Baghdad, Iraq – Bombers struck an Iraqi army post northeast of Baghdad and civilian targets in the city as violence across Iraq killed at least 72 people Thursday, including 27 men whose bullet-riddled bodies were found dumped in the capital – apparent victims of sectarian death squads.
Still, the top American military spokesman insisted the U.S. command felt “very comfortable” that it is making “steady progress” in restoring order in Baghdad.
“We are seeing those initial signs of progress being made,” Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told Associated Press Radio.
The deadliest attack occurred when a suicide car bomber killed 10 Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint in Khalis, a longtime flashpoint city about 50 miles northeast of Baghdad. Ten other soldiers and five civilians were wounded, police said.
The city is in Diyala province, which has seen some of Iraq’s worst violence recently. Mostly Sunni Arab insurgents are thought to have fled to the area to escape the security crackdown in Baghdad that U.S. and Iraqi troops launched Feb. 14.
In the capital, a car bomb exploded near Baghdad University, killing eight civilians and wounding 19, including some students, police said.
Four other civilians were killed and nine wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a market in central Baghdad, police said. The blast missed its intended target – a passing police patrol.
At least 30 tortured bodies were found, including 27 who had been shot to death and left in different parts of Baghdad and three decapitated bodies found south of the capital.
In Tikrit, police said the wife and daughter of a Saddam Hussein cousin were found slain at their home. The wife of Hashim Hassan al-Majid had been shot and the daughter strangled, police Capt. Samir Mohammed said.
Al-Majid’s brother is Ali Hassan “Chemical Ali” al-Majid, one of the most notorious figures of Hussein’s regime.
