Thursday: 2 GIs, 38 Iraqis Killed; 16 Iraqis Wounded

Updated at 1:26 a.m. EST, Feb. 22, 2008

As the country awaits news on whether Shi'ite Moqtada al-Sadr will extend his ceasefire, at least 38 Iraqis were killed and another 16 were wounded in the latest attacks. New developments at the Turkish border also occurred. Also, two GIs were killed and four British soldiers were wounded in separate incidents.

A Marine was killed today in combat in Anbar province, and one American soldier was killed during a blast yesterday in Baghdad. Also, four British soldiers were wounded during a roadside bombing in Basra.

In northern Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, who are allied with the Coalition, reportedly clashed with Turkish forces that were moving tanks from their base within Iraq to another location, but Peshmerga officials later denied this. Meanwhile, Turkish forces also shelled locations used by Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) rebels. The casualties in either incident are unknown.

Tomorrow, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will announce whether a unilateral ceasefire will continue. The ceasefire contributed heavily to a reduction in sectarian attacks in the latter half of 2007. Should the ceasefire be lifted, it could mean an increase in violence. The cleric instituted the ceasefire after a deadly clash in Karbala in order to weed out disruptive elements within his Mahdi Army.

Fifteen bodies, ten of them belonging to Iraqi soldiers, were discovered in a mass grave near Baquba. A second mass grave contained the bodies of six men and three women.

In Baghdad, five dumped bodies were found. A roadside bomb wounded three civilians near Shabb stadium. In Besateen, shelling injured two people. A police officer was killed and two others were wounded during an armed attack in Waziriya. Gunmen killed a driver near Sadr City. In Karada, a home used as a bomb factory was discovered.

A car bomb in Mosul wounded five policemen.

A policeman was gunned down in Numaniya.

A hostage was freed near Amara.

In Basra, the Iraqi army clashed with gunmen in different neighborhoods of the city. The number of casualties is unknown. A separate attack on a four-wheel-drive vehicle left two Iraqis dead and four more wounded.

One suspect was killed and 20 more were detained during Coalition operations across northern and central Iraq.

In Anbar province, a brigadier general was killed, along with his driver, and a bodyguard was wounded during a roadside bombing.

A car bomb at a marketplace south of Fallujah killed one civilian and wounded a second person.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis