AP: Islamic Group Claims Kidnap of 18 Iraqis

[Eugene]

Associated Press
Islamic Group Claims Kidnap of 18 Iraqis
Associated Press 03.02.07, 2:04 AM ET

A Sunni Muslim militant group kidnapped 18 Iraqi government employees in response to the
alleged rape last month of a Sunni woman by Shiite policemen, according to a statement
and photos posted Friday on the Internet.

The statement was signed by the Islamic State of Iraq, a Sunni group with ties to al-Qaida.

"This blessed operation is a response to crimes carried out by those infidels in their fight
against the Sunnis," the statement said. "The latest of the crimes committed by these
traitors was to rape our sister in religion."

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/03/02/ap3478132.html

[Erika]

1. And civil/religious war, it is

Why are we still there?

[maddezmom]

2. reuters alternet: 14 police missing in Iraq's Diyala -police source

, March 2 (Reuters) - Fourteen Iraqi police from a rapid reaction force based in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, went missing after leaving their base on Thursday to go on leave, a police source in Diyala said on Friday.

Earlier, an al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq said in an Internet statement it had kidnapped 18 people working for the Interior Ministry in Diyala province.

http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PAR231983.htm

[maddezmom]

3. car bomb killed 10 and wounded 17

* BAGHDAD - A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 17 in Habibiya, a district in the Shi'ite militia stronghold of Sadr City, a police source said. A Reuters photographer on the scene said it exploded in a used car market.

BAGHDAD - Two U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Another U.S. soldier was wounded.

RAMADI - Gunmen killed two members of the local soccer team during training in the Western Iraqi city of Ramadi, police said. One of the dead was a leading member of the Ramadi Football Club, 27-year-old Mohammed Hamid, shot dead along with his 23-year-old team mate, Mohammed Mishaan.

BALAD - Police said six bodies were found in Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, on Thursday.

http://mobile.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02102323.htm

[sabra]

4. update: 14 bodies of hostages found in Diyala

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894557915&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Iraq: 14 bodies of hostages found in Diyala
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq

The bodies of 14 Iraqi security officers were found dead Friday after a militant group claimed to have kidnapped them, Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said 14 bodies were found Friday afternoon in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.