IRAQ: Three separate attacks in Baghdad leave 2 civilians dead, 45 wounded / Six civilians killed in U.S. air strike in Ramadi

Several mortar rounds smashed into a main street of south-western suburb of Baghdad on Saturday (October 28), killing one civilian and wounding 35 others, police said. They said that mortars landed on street near main market of Abu Dsheer district, near the dangerous area of al-Doura. "Civilian cars parked here were hit by mortars fired from one of these districts (pointing) targeting the market. they landed at the street, killing a number of people and wounding many others," said Abu Hassan, a resident of the district. The victims were taken to Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital for treatment. A bomb left inside a KIA minibus exploded in northeastern Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding eight others, police said. Police said that the bomb was left inside a minibus parking outside a popular take-away restaurant of Al-Ibtissam in Palestine Street. Witnesses, however, said no one was killed in the attack. Six Iraqis including three women and two children were killed in a U.S. air strike in the city of Ramadi in Iraq's western Anbar province on Saturday (October 28), a doctor at Ramadi hospital said. A police brigadier said five civilians were killed in the attack. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military several hours after a request for information. Doctor Kamal al-Ani said the bodies of six members of a single family killed in the strike had been brought to Ramadi hospital, before being released to relatives for burial. Police Brigadier Hamid Hamad Shuka confirmed there was an airstrike in the south of the city at dawn. He said five civilians were killed in the strike. A senior U.S. general said earlier this week U.S. and Iraqi security forces were taking "an aggressive, offensive approach" to reclaim Ramadi from insurgents. Last week dozens of al Qaeda-linked gunmen took to the streets in a brief show of force to announce the city was joining an Islamic state comprising Iraq's mostly Sunni Arab provinces, where the once dominant minority lives. Shuka said U.S. forces had taken control of the street where the insurgents made their demonstration, ordering some families to evacuate their homes and setting up sniper positions. Last month Major General Richard Zilmer, commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq, said the mission in the sprawling Sunni province of Anbar was to train Iraqi security forces, not "to win that insurgency fight". On Friday, gunmen attacked three U.S. military positions in Ramadi with rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds and machinegun fire, police said. Residents reported fresh clashes on Saturday and said U.S. troops were using loudspeakers to order people to stay in their homes. U.S. forces were also blocking entrances to the city. Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Thursday he could get violence under control in six months if U.S. forces gave his forces more weapons and responsibility. He also said his priority was fighting Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda, rather than disarming Shi'ite militias.

ITN Source | October 28, 2006

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