High-intensity operations in Baghdad will not be sustained (Update)

I do believe . . . that the ability of these insurgents to conduct sustained high-intensity operations [in Baghdad] as they did last year -- we've mostly eliminated that . . . I would say in the next couple of months we will not see sustained, long, bloody months in Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. William Webster, Jr.
Commander of Multinational Division Baghdad
Press Briefing
July 8, 2005

A suicide bomber detonated a blast at an Iraqi army recruitment center in the capital today, witnesses said. A doctor at Yarmouk hospital said 20 people were killed and several were injured. The blast occurred just before 9 am (0500 GMT) at a western Baghdad recruiting center that had been hit several times by suicide attackers.

NDTV
July 10, 2005

Up to 27 people, including seven children, have been killed and at least 18 wounded by a car bomb in Baghdad. The attack on Wednesday occurred near a patrol of US forces, police sources said. US troops said one US soldier and many Iraqi civilians were killed by the blast, including at least seven Iraqi children. Three US soldiers were among the wounded.

Aljazeera
July 13, 2005

At least 22 people have been killed by a suicide bomber who blew up a lorry laden with explosives at a police station in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

BBC July 24, 2005

Two car bombs in Baghdad left at least eight dead and 27 wounded, an interior ministry official said.

Forbes July 25, 2005

In Baghdad, guerrillas shot up a minibus transporting factory workers near Abu Ghraib to the west of Baghdad, killing as many as 18 and wounding 9.

Also in the capital, guerrillas assassinated 3 employees of the Ministry of Health.

In a third incident in Baghdad, guerrillas injured a policeman when they attacked the Major Crimes Unit in the Karkh quarter.

Informed Comment July 27

Elsewhere, a senior Baghdad International Airport official was abducted today by gunmen, along with his driver and another companion, police said.

Mahir Yassin, director of the communication department at Baghdad airport, was kidnapped from Baghdad’s western Mansour neighbourhood on his way to work by assailants in two cars, said police Lt Saad Jawad.

The exclusive, largely residential neighbourhood, home to many foreign embassies, was the site of last week’s abduction of two Algerian diplomats, who on Wednesday were murdered by al-Qaida.

Ireland Online July 27, 2005

Update: Khaleej Times July 30

The bodies of two Baghdad International Airport employees and their driver, kidnapped earlier this week, were discovered Saturday in a field in southwestern Baghdad, police and hospital officials said.

A twin suicide attack struck a US-Iraqi army checkpoint near al-Nu'man Hospital in northern Baghdad on Wednesday, wounding eight soldiers, police said.

"The first blast was a suicide car bomb detonated at a checkpoint manned by US and Iraqi army forces near al-Nu'man Hospital in Adhamiyah district," an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Xinhuanet July 27, 2005

Two U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday when their patrol struck a bomb in north Baghdad, military officials said Thursday. A third soldier was wounded in the attack.

[...]

Insurgents bombed a train Thursday in southern Baghdad, killing two people and wounding four, an Iraqi police official said. The train was pulling fuel tanker cars to a refinery when the bomb exploded, the official said.

[...]

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said the United States will work with Iraqi officials and other diplomats to see what can be done to improve security for Baghdad's foreign envoys. Zalmay Khalilzad made the comments Thursday, a day after militants said they killed two Algerian diplomats kidnapped last week in Baghdad.

CNN July 28, 2005

An oil tanker train car was set on fire in Baghdad Thursday. Iraqi police officials suspected a bombing. One person was killed and four injured in the blaze. The train was carrying oil products from a refinery in Doura.

NY Times July 29, 2005

A car bomb exploded Saturday near the National Theater in Baghdad, killing five people, including three policemen, police and witnesses said.

Guardian Unlimited July 30, 2005

Gunmen kidnapped a female Iraqi Health Ministry official in western Baghdad on Saturday, police said.

[...]

Hours earlier, the bodies of three Baghdad airport employees kidnapped on Wednesday were found in southwestern Baghdad. Allthree were blindfolded and shot in the head.

Xinhuanet July 30, 2005

The bodies of 20 people, one of them beheaded, some of them shot and others with their hands bound behind their backs with plastic straps, were found dumped in southwest Baghdad, police sources said.

[...]

Interior ministry official Brigadier Salam Lutfi was killed and two of his guards were wounded when gunmen attacked his car on a highway in eastern Baghdad, a police source said.Two bomb attacks on Sunday killed five U.S. soldiers during patrols in Baghdad neighbourhoods, a U.S. military statement said on Monday.

[...]

Four more soldiers were killed when their patrol struck a roadside bomb in southwest Baghdad.

Reuters August 1, 2005

In Baghdad, gunmen killed 10 people, including three Iraqi soldiers.

[...]

Gunmen killed two Iraqi Oil Ministry employees in their car early Sunday, an Iraqi police official said. The shooters also wounded two other ministry employees while they were in the New Baghdad district of southeastern Baghdad.

On Saturday night, two people were killed in the capital's southwestern Bayaa neighborhood, a police official said. Gunmen killed Haider Harbi, an employee of the Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq, and Mehdi Abbas, a member of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq's Shiite party.

[...]

Two Sunni Arab leaders and a driver were gunned down Sunday in southeastern Baghdad in a drive-by shooting, police said.

CNN - August 7, 2005