Sunday: 89 Iraqis, 3 GIs Killed; 71 Iraqis wounded; Saddam Sentenced To Death

Updated at 12:40 p.m. EST, Nov. 5, 2006

Today, the U.S-backed Iraqi High Tribunal sentenced Saddam Hussein to death. Pending appeals, his half-brother and another senior official will be executed as well. Several other officials received prison sentences or were acquitted. Military authorities also reported the deaths of another U.S. servicemember on Saturday. Protestations and celebrations are ongoing throughout the country, but two Sunni television stations were ordered shut down after authorities accused them of inciting violence. A police official also reported recovering 72 bodies by daybreak. Overall, at least 89 Iraqis were killed and another 71 wounded in violent acts today.

The U.S. military reported that on Saturday gunmen in western Baghdad shot dead an American soldier. Also, a Marine was killed during combat in an unspecified location in Anbar Province. A second Marine was killed in a non-combat related event in Fallujah.

In Baghdad, police spokesman Lt. Thaer Mahmoud reported that 72 bodies had been recovered by daybreak; he gave no details on their deaths, but this is an almost daily occurrence in the capital. According to police, one woman had died and 15 others were wounded by celebratory gunfire. Iraqi security forces backed by U.S. troops clashed with gunmen in the Zaafaraniyah neighborhood; five people were wounded. In the predominantly Sunni Azamiyah district three people died and another eight were wounded in clashes with gunmen. An Iraqi army officer was killed in a separate clash in the Fadhil district. Three people were killed and 11 wounded when mortars landed in the Sunni Adamaya neighborhood. In Shi’ite Abu Dsheer area, mortars also fell, killing two and wounding four.

In Baquba, two people were killed and six wounded when police fire upon a crowd of protestors defying curfew.

U.S. helicopters were used in an attack on Balad. Two people were killed and five others, including two Iraqi policemen, were wounded.

A bomb near a truck killed the driver and wounded two others in Kirkuk.

Five people were wounded in Hawija when a bomb exploded near a police patrol. Two of the injured were policemen.

During a raid by coalition forces in Yusifiyah, one suspected al Qaeda leader was killed.

Compiled by Margaret Griffis