On the third anniversary of the US-led invasion into Iraq, US president George W. Bush offered an upbeat assessment on Sunday. "We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq. And a victory in Iraq will make this country more secure and will help lay the foundation of peace for generations to come," he said.
The 133,000 US soldiers inside Iraq was nearly a third more than took part in the campaign to oust Saddam Hussein. Over 2,300 U.S. military personnel have died in the war, which is estimated to have cost $200 billion to $250 billion so far.
On Monday, roadside bombings killed at least seven Iraqi policemen, and authorities reported finding 10 more bullet-riddled bodies dumped in the capital, one of them a 13-year-old girl.
On Sunday, at least 35 people died in violent incidents nationwide, the AP reported. In Baghdad, Iraqi police said eight civilians, including a child, were killed during clashes between American soldiers and gunmen in Duluiyah, 45 miles north of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, police said they found 14 bodies, bound hand and foot and shot execution style. Assailants in southwestern Baghdad shot dead a man as he was leaving a Shiite mosque, police said.
A Baghdad policeman driving on a rural road in Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of the capital, was killed by gunmen, police said.
Elsewhere, two civilians died and 10 injured when gunmen attacked American soldiers stationed at the governor's office in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad. Gunmen also killed four guards at archaeological sites in the northern city of Mosul.
A roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing one officer and wounding 10 others, the Iraqi military stated.
Near the southern city of Basra, two officials of the Iraqi Islamic Party were shot dead by four assassins.
In the northern region of Kirkuk, two Iraqi soldiers were found stabbed to death two days after they were reported abducted, U.S. authorities said.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
