Friday: 5 GIs, 89 Iraqis Killed; 42 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 12:15 a.m. EDT, May 20, 2007

At least 89 Iraqis were reported killed or found dead today and another 42 were injured during violence. Included are two Iraqi ABC news reporters who were ambushed in the capital while on their way home after work. Also, five American servicemembers were killed in separate events in Baghdad.

The U.S. military reported that three Task Force Lightning soldiers were killed today in Baghdad when a bomb exploded near their vehicle. On Wednesday, two MND-B soldiers were killed and nine wounded in separate events in the capital. Also, a suicide bomber detonated his cargo near a U.S. convoy in Fallujah; the vehicle was destroyed but no word on casualties.

In Baghdad, gunmen killed two Iraqi ABC News journalists after stopping their car while the pair were driving home. One civilian was injured during security operations that netted six suspects. One soldier was killed during an attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in the Abu Ghraib area. After an attack on a U.S. convoy, U.S. troops killed two people and injured six. Two people were killed and five wounded during a car bomb attack near a police station. A policeman was killed during an armed attack near the airport. At a soccer field in al-Tobchi, a bomb killed two and injured five, mostly on the field. Also, 25 unidentified bodies were found dumped throughout Iraq.

U.S. forces killed six gunmen when dozens of them attacked a U.S. base in central Baquba. Two Iraqi soldiers were injured during the incident. Nine bodies were brought in to the hospital morgue. Also, gunmen stole almost two billion dinars from a committee in charge of allocating money for social services; the committee and their bodyguards were released.

A Kurdish peshmerga soldier was killed in Kirkuk. Three people were injured during a bombing, while no casualties were reported during a second bombing. Two men and a 7-year-old boy were dragged out of their car and shot; one one of the men was killed, the other two went to hospital with injuries. Gunmen attacked a car, killing the policeman within and injuring his brother. Three truck drivers were killed on highway outside town, and their trucks were set on fire. Also, a bomb at a bridge near the city injured four people.

Three people were killed and four injured, mostly policemen, when a suicide bomber attacked a checkpoint in Mussayab.

Five bodies were fished out of the Tigris and al-Dujaila Rivers at Kut. Among the dead was a 12-year-old child.

In Babil province, five bodies were discovered near an area being searched for missing U.S. soldiers.

In Hawija, a roadside bomb injured four civilians.

During overnight fighting, three Iraqi soldiers were injured in Diwaniya.

Eight Sunni men disappeared while accompanying a injured man to a Basra hospital. Many Iraqis are fearful of hospitals due to a high rate of sectarian killings associated with them.

In Najaf, a fuel smuggling gang was arrested.

A police captain was killed and two policemen were injured during an armed attack in Wajihiya.

Five bodies were brought in to the morgue in Khalis.

In Abu Dhaba, one person was killed and five, including children, were injured during shelling.

U.S. forces killed four gunmen manning a fake checkpoint Diyala province. Two bodies, one belonging to the Iraqi Parliament speaker’s cousin and the other to his bodyguard were found; they had been kidnapped in Baghdad.

Also, four men were arrested in connection with the honor killing of a teenage girl last month in Nineveh province ; the murder sparked retaliatory killings in the area.

In Iskandariya, a roadside bomb killed two policemen and injured two more.

A suicide car bomb killed three policemen and wounded two more in Hilla.

 

Compiled by Margaret Griffis

Author: Margaret Griffis

Margaret Griffis is a journalist from Miami Beach, Florida and has been covering Iraqi casualties for Antiwar.com since 2006.