Updated at 7:25 p.m. EDT, June 18, 2008
Relative peace returned
to Iraq a day after a major bombing in Baghdad caused well over a hundred casualties.
Still, more bodies were found in the rubble or died in hospital from yesterday's
explosion. Overall, at least 15 Iraqis were killed and 42 more were wounded
in light violence. Meanwhile, no Coalition deaths were reported today.
An
unknown number of workers may have been kidnapped
in Wassit province.
In Baghdad, the casualty tally from yesterday's
bombing in Hurriya rose by 12
deaths to a total of 63 killed. At a hospital serving the bombing victims,
15
journalists were injured as they were covering a row between hospital security
staff and bodyguards working for a provincial chief. When security forces noticed
the journalists recording the incident, they proceeded to beat them.
Also
in the capital, a bombing in Karrada injured
four people, including two police commandos. Gunmen kidnapped five employees
carrying the payroll for Mustansiriya University; they released
the men later but took off with $540,000. Also, two
dumped bodies were found.
In Mosul, a bomb left in a taxi wounded
14 people. Four
people were wounded in a separate incident.
A policeman
was killed and two more were wounded when a roadside bomb blasted them near
a petrol station in Kirkuk's al-Waseti neighborhood. Three
policemen were injured in a second bombing. A militant was captured
in a separate event.
Police found
an explosive's cache in Thi Qar province. Meanwhile, the police chief said
that they are on stand-by should a security crackdown in neighboring Missan province
cause problems for them.
Four suspects were detained
in Basra.
Karbala police foiled
a kidnapping and arrested a border guard in separate incidents.
In Diyala
province, 25 innocent detainees were freed.
Turkey claimed
to have killed three PKK rebels while eight others surrendered. Turkey and the
Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been at odds over an independent Kurdistan
for over two decades. Reports from both sides are considered unreliable.
A
weapons cache was found
in an old cemetery in Amara. Also, 12 policemen were arrested
for hiding weapons at the jail. Three other suspects were detained
elsewhere.
Compiled by Margaret Griffis