"Iraq guards kill female suicide bomber, foiling blast; Attacks by women rise to more than 20" by Sebastian Abbot, Associated Press | June 30, 2008
BAGHDAD - A truck bomb detonated by remote control yesterday killed six policemen and an awakening council member in Duluiyah, about 45 miles north of Baghdad, said police Colonel Mohammed Khalid.
Please see Occupation Iraq: The Peace of the Surge (and links therein).
In other violence, gunmen killed the head of Basra's intelligence department Saturday in a drive-by shooting in eastern Baghdad, local police said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Brigadier General Jabar Musaid, who played a leading role in the recent government crackdown against Shi'ite militias in Basra, was visiting relatives in a neighborhood controlled by militiamen loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Asked about the increased violence, US Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Iraqi militants remain "resilient and determined" despite an overall improvement in the security situation.
"They have a capacity to hit back and that's what we're seeing, both from Al Qaeda and its allies and from extremist Shia militias," Crocker told CNN yesterday.
Yup, so says CROCK of SHIT CROCKER!
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq has been stepping up pressure on extremists in recent months, launching operations against Sunni militants in Mosul and Shi'ite militiamen in Baghdad, Basra, and Amarah. Those operations are aimed at restoring government control to strategic areas of the country where armed groups have held sway for years.
And about limiting Sadr's political strength for October, as well as setting up the field for the attack on Iran.
But the ongoing crackdown backfired when a relative of the prime minister was killed early Friday in a raid on Hindiyah, about 12 miles east of Karbala, local officials said.
Ali Abdul-Hussein, reportedly a cousin of Maliki, was shot dead in a raid conducted by 60 US soldiers supported by four helicopters and a fighter jet, the provincial police chief, Raed Shakir, said.
Translation: DO WHAT WE WANT, Maliki (and sign that SOFA) -- OR ELSE!!!
Officials close to the prime minister said the killing enraged Maliki, who has been locked in negotiations in recent months over a long-term security agreement with the United States.
Maliki demanded an explanation from the Americans, who promised an investigation into the killing, the officials said, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to talk to media.--MORE--"
