Tuesday: 15 Iraqis Killed, 38 Wounded

Updated at 11:45 p.m. EST, Jan. 15, 2008

At least 15 Iraqis were killed and 38 were wounded in mostly small bombings. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Iraq and praised reconciliation efforts there. Also, Turkish jets resumed attacks on targets in northern Iraq.

In Baghdad, a top judicial official failed to stop his convoy at a checkpoint in al-Salhiyah; an ensuing gunbattle left five schoolchildren dead.Clashes in the Fadhil district left the head of a neighborhood patrol dead and six others wounded. In Karrada, a pair of roadside bombs wounded eight people. Police said that five civilians were wounded during a U.S. air attack, but U.S. force denied this. No casualties were reported after mortars fell on the Green Zone. Also, six dumped bodies were recovered.

Security forces in Shurqat killed a suicide bomber before he could stage his attack. In a separate incident, one policeman was killed and eight others were wounded when a bomb on a truck carrying onions was detonated.

An oil refinery near Basra was set ablaze after Katyusha rockets or other explosives were expoded at the installation; at least 10 people were wounded. An oil spokesman, however, said that sparks from a Coalition helicopter were to blame for the accidental fire. In a separate incident, an unmanned British plane went down due to bad weather conditions.

A Kirkuk police official was wounded during a roadside bombing in Hawija.

In Mosul, no casualties were reported after police detonated a car bomb in the Nablus neighborhood. A car bomb in al-Mithaq was set ablaze when police fired upon it, but no casualties were reported in that incident either. Also, a body found in al-Intasar belongs to a man who was kidnapped last week in Somer.

A vehicle ban was imposed in Karbala for the rest of the Ashuraa holidays.

No casualties were reported when mortars fell on a home next to a police station in Fallujah.

Security forces arrested 35 suspects in Kirkuk and Hawija. Ten were detained in al-Masalma. Two gunmen were arrested in Mosul as well.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis