Thursday: 25 Iraqis Killed, 24 Wounded

Updated at 11:10 p.m EST, Jan. 10, 2008

At least 25 Iraqis were killed and 24 more were wounded in the latest round of violence. Most of them were gunmen or security personnel. Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration reported that only a trickle of Iraqi refugees has returned home. Also, millions of Iraqis are observing the Ashura holy day.

U.S. troops undertook a massive airstrike near Baghdad in Arab Jubour. Planes dropped 40,000 pounds of explosives on 40 targets in the area, but the number of casualties is unknown.

In Baghdad, a pair of explosions killed two policemen and a soldier at Nasr Square; another 11 people were wounded. An Iraqi health ministry bodyguard was killed in Doura. On Palestine Street, a bomb killed one person and wounded four more. Also, three bodies were recovered.

Near Muqdadiya, no casualties were reported when a roadside bomb blasted Coalition troops, but four gunmen were killed and three more were wounded after air troops were called in for support. Four other gunmen were killed in a separate security operation.

In al-Rashad, a roadside bomb killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded four more.

A gunman was killed as he was trying to plant a roadside bomb in Jalawla; four others were arrested.

In Baquba, a roadside bomb wounded a civilian in the Zaghniya neighborhood.

A bomb in Bani Saad wounded one person.

U.S. troops on a helicopter over Yusufiya witnessed men planting a roadside bomb and killed four of them.

In Samarra, an attempt to smuggle precious objects from two mosques was foiled.

A roadside bomb in Mosul killed one civilian.

In Mahmadaniya, tighter security measures are in place over fears of car bombings.

Police released 44 innocent detainees in Ninewah province, and U.S. troops freed the major of Hawija after holding him for one month.

U.S. forces detained three Awakening Council members in Baquba and arrested a tribal chieftain, along with four sons, in Khalidiya. Iraqi forces arrested 30 in Baghdad. Two al-Qaeda members were arrested in Baquba as well. Also, one suspect was killed in an unspecified location in northern or central Iraq.

A report from the International Organization for Migration said that a "minute percentage" of Iraq’s estimated three million refugees have returned home and warn that, as more time passes, the chances are less likely they will return. About 1.2 million of the refugees were internally displaced.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis