Monday: 24 Iraqis Killed, 58 Wounded

Updated at 7:50 p.m. EDT, July 7, 2008

At least 24 Iraqis were killed and 58 more were wounded in the latest attacks. Several bombings took place across Iraq, including another suicide bombing carried out by a woman. Awakening Council members were targeted in several cities as well. No Coalition deaths were reported.

A female suicide bomber killed two people and wounded 14 others at a Mafraq area marketplace in Baquba. Earlier, some authorities reported she had killed as many as nine people. U.S forces report that 20 women have become suicide bombers this year. It is believed that many of the women are recruited by al-Qaeda because it is easier for them to pass through security checks. Some of the women will do it because they have lost their husbands, and the promise of benefits for the rest of the family is too tempting to resist. Others are forced by threats to their families. Separately, gunmen killed a Sahwa member in a western neighborhood, and two people were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Mualimeen.

A suicide bomber killed four members of an Awakening Council (Sahwa) in Samarra. Another nine people were wounded as well.

Eleven Sahwa were injured during a car bombing in the Anbar province village of Simsimiya.

In Mosul, a mortar barrage wounded six people at a government building. Three policemen were wounded during a roadside bombing. Gunmen killed two civilians in separate incidents. Also, two suspects were detained.

Three people were killed and two more were wounded in a bombing in Mussayab.

In Tal Afar, gunmen killed an official from the Iraqi Islamic Party.

A bomb outside the home of a Suleiman Beg official wounded three people.

Two policemen were injured during a suicide bombing in Bahbahani.

In al-Aheimer village, a roadside bomb killed a woman. A second woman was killed by a stray bullet when local people fired into the air to protest the blast.

Two schoolgirls who were kidnapped in Talkif yesterday were freed today in Kirkuk. Three men were arrested in connection.

A truck driver was kidnapped in northern Wassit province. Seven kidnap victims were freed after an hours-long ordeal; they had been on their way to Karbala to visit holy shrines.

In Baghdad, a car bomb was planted on a car in Adhimiya; it wounded four people. A gunman was shot as he was trying to kidnap a journalist. An Islamic State in Iraq leader was detained.

The leader of an armed group was captured in Karbala.

A roadside bomb killed four people and wounded three others on a highway near Mandali.

Gunmen killed a shepherd and wounded a second one on a road near Tikrit.

U.S. forces arrested 13 suspects across northern and central Iraq.

A Sahwa member was killed in Khan Bani Saad.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis