Sunday, December 24, 2006

Residents blame U.S. for deadly attack in Baquba

Story Highlights
•No one has claimed responsibility for the Baquba rocket attack, official says
•U.S. makes no comment, investigates incident
•13 people still captive after Baghdad kidnapping, Iraqi Red Crescent says

BAQUBA, Iraq (CNN) -- Residents in Baquba blamed U.S. troops for a rocket attack that killed six people and wounded six others, including women and children, a Baquba joint coordination center official said Saturday.

Rockets landed on a residential neighborhood Friday, leveling one of the houses and partially damaging several others.

It was not known who attacked the town 37 miles northeast of Baghdad, and no one has claimed responsibility.

The U.S. military declined to comment Saturday but said it was investigating the incident.

Baquba, the provincial capital of ethnically mixed Diyala province, is a hotspot for insurgent strongholds.

In the city of Diwaniya, police found the bullet-riddled body of an Iraqi military intelligence officer a day after he had been kidnapped.

Police identified him as Hussein Jabr Hadwan, who was previously employed to protect Iraq's former interim defense minister Hazem al-Shaalan.

The bullet-riddled body of a member of the government's facilities protection force was also found, police said.

Diwaniya, located in Iraq's Qadisiya province, was the scene of fierce clashes between Shiite militias and the U.S. Army in October.

In Ramadi, coalition forces killed a terrorist and arrested nine insurgents in a raid targeting individuals linked with al Qaeda in Iraq Saturday, the U.S. military announced.

U.S. and Iraqi troops have been fighting insurgents for many months in Ramadi, the capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province.

Red Crescent Society: 13 still in captivity

Nearly a third of the 41 people abducted at or near an Iraqi Red Crescent Society office in Baghdad early this week remain in captivity, an Iraqi Red Crescent Society official said Saturday.

Police said the people had been abducted by gunmen dressed in camouflage Iraqi commando uniforms.

The 13 hostages were among employees, cleaners, visitors and two Dutch Embassy security guards seized on Sunday, said Mazin Abdullah, secretary general of the group.

Twenty-eight people have been released during the past week and found in different areas of Baghdad.

The remaining hostages have been identified as 12 Red Crescent employees and a Dutch Embassy guard.

Armed gunmen dressed in camouflage Iraqi commando uniforms were behind the kidnapping, police said.

The Iraqi Red Crescent has suspended its operation in Baghdad in light of the incident and is calling on the kidnappers to release the remaining hostages.

The group has 40 offices in Baghdad with about 400 employees. There are 1,000 employees in Iraq and thousands of volunteers.

Other developments

  • Two U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday in separate roadside blasts near Baghdad, The Associated Press reported, citing the U.S. military. One bomb exploded southeast of the capital near a patrol searching for "suspected terrorists," it said. That blast also wounded four other U.S. soldiers. The other bomb exploded southwest of Baghdad, near a patrol delivering supplies to units in the area
  • President Bush heard Saturday from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who just returned from Iraq with a positive impression of Iraqi leaders' plans to address sectarian violence. Gates met with Iraqi leaders, U.S. commanders and soldiers in the field. ( Full story)
  • Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani reportedly withheld support Saturday for a U.S.-backed plan to build a coalition across sectarian lines. The move jeopardized hopes that such a show of political unity could help stem the country's deadly violence. (Full story)

    CNN's Sam Dagher contributed to this report

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