Baghdad suicide attack kills four Iraqis, wounds 25 (2nd Roundup)

Oct 15, 2007, 20:33 GMT

Baghdad - At least four Iraqis were killed and 25 others wounded Monday evening when a suicide car bomber blew himself up in a crowded Harethiya street in west Baghdad, one of several attacks and firefights between militants and coalition forces on the day.

The driver was targeting visitors of Zawraa park, the biggest in Baghdad, which was crowded by Iraqi families celebrating the Muslim feast, independent Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported citing witnesses and police sources.

Several women and children were among the victims, VOI said.

Meanwhile, four Iraqi journalists have been killed and one wounded in two separate attacks in the past 24 hours.

Three local reporters were killed and one wounded in an armed attack in Kirkuk, 250 kilometres north-east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, media reports said. A security guard working for the newspaper was also wounded in the attack.

The editor-in-chief and reporters of al-Watan newspaper were attacked Monday at dawn by gunmen while on their way back to Iraq from a mission in Jordan, the paper said in a statement.

Al-Watan is a newspaper published in Salahaddin province.

An Iraqi reporter for The Washington Post was killed Sunday in Baghdad. Salih Saif Aldin, 32, was killed while covering a story on violence between Shiite militia and Sunni militants in the volatile south-western Sadiyah district, the paper said Monday.

Sadiyah residents said Saif Aldin, who had worked for The Washington Post for three and a half years, was killed while taking photographs of a street where several homes had been burned in recent fighting.

'The death of Salih Saif Aldin in the service of our readers is a tragedy for everyone at The Washington Post,' the newspaper's executive editor Leonard Downie Jr said.

Police and residents offered conflicting reports about who might be responsible for killing the divorced father of a six-year-old girl, with both Shiite and Sunni militants being blamed, the newspaper said.

Several journalists are killed in Iraq each month, many of them locals working for international media.

In other news, a multi-national forces base in the Iskan district of Diwaniyah city was attacked Monday morning by mortar and small- arms fire, the US military said.

Four Iraqi civilians were killed, two multi-national soldiers and 12 Iraqis were wounded in the attack, the statement added. Earlier reports said at least five people were killed in fierce clashes at the base, run by Polish troops.

Joint US-Iraqi forces engaged the attackers who fled to a wooded area near the base. The attackers remain at large. Sources and media reports said children were among the wounded in the fighting in which joint forces were backed by helicopters.

The predominately Shiite Diwaniyah city, about 180 kilometres south of Baghdad, has lately been the scene of recurrent acts of violence.

In Salahaddin province's Balad city, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad, six Iraqis were killed and scores wounded, some seriously, when a suicide attacker driving a car blew himself up near a checkpoint of the Salahaddin Awakening Council forces in Balad district, media reports said.

The sources did not specify whether the victims were civilians or tribal security personnel.

The Salahaddin Awakening Council consists of tribal troops aiming to eliminate the al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorist network in the province.

Also in Salahaddin, US troops killed by mistake three anti-al-Qaeda tribal fighters in Doualiya city when a US aircraft shelled areas linked to the city's tribal forces while it was chasing al-Qaeda militants Sunday evening, a tribal leader said Monday.

One fighter was wounded and a vehicle was also damaged in the airstrike, Sheikh Hamid al-Ahmed from the anti-al-Qaeda Doualiya council told VOI.

Tribal councils have been formed across Iraq to fight al-Qaeda terrorist militants through organized forces, backed by the Iraqi government and the US military.

The US military did not comment on the incident.

US forces last week killed 15 civilians, including nine children and six women, in an airstrike in Anbar province, also pursuing al- Qaeda militants. The US military apologized for the incident.

A US soldier was killed and three wounded during combat operations Sunday when a bomb detonated in south Baghdad, media reports said Monday citing the US military. Another soldier was killed in a non- combat incident in the northern province of Ninawa, a US statement said without giving further details.

The two deaths raise the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003 to 3,829, with 21 killed this month alone.

Also Monday, witnesses said militants bombed a bridge over the Diyala river that links several villages in Baquba city, the capital of Diyala province located some 57 kilometres north-east of Baghdad.

The gunmen then went into the suburbs, spread out in the area and fired gunshots in the air, according to witness accounts.

Diyala has recently witnessed recurrent acts of violence. Joint Iraqi-US forces had launched a security operation named Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diyala in June in a bid to rid Baquba and other cities of al-Qaeda militants.

US-led coalition forces detained 10 suspected terrorists during operations throughout central and northern Iraq early Monday, the US military said.

The military also said coalition forces killed three terrorist suspects and detained 20 others during operations to disrupt al-Qaeda in Iraq Saturday and Sunday in central and northern parts of the country.

In other news, a police officer and four of his family members were killed Sunday when a suicide car bomber attacked his house in Boughdadi area in Anbar province, 180 kilometres north-west Baghdad, a police source said Monday.