Updated at 11:50 a.m. EST, Feb. 9, 2009
New attacks left at
least 8 Iraqis killed and another 26 wounded. Baghdad suffered a series of
roadside bomb attacks, but Ninewa and Diyala provinces also saw violence. A U.S.
soldier died from non-combat incident as well. Meanwhile, the fate of
several Guantánamo detainees release to Iraqi authorites is unknown. Alos,
a trial date has
been set for journalist shoe-tosser Muntazer al-Zaidi.
The family of
a freed Guantánamo detainee is still
awaiting his return to them. The detainee and three others were handed over
to the Iraqi Justice Ministry, but they have since disappeared. The Ministry claims
no knowledge of the detainees.
In Baghdad, two
pilgrims were killed and 12 others were wounded during a roadside bombing
in the Qahira neighborhood. In Nahdha, a roadside bomb wounded
two people. A bomb attached to a vehicle wounded
five more people in Mansour. Also, six mortars fell on an American
base, but no casualties
were reported.
Two
Iraqi soldiers were killed and five were wounded when their patrol struck
a roadside bomb in Muqdadiya.
A policeman
was killed during an armed attack south of Sinjar in Nawfali. Gunmen
also kidnapped a second policeman
and his father.
Near Diwaniya, a eight-year-old
girl died of injuries she received during an incident involving U.S. troops.
The troops admitted accidentally
firing upon Arbaeen pilgrims.
Gunmen killed
a lawyer who had also been an election monitor in Khanaqin.
In Mosul, a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol but no
casualties were reported. Security forces freed
a hostage and arrested his kidnapper. Also, a roadside bomb wounded
one person, and U.S. troops killed
a man who threw a grenade. Another I.E.D. wounded
an Iraqi soldier.
A council member in Asiriya survived
a roadside bomb blast meant for him.
Twelve detainees were acquitted
of all charges and released in Fallujah.
Two women were arrested
for abducting a newborn in Kirkuk.
Over 30,000 security personnel,
including snipers and intelligence agents, were
deployed in Karbala for the culmination of the Arbaeen observance.
In 2008, over 128,000 detainees were released
under a general amnesty law designed to reduce the number of detainees in Iraqi
and U.S.-run jails. Currently, U.S. authorities are
releasing 50 detainees per day.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis