Wednesday, 30 January 2008.

• Sectarian murder spree continues: three more bodies found dumped around Baghdad Wednesday.

• Bomb targets US patrol near Samarra’ Wednesday morning.

In a dispatch posted at 10:51pm Baghdad time Wednesday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that collaborator tribal "Awakening" police clashed with what they claimed were al-Qa'idah gunmen in the area of Lake ath-Tharthar in northern al-Anbar Province on Wednesday evening.

Yaqen reported a source in the "Awakening" collaborator force as saying that the battle erupted when "Awakening" police attacked the area following receipt of information that there were armed men in the area. Gunfire between the two sides went on for more than 20 minutes after which the armed men withdrew from the area, leaving some of their weapons behind. The source offered no information on the nature or extent of casualties.

In a dispatch posted at 9:12pm Baghdad time Wednesday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men attacked a puppet police patrol to the south of al-Fallujah, 60km west of Baghdad, on Wednesday evening.

Yaqen reported an eyewitness as saying that the armed ambush took place in the village of al-Hasy to the south of al-Fallujah, and that it set one of the patrol vehicles ablaze. No information on the nature or extent of casualties was available. The puppet regime authorities closed off the area after the attackers left the area.

In a dispatch posted at 4:55pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US occupation forces closed the main entrance and exit from the city of al-Fallujah, 60km west of Baghdad, on Wednesday afternoon.

Yaqen reported an officer in the puppet police as saying that the Americans closed the eastern gate to the city, something the American forces can easily accomplish since US troops maintain control of all the entrances and exits to the city. No explanation was given for the American move.

In a dispatch posted at 8:58pm Baghdad time Wednesday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the Iraqi puppet police recovered the bodies of three more victims of sectarian murder that had been dumped around Baghdad on Wednesday.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet police as saying that two of the bodies were found in the Baghdad district of ar-Rusafah and one in al-Karakh. All had been bound and blindfolded and shot to death.

In a dispatch posted at 5:30pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men into private cars opened fire on an official with the collaborationist "Awakening" police in the al-Mansur district of Baghdad at midday Wednesday.

Yaqen reported as source in the puppet police as saying that the target of the attack, who is known as Abu Sarah al-'Amiri, was severely wounded in the attack and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

In a dispatch posted at 3:55pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a joint detachment of US soldiers and puppet regime troops raided the head offices of the al-Athir Mobile Telephone Communications Company in western Baghdad’s al-Mansur district midday Wednesday.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet police as saying that the Americans arrested eight staff members at the mobile phone company offices after ransacking the building and confiscating the company’s computers. The Americans gave no explanation for the raid.

In a dispatch posted at 1:35pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a US patrol in eastern Baghdad at midday Wednesday.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet police as saying that he had no information regarding US casualties, if any, in the explosion, which occurred near the al-Muthanna puppet police station in the Zuyunah district of eastern Baghdad. After the attack, American forces sealed off the area to prevent information from leaking out.

In a dispatch posted at 12:01pm Baghdad time midday Wednesday, the Yaqen News Agency reported that one puppet policeman was killed and several puppet regime troops and policemen wounded when six bombs exploded by puppet army and police patrols in various parts of Baghdad on Wednesday morning.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet police as saying that the first bomb went off by a patrol of puppet army troops in the Zuyunah area of eastern Baghdad. That blast caused no casualties.

The second bomb exploded in the same area after puppet policemen had shown up in response to the first blast. Two of the puppet policemen were wounded in that attack.

One puppet policeman was killed and two more wounded when another bomb exploded by a patrol near al-Mustansiriyah University.

A fourth and fifth bomb exploded by puppet police patrols in Baghdad’s al-Karradah district without inflicting any casualties. A sixth bomb in western Baghdad’s al-Mansur district also exploded without producing reports of injuries or deaths.

In a dispatch posted at 10:25am Baghdad time Wednesday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Pentagon had announced the death of an American soldier who had been injured in Baghdad six months ago.

Yaqen reported the US Department of Defense as announcing that a US soldier, who been wounded when a bomb exploded by his vehicle in Baghdad on 9 July 2007, finally died of his wounds on Sunday, 27 January 2008.

In a dispatch posted at 9:10pm Baghdad time Wednesday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that the puppet police disabled a bomb near the College of Law at Tikrit University, 180km north of Baghdad and then arrested six students.

Yaqen reported Major Ahmad Subhi al-Fihl of the puppet police indicated that the six students were being interrogated in connection with the attempted bombing.

Yaqen noted that a large number of Iraqi puppet regime officials and businessmen are taking night classes at Tikrit University to obtain masters and bachelors degrees.

In a dispatch posted at 12:50pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a bomb exploded by a US patrol in the area of Umm at-Talayb village near Samarra’, 120km north of Baghdad on Wednesday morning.

Yaqen reported that several US troops were killed or wounded in the attack, after which US forces together with their puppet army allies surrounded the area to prevent information about US casualties from leaking out.

In a dispatch posted at 3:05pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men shot and killed a puppet policeman in Khan Bani Sa'd, 40km northeast of Baghdad, on Wednesday.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet security forces in the provincial capital of Ba'qubah as saying that men opened fire with machine guns on the puppet policeman at his post, killing him on the spot.

In a dispatch posted at 12:38pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that US occupation forces arrested the General Director of the Diyala Province Health Department and two of is brothers in a raid and search operation in Ba'qubah Wednesday.

Yaqen reported a source in the Diyala Province puppet police as saying that Dr. Hawm Husayn al-Khashshali, General Director of the Health Department, and two of his brothers were all arrested in a US raid. The Americans gave no explanation for their action.

In a dispatch posted at 1:10pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that one bomb exploded by a US military patrol and another by a puppet Iraqi army patrol in the city of al-Khalis, 57km north of Baghdad, at midday Wednesday.

Yaqen reported a source in the puppet regime in Ba'qubah as saying the first bomb exploded by a patrol near the village of al-Aswad, disabling a US military vehicle. The source had no information regarding the nature or extent of American casualties in the attack.

In a dispatch posted at 10:10am Baghdad time Wednesday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men set up a roadblock and shot at a family car near the village of al-Badwaniyah on the main road to al-Khalis, 57km north of Baghdad on Wednesday.

Yaqen reported a source in the Diyala Province puppet police as saying that the attackers killed one of the people in the car and wounded the other three – all four having been members of one family.

In a dispatch posted at 11:26pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that tribal collaborators of the "Awakening" police stormed the puppet police station in the al-Hamiyah area of the city of al-Musayyib, 70km south of Baghdad on Tuesday night.

Yaqen reported that in the course of their raid, the "Awakening" collaborators released a number of fellow "Awakening" members who had been arrested earlier by the local puppet police.

A source in the Iraqi puppet regime told Yaqen that US forces and puppet government troops arrived on the scene to settle the dispute between the largely Sunni "Awakening" collaborators and the largely Shi'i puppet police – both forces backed by the American occupation regime. No further details were provided in the report.

In a dispatch posted at 10:12pm Baghdad time Wednesday night, the Yaqen News Agency reported that a land mine exploded under a puppet police car in the ash-Shuhada’ neighborhood of al-Huwayjah, 200km north of Baghdad on Wednesday afternoon.

Yaqen reported Captain Iyyad tariq of the puppet police as saying that four of the patrolmen in the car at the time were wounded and taken to the general hospital for treatment.

In a dispatch posted at 4:15pm Baghdad time Wednesday afternoon, the Yaqen News Agency reported that armed men shot and killed the Chairman of the Shari'ah (Law) Department of al-Mawsil University.

Yaqen reported Brigadier General 'Abd al-Karim al-Jabburi, the Director of the Ninwa Province Puppet Police Operations Bureau as saying that armed men in a late-model car opened fire on Dr. Khalil Ibrahim Ahmad an-Nu'aymi as he was returning from campus to his home in the al-Miswak neighborhood of al-Mawsil, 420km northwest of Baghdad. The attack left Dr. an-Nu'aymi dead and a person who was with him wounded.

Yaqen noted that it was the second killing of a university professor in al-Mawsil in 10 days. Unknown armed men gunned down Dr 'Aziz Sulaym Khalil an-Nu'aymi, an Accounting Professor at the College of Sciences in al-Mawsil Universtity near his home on Monday, 21 January.

In a dispatch posted at 10:54am Baghdad time Wednesday morning, the Yaqen News Agency reported that Shaykh Salah al-'Ubaydi, an official of the public relations department of the Office of pro-Iranian Shi'i cleric Muqtada as-Sadr, announced that representatives of the Sadr Movement in the puppet "Iraqi Parliament" have called on Muqtada as-Sadr to end the freeze on the activity of the Jaysh al-Mahdi – the armed wing of the Sadr Movement.

Yaqen reported that the call comes as raids and attacks on followers of Muqtada as-Sadr escalate throughout southern Iraq as US-backed puppet regime forces seek to eliminate their Sadrist rivals.

Al-'Ubaydi said that the Sadrist deputies to the puppet "Parliament" called for an end to the freeze on the Jaysh al-Mahdi militia after having inspected homes of families that had been driven out of ad-Diwaniyah, 180km south of Baghdad. The Sadrists pointed to what they called the "tyrannical" behavior of the puppet police against them.

Al-'Ubaydi added that even after the deputies had inspected the area that had been raided by puppet regime troops, those puppet forces launched still more raids with what he called "increased arbitrariness" against followers of Muqtada as-Sadr.