Violence Returns to Pre-Election Levels in Iraq

While the final elections results are expected to be announced today, attacks yesterday have left many dead. A bomb-loaded vehicle exploded in the town of Musayyib, where Sunnis and Shiites live together, killing 18 people, three of whom are police officers, and injuring 21. Another incident occurred in Musul (Mosul). While nine were killed in the clashes, officials also found the corpses of six national guardsmen in the city. Police reported that there were no suicide bomber in the exploded vehicle near Musayyib hospital and the local council building and many of those who died or were wounded in the attack were civilians going to the hospital and the local council building. Also in Mosul, insurgents attacked a military base from a mosque with hand grenades and howitzers and nine insurgents died in the resulting clash. East of Mosul, six corpses in Iraqi National Guards uniforms were found on a highway. The corpses, which were found in the Intisar region east of Mosul, were reported to have been shot in their heads and chests. Two people on motorcycles killed Taha Al-Basri, the highest judge in Basra under the former regime who was demoted to a normal judge when he was on the way to his office. Another bomb-loaded vehicle, targeting a US convoy, exploded in Belediye region of Bagdat (Baghdad) and killed two Iraqi women and three other civilians. In a separate incident, two US soldiers died in a traffic accident.

Meanwhile, police officers returned to the streets of Felluce (Fallujah) for the first time since the large scale US operation last November. A committee formed by the prominent leaders of the city accepted the applications of about 500 people out of 2,100, who applied to become police officers.