The Week in Iraq

The dead this week

by Lily Hamourtziadou

20 Aug 2006

This week started with the shooting by US forces of 2 civilians in Mosul, on Monday 14 August. Both civilians died.

On Tuesday 15 August 9 civilians died when a suicide bomber in a truck full of explosives struck at the offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Wednesday 16 August saw the violent deaths of 27 Iraqi civilians, 21 of whom were killed in explosions in Baghdad markets. This was the day when the first-ever female suicide bomber struck in Iraq, in Maqdadiya. The target: Iraqi-US forces. The woman blew herself up and killed 7.

On Thursday 17 August 25 civilians died, including 3 brothers in a shop. There was another killing of a civilian by US forces, when an explosive charge targeted a US patrol travelling on a road linking Tikrit and Bayji, 'following which the US patrolmen fired randomly, killing a civilian' (Al-Sharqiyah).

Friday 18 August was bloodier: 30 died, including a 3-year-old girl. Of the 30, 7 were Shia pilgrims killed by a gunman in a car.

On Saturday 19 August 20 died, 1 of whom was a civilian shot dead by US soldiers, while 2 were professors at the University of Diyala. Also, an Iraqi Human Rights activist was shot dead on the same day.
Saturday was remarkable in this: Dozens of people were admitted to Al Fallujah hospital suffering from acute asphyxiation. It transpired that US troops had been burning toxic waste in the northern part of the city. A man and a child died after inhaling the toxic fumes.

Sunday 20 August was the worst day of the week (as Sundays tend to be in Iraq), as 41 people died. 20 of them were pilgrims shot dead in Baghdad. They had been heading to the burial site of Shiite Imam Moussa Al-Kathem.

Update: Irib News reports that on Thursday 17 August American soldiers broke into a house in Abu Ghraib and killed a pregnant woman and her unborn baby by slitting her belly. They also killed the woman's husband and abducted her sister and brother. No other source has reported this.