured five more on a minibus in the same area.

At least seven bodies were discovered in and around Fallujah; five belonged to council members. Three cell phone towers were blown up.

A suicide bomber targeting a Khanaqin police station killed two policemen and wounded 23 others, including 10 civilians.

Mortars killed two and wounded ten today in Iskandariya. Yesterday, gunmen killed two people and wounded three others.

British forces injured two civilians while firing upon them in separate incidents in Basra. One kidnap victim was rescued.

A curfew is in effect in Hit, but no reasons were given for it.

At the Jalwla’a police station, a suicide bomber killed three police officers and wounded 11 more.

A police officer was killed in Mosul. The state-owned water company director was kidnapped.

In Kirkuk, two policemen were wounded when a bomb blasted them.

Four truck drivers were kidnapped on a highway between Baghdad and Kirkuk.

On the Iranian border at Syakouz, two checkpoint guards were killed.

The Iraq Army reported killing seven suspects and arresting 115 others in unspecified locations. Two Iraqi soldiers were also killed and two were wounded. U.S. forces detained 13 more suspects.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis