Reports on mass killings throw claims of 'surge' success into doubt

With the press filled with claims by President Bush, Sen. John McCain, Sen. Joe Lieberman and others about the apparent success of the "surge" of US troops in Iraq, the daily digest of events there put together by the Reuters news wire might be worth pondering. It supports claims by many reporters on the ground there that progress has been apparent only in scattered sections. Here is the Reuters digest for Mar. 29: tBAGHDAD–At least 60 people were killed and 41 others were wounded when two suicide bombers wearing explosive vests self-detonated in a crowded market in a Shiite district in the northeastern part of the capital. tKHALIS" At least three suicide car bombers launched almost simultaneous attacks in a mainly Shiite town, killing around 50, police and hospital officials said. The blasts took place in Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad. tBAGHDAD" A car bomb killed four policemen and one civilian and wounded nine more police in Jihad in southwest Baghdad, the US military said. Police were checking a suspicious vehicle when it exploded. tBAGHDAD" A suicide bomber blew himself up in a market in the Shaab district of northern Baghdad, killing five and wounding 15, a police source said. tMOSUL" US forces killed four armed men who fired on them during a raid in the northern city of Mosul, the US military said. US forces also detained 15 suspected insurgents in that raid and others around Iraq. tBAGHDAD" A roadside bomb in Bayaa district in southern Baghdad killed three people and wounded 20 others, police said. tMAHMUDIYA" A car bomb killed four people and wounded 20 in a parking lot in Mahmudiya, 20 miles south of Baghdad, police said. A local official in the town said eight people were killed and 12 wounded. tMAHMUDIYA" Two mortar bombs landed in a residential district of Mahmudiya, killing two people and wounding seven, police said. tBAGHDAD" Two policemen were killed and six wounded when they approached a car bomb in Amil district in southwestern Baghdad, police said. There was a body in the car. tMOSUL" Gunmen killed Nawaf al-Hadidi, imam of a mosque in Mosul, in a drive-by shooting on Mar. 28, police said. tBAGHDAD" A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol wounded three soldiers in the western Ghazaliya district of Baghdad, a witness said. tBAGHDAD" Gunmen attacked the motorcade of the head of traffic police, Jaafar al-Khafaji, in northern Baghdad, killing two traffic policemen and wounding two others, police said. tBAGHDAD" Thirteen bodies were found shot in different districts of Baghdad on Mar. 28, police said. tBAGHDAD" A car bomb targeting an Iraqi army checkpoint killed a soldier and wounded three others on Mar. 28 near al-Shurta tunnel in western Baghdad, police said. tKIRKUK" Ali Abid, the deputy to the governor of Kirkuk, escaped a roadside bomb attack on Mar. 28 in the northern city of Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad, police said. He was unharmed but three of his guards were wounded. tDIWANIYA" Gunmen killed a policeman near his house in the southern city of Diwaniya, 110 miles south of Baghdad, police said. tDIWANIYA" The body of a young man was found shot in Diwaniya, police said. He was kidnapped on Mar. 28. Gunmen also kidnapped a woman engineer as she left her office in Diwaniya on Mar. 28. tBAGHDAD" Gunmen kidnapped Hassan Abdul-Latif, an official of the Iraqi Customs Office in central Baghdad, on Mar. 28, police said. tFALLUJA" The US military said only one of two truck bombs that attacked Iraqi and US forces in Falluja on Mar. 28 contained chlorine, contrary to earlier information that both bombs released chlorine gas.