Dozens Killed, Hundreds Wounded in Coordinated Attacks Across Iraq

Bombings come one day after U.S. troop level in Iraq dips below 50,000

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Coordinated attacks kill dozens in Iraq (NBC Nightly News, Aug. 25, 2010) — A string of coordinated bombings rocked Iraq Wednesday, just after the U.S. hit a major milestone in its mission there. NBC’s Richard Engel reports. (03:10)

The Associated Press and Reuters via MSNBC.com
Aug. 25, 2010

BAGHDAD — A day after the U.S. declared the number of American troops in Iraq had fallen to their lowest level since the war began in 2003, insurgents on Wednesday launched more than two dozen attacks across the country, killing at least 56 Iraqis.

The coordinated assaults rekindled memories of the days when insurgents ruled the streets. Powerful blasts targeting security forces struck where they are supposed to be the safest, turning police stations into rubble and bringing down concrete walls erected to protect them from insurgents. …

The attacks made August the deadliest month for Iraqi policemen and soldiers in two years, and came a day after the Obama admnistration said the number of U.S. troops in the country had fallen to fewer than 50,000. …

At least 265 security personnel — Iraqi military, police and police recruits, and bodyguards — have been killed from June through August, compared with 180 killed in the previous five months, according to an Associated Press count.

In August, nearly 5 Iraqi security personnel on average have been killed every day so far. …

The scale and reach of Wednesday’s attacks in 14 cities and towns underscored insurgent efforts to prove their might against security forces and political leaders charged with running and keeping stability in Iraq. …

The deadliest attack came in Kut, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad, where a suicide bomber blew up a car inside a security barrier between a police station and the provincial government’s headquarters.

Police and hospital officials said 19 people died, 15 of them policemen. An estimated 90 people were wounded.

In northern Baghdad, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb in a parking lot behind a police station, killing 15 people, including six policemen.

Police and hospital officials said another 58 were wounded in the explosion that left a crater three yards wide and trapped people beneath the rubble of felled houses nearby.

A police officer was also killed in Mosul where gunmen attacked a police checkpoint and one person was killed in the city of Beiji, in Iraq’s northern province of Salahuddin. …

In Tikrit, a roadside bomb killed a policeman on patrol and wounded another. …

Five others, including an Iraqi soldier and a police officer, were killed in small bursts of violence in Baghdad.

From the northern Iraqi city of Mosul to the holy Shiite shrine town of Karbala to the oil city of Basra, scattered bombings and shootings killed an additional 14 people — including 6 security forces — and injured scores more. …

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8/28/10 Update

Iraq Put on High Alert Ahead of Expected Bombing Campaign

Iraqi soldiers secure the site of a suicide car bomb attack at a police station in the Baghdad suburb of Qahira on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. (Photo credit: CNN)

By Jomana Karadsheh

Aug. 27, 2010

Baghdad, Iraq — Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned Friday of likely attacks across the country and put all local governments and security forces on high alert.

In a statement read on state television, al-Maliki — commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces — said there were indications that “al Qaeda and remnants of the Baath party with foreign backing are planning to carry out a series of bombings in Baghdad and the other provinces.”

The statement, which came shortly before midnight in Iraq, said the attacks would strike across the country, targeting government institutions in particular. …

The warning came two days after a wave of 20 bomb attacks struck 13 Iraqi cities, mostly targeting police. The bombs killed 48 and wounded at least 286. …

The attacks were a show of force for the insurgency, which has been dealt major blows over the past two years. The bombing campaign proved insurgents’ ability to hit key targets in what appears to have been a highly coordinated effort stretching from Basra in the far south to Mosul in the north. …

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Related report on this site

Horrific Baghdad Bombing (Aug. 18, 2010)

Iraq War: ‘Ten More Years’ (Aug. 12, 2010)

Iraq Civilian Deaths at 2-Year High (Aug. 1, 2010)

Iraq Security Remains Fragile (July 22, 2010)

Mayhem in Baghdad (July 18, 2010)

Iraq Election Violence Continues (June 20, 2010)

Explosion Rocks Iraqi Market (May 21, 2010)

‘Dark Days Soaked With Blood’ (May 14, 2010)

Cascade of Violence in Iraq (May 10, 2010)

Iraq Election Turmoil (April 26, 2010)

Bloody Easter in Baghdad (April 4, 2010)

Iraq Election Violence (March 8, 2010)

Iraq Mass Casualty Bombing (Feb. 1, 2010)

Triple Bombing Rocks Baghdad (Jan. 25, 2010)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — August 26, 2009

A policeman at the site where five car bombs detonated simultaneously in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. (Photo credit: Allauddin Khilji / AP)

Afghan Bombing One of Largest

One year ago today — on a day four U.S. soldiers died in Aghanistan — I reported that a coordinated multiple-vehicle bomb attack in Kandahar killed more than 40 civilians in one of the largest insurgent bombings since the start of the Afghanistan war in 2001. I also reported that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy had died at age of 77 after a year-long battle with cancer.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — August 26, 2008

On the Campaign Trail: Day 43

Arriving at City Hall in downtown Paynesville at the end of the second walking tour across Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District.

Two years ago today, on the 43rd day of my 2008 campaign against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, I completed my second walking tour, a 50-mile campaign swing on foot across Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District from Foley to Paynesville. In line with my campaign focus on national security, I also reported multiple bombings in Iraq.