BAGHDAD: Violence escalated in Iraq on Monday with at least 71 deaths reported as insurgents stepped up attempts to prevent elections scheduled for January 30. Iraqi forces killed 35 insurgents over the past 48 hours and arrested 64 during a sweep near Fallujah west of Baghdad, the Iraqi government said on Monday. In Mosul, US forces killed seven insurgents and arrested 12 over the past 24 hours, the US military said, adding 81 suspected insurgents had been arrested in Anbar province over the last three days. Gunmen killed the son of a representative of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shia spiritual leader, officials said. Insurgents detonated a suicide car bomb at police headquarters in Baiji on Monday, killing at least 10 people. At least 20 people were wounded, mostly police. Near Baquba, gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint and killed eight soldiers. Three Iraqi civilians were killed in Ramadi when a suicide bomber attacked a US patrol and American troops opened fire. Nine civilians were wounded. A US lieutenant said there were US casualties, but did not elaborate.
In Sharqat, gunmen attacked a police station, killing one policeman and wounding two. The bullet-ridden body of another policeman was found beside a road. Gunmen also attacked a police station in Dour, a village near Tikrit, killing one policeman and injuring two. A guard was killed and two wounded when guerrillas fired at a polling station in Musayib. One insurgent was also wounded. The Iraqi Catholic archbishop of Mosul was kidnapped in what the Vatican called an "act of terrorism".
| Time to send in the Swiss Guards, isn't it? |