Updated at 10:40 p.m. EST, Feb. 11, 2009
At least 31 Iraqis
were killed and 94 more were wounded during attacks that included a significant
bombing in Baghdad. No Coalition deaths were reported, but the mystery of four
Guantánamo detainees who were handed over to Iraq has apparently been solved.
Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, today joined
the parade of foreign dignitaries visiting Baghdad.
Four Guantánamo
detainees, who went "missing" after being handed over to Iraqi authorities, have
turned
up in an Iraqi jail. According to an acting justice minister, the four will
remain in custody until investigations are completed and the four have been cleared
of any charges. The fate of the four might have remained unknown were it not for
one prisoner's relatives complaining
that they did not know the whereabouts of their family member. Although the four
have been in Iraq for weeks, as recently as Saturday justice ministry officials
claimed to have no knowledge of them.
A U.S. general in charge of a detainee
transfer program said
that all prisoners will have been handed over to Iraq by the end of the year.
Almost 15,000 detainees are held in U.S. custody in Iraq. Today alone, 107 detainees
were released from Camp Cropper.
Three U.S. soldiers were wounded
during a hand grenade attack in Tikrit.
In Baghdad, a pair
of car bombs exploded at a bus station in Bayaa leaving
16 dead and 45 wounded. One
Arbaeen pilgrim was killed and 12 others were wounded when their minibus struck
a roadside bomb in Waziriya. A second bomb killed
one pilgrim and wounded eight more in a southern district. In Ghadir,
gunmen killed
an engineer working for the Electricity Ministry. A roadside bomb in Ghazaliya
wounded
a driver transporting a police official, who was unhurt. In Yarmouk,
a sticky bomb failed to injure an employee working for the prime minister, but
it did injure a passerby.
Two civilians were injured
during a blast in Mansour. Late in the day, a bomb in Talbiyah injured
three civilians.
Yesterday in Baghdad, gunmen wounded
three Awakening Council members at a checkpoint in Shabb, while two
more were wounded at a Doura neighborhood checkpoint. Four
Iraqi soldiers were wounded during security operations. Also, weapons caches
were discovered across southern
Baghdad.
Gunmen killed
two guards as they stormed a police officer's home in Buhriz. As police
responded to the incident an I.E.D. exploded, killing
one and injuring another. In what may be a separate incident, gunmen attacked
the home of an Awakening Council member and killed
him.
In Mosul, a suicide
bomber killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded five others, including civilians.
A policeman
and a civilian were wounded during a roadside bomb attack that targeted a
police patrol. Three
policemen were killed in a shooting. A hand grenade tossed at police wounded
a civilian instead. Another civilian
was wounded in a roadside bomb blast. An unidentified
body was found. Police detained
two Islamic State of Iraq. Also, gunmen killed
an Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP) leader.
Two
policemen were killed and three more were wounded in Iskandariya.
A blast in Hamdaniya left no
casualties.
A bomb in Kirkuk left no
casualties.
A bomb using an oxygen tank and C4 explosives was defused
near a school in Nasariya.
A weapons cache was found
in Qaim.
Nine suspects were arrested
in Kirkuk.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis