1000 Policemen Sent to guard Christians of Mosul; Turkish War Planes Strike Again

Turkish war planes again bombed positions in northern Iraq where guerrillas of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) were thought to be holedup.

Iraqi authorities ordered 1,000 police into the districts of Mosul where Christians tend to live to stanch the flow of emigrants sparked by a series of assassinations of Christians. About 3,000 Christians are said to have fled the city in recent days.

Al-Hayat, writing in Arabic, says that assailants destroyed 5 Christian houses. The Islamic State of Iraq in bulletin board postings denied responsibility for the attacks on Christians (the I.S.I. is connected to the religious radicals in the Sunni Arab insurgency).

Bombings and attacks in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul left 6 dead and 7 wounded on Sunday.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki gives an interview in the London Times i which he makesit clear that he wants foreign troops out of Iraq by 2011 at latest.

McClatchy reports political violence in Iraq on Sunday:

‘ Baghdad

– Saturday night, gunmen opened fire on Sahwa check point in Dora neighborhood(south Baghdad). Two Sahwa members were killed.

– Around 8 am a roadside bomb detonated in Mayslon intersection in Karrada neighborhood (downtown Baghdad) targeting a police patrol. Seven people were injured including five policemen.

– Around 9am a roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Waziriyah neighborhood (north Baghdad).Four people were injured including three policemen.

– Around 10 am a sniper killed two Iraqi army soldiers near a check point in Mansour neighborhood (west Baghdad).

– Around noon, a parked car bomb detonated in Bayaa neighborhood (southwest Baghdad). Nine people were killed and 13 others were wounded.

– Police found one dead body in Zayuna neighborhood in east Baghdad today.

Mosul

– Early morning a bicycle bomb detonated in the Wednesday market in downtown Mosul. Four people were wounded.

– A roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Arabi neighborhood in Mosul city, in the morning. One civilian was killed and three others were wounded.

– In the afternoon, a suicide car bomber targeted an American patrol in Islah neighborhood in Mosul city. Five Iraqi people were killed and ten others wounded, police said and the Coalition forces confirmed the incident.’

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