BAGHDAD, April 4, 2008

Suicide Blast Hits Iraqi Cop's Funeral

At Least 15 Killed In Diyala; PM Al-Maliki Orders Halt To Raids Against Shiite Militias

    • U.S. Army soldiers from Charlie company 1-27IN, 25th infantry division take up their position near Patrol Base Texas in southern Sadr City, Baghdad, on Thursday, April 3, 2008. Photo

      U.S. Army soldiers from Charlie company 1-27IN, 25th infantry division take up their position near Patrol Base Texas in southern Sadr City, Baghdad, on Thursday, April 3, 2008.  (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

    • Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari shouts instructions to Iraqi Army soldiers to secure a street in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra some about 340 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 2, 2008. Photo

      Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari shouts instructions to Iraqi Army soldiers to secure a street in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra some about 340 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 2, 2008.  (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

    • Iraqi soldiers secure a street in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra, about 340 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 2, 2008. Photo

      Iraqi soldiers secure a street in a show of force in a militia stronghold that has seen some of the fiercest fighting in the southern city of Basra, about 340 miles south of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, April 2, 2008.  (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

    • Iraqi woman walks past the demolished car that was destroyed during a bombing and recent clashes between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi government forces backed by the US military in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 1, 2008. Photo

      Iraqi woman walks past the demolished car that was destroyed during a bombing and recent clashes between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi government forces backed by the US military in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, April 1, 2008.  (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

    • Residents check damage to their apartments after a bombing and recent clashes between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi government forces backed by the US military in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 31, 2008. Photo

      Residents check damage to their apartments after a bombing and recent clashes between the Mahdi Army and Iraqi government forces backed by the US military in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 31, 2008.  (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

    Previous slide Next slide
  • Video Eye To Eye: Fight In Sadr City

    "Only On The Web": CBS News' Lara Logan speaks to Lt. Col. Dan Barnett about the fight for Baghdad's Sadr City, where U.S. and Iraqi troops have met fierce resistance from Shiite militias.

  • Video Preview: The Path To War

    Douglas Feith, former undersecretary of defense for policy, tells Steve Kroft the U.S. attack on Iraq was anticipatory self-defense; not 9/11 retaliation. Sunday, July 6, 7 p.m. ET/PT.

  • Interactive Iraq: 5 Years At War

    Five years after the U.S.-led invasion, the war wears on.

  • Photo Essay Week In Iraq Photos

    A daily diary with scenes of the latest attacks and snapshots from the effort to rebuild a nation.

(CBS/AP)  A suicide bomber killed at least 15 people and wounded eight when he blew himself up during a funeral Friday in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, police said.

The attacker detonated an explosives vest in the midst of the mourners attending the funeral for a Sunni policeman who had been shot dead on Thursday night, said an officer who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered a nationwide freeze on raids against suspected Shiite militiamen. His announcement Friday came one day after Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr hinted at retaliation if the arrests of his followers in the Mahdi Army militia did not stop. The militia fought government troops in Basra and Baghdad last week.

Al-Maliki's statement did not mention the Mahdi Army by name or give a timeframe for the freeze, saying only that the move is designed to give a "chance to those who repented and want to lay down their arms."

On Thursday, Iraqi troops killed seven militants and detained 16 in three separate incidents in Basra, a U.S. military statement said Friday.

The attack on the funeral occurred in Sadiyah, a town 60 miles north of Baghdad in the volatile Diyala province.

Most of the victims of the attack - the deadliest in Diyala this year - appeared to be relatives of the dead policemen, the officer said.

Prior to al-Maliki's order to cease raids In Basra, Iraqi special forces captured a suspected militant leader who has been rallying insurgents in the area to fight against coalition forces, the military statement said.

"Intelligence reports have linked the man to the kidnapping and murder of Iraqi Army and ISOF soldiers. He is also believed to be involved in oil smuggling and foreign fighter networks," said the statement, which did not provide any further details.

In a separate firefight, a U.S. warplane was used to bomb insurgents engaging Iraqi special forces in the city. The air strike killed two militants, the statement said.

Quote

I was not expecting, frankly, a major battle from Day One.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker
On March 25, Iraqi forces launched a major operation to rid Basra of Shiite militias and criminal gangs that had effectively ruled the city of 2 million people since 2005. But the offensive stalled in the face of fierce resistance from the militiamen and an uprising across the Shiite south spearheaded by the Mahdi Army.

Fighting eased last Sunday when al-Sadr ordered his fighters to stand down under a deal brokered in Iran.

Nevertheless, al-Maliki, himself a Shiite, insisted that the campaign to reclaim Basra was on track and that he would soon go after "criminal gangs" in Baghdad and elsewhere. That vow came Thursday - before he announced a halt to all raids against Shiite militias.

Al-Maliki specified Thursday two Baghdad neighborhoods - Sadr City and Shula - where the Mahdi militia holds sway and where U.S. and Iraqi forces have clashed with militants in recent days.

Both areas remain under a vehicle ban imposed last week throughout Baghdad but which has been lifted elsewhere in the capital.

In other developments:

  • The United States intends to send many more combat forces to Afghanistan next year, regardless of whether troop levels in Iraq are cut further this year, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday. It is the first time the Bush administration has made such a commitment for 2009.

  • A new classified intelligence assessment on Iraq says there has been significant progress in security since the last assessment was delivered in August, a senior military official said. In most ways the new National Intelligence Estimate hews closely to the one delivered nine months ago. That document spoke of security gains since the increase in troop levels began in January 2007, the continued high rate of violence and uneven progress on the part of Iraqi security forces.

  • The U.S. military says an American airman has been killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. A brief statement says the airman was on a patrol around noon when the attack occurred Thursday in a central area of the capital. The identity of the slain airman has not been released pending notification of relatives. The death raises to at least 4,012 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.

    The violence in Basra erupted as the two top American officials in Iraq were preparing to brief Congress on prospects for further U.S. troop cuts.

    U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, who will appear before Congress on Tuesday with top commander Gen. David Petraeus, said he was surprised at the way the Basra campaign unfolded.

    "I had the understanding that this was going to be an effort to get down, show they were serious with additional forces, put the squeeze on, develop a full picture of conditions and then act accordingly," he told reporters Thursday. "I was not expecting, frankly, a major battle from Day One."

    Still, Crocker said he was encouraged that the Iraqi government was willing to take on Shiite militias, some of which maintain close ties to major political parties in the national leadership.

    "Were there problems? There were a boatload of problems, and they still have a long way to go," Crocker added.

    In a statement Thursday, al-Sadr complained that although he had called on his militia to stop fighting, the army and police were continuing illegal arrests and attacks against his followers.

    © MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Video and Galleries from Iraq After Saddam

    Add a Comment See all 19 Comments
    by bgwinnett April 4, 2008 7:54 AM PDT
    The surge is working don''t get me wrong but unfortunately the real fighting in Iraq will commence when the US pull out. It will be between the different ethnic groups over land, power, wealth and resources.

    The original sectarian fighting of 06-07 was all about settling centuries old scores and new ones created by al-Zarqawi.Disbanding the Iraqi army and De Baathfication made this inevitable creating vacuum we have still yet to fill and still don''t look like filling nor do the Iraqis. Get ready for anarchy.
    Reply to this comment
    by swwils April 4, 2008 8:17 AM PDT
    These people that are blowing themselves and everyone around them up is only going to get worse.I believe that it wont be long until they do it here in our nation ,then what?
    Reply to this comment
    by mcvet April 4, 2008 8:24 AM PDT
    Ah yes! Iraq! The BIG LIE that just keeps on giving!! SIEG HEIL BUSH!!
    Reply to this comment
    by mcvet April 4, 2008 8:26 AM PDT
    These people that are blowing themselves and everyone around them up is only going to get worse.I believe that it wont be long until they do it here in our nation ,then what?


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Posted by swwils at 08:17 AM : Apr 04, 2008
    + report abuse

    Ummm??? These people can''t get from one town to the next.. I think the guy YOU should be concerned with, the guy who we KNOW can recruit enough people and finance them is in PAKISTAN not Iraq!! Haven''t you heard yet... Iraq was a BIG LIE. Bush attacked it because they COULD attack us someday down the road... when no one knows, but all the rest of the Trash you were fed?? It was all LIES!! Sieg Heil Bush
    Reply to this comment
    by bgwinnett April 4, 2008 8:30 AM PDT
    SEIG HEIL Al Maliki! - Even more! Bring back allawi
    Reply to this comment
    by baddog777 April 4, 2008 9:44 AM PDT
    liberalbias - your figures are wrong. I extracted these from the report you cited.

    Calendar
    Year
    Active
    Dutya
    Full-Time (est.)
    Guard-Reserve
    Selected
    Reserve
    FTEb
    Total
    Military
    FTE
    Total
    Deaths
    1980 2,050,758 22,000 86,872 2,159,630 2,392
    1981 2,093,032 22,000 91,719 2,206,751 2,380
    1982 2,112,609 41,000 97,458 2,251,067 2,319
    1983 2,123,909 49,000 100,455 2,273,364 2,465
    1984 2,138,339 55,000 104,583 2,297,922 1,999
    1985 2,150,379 64,000 108,806 2,323,185 2,252
    1986 2,177,845 69,000 113,010 2,359,855 1,984
    1987 2,166,611 71,000 115,086 2,352,697 1,983
    1988 2,121,659 72,000 115,836 2,309,495 1,819
    1989 2,112,128 74,200 117,056 2,303,384 1,636
    1990 2,046,806 74,250 137,268 2,258,324 1,507
    1991 1,943,937 70,250 184,002 2,198,189 1,787
    1992 1,773,996 67,850 111,491 1,953,337 1,293
    1993 1,675,269 68,500 105,768 1,849,537 1,213
    1994 1,581,649 65,000 99,833 1,746,482 1,075
    1995 1,502,343 65,000 94,585 1,661,928 1,040
    1996 1,456,266 65,000 92,409 1,613,310 974
    1997 1,418,773 65,000 94,609 1,578,382 817
    1998 1,381,034 65,000 92,536 1,538,570 827
    1999 1,367,838 65,000 93,104 1,525,942 796
    2000 1,372,352 65,000 93,078 1,530,430 758
    2001 1,384,812 65,000 102,284 1,552,196 891
    2002 1,411,200 66,000 149,942 1,627,142 999
    2003 1,423,348 66,000 243,284 1,732,632 1,228
    2004 1,411,287 66,000 234,629 1,711,916 1,874
    2005 1,378,014 66,000 220,000 1,664,014 1,942
    2006 1,378,014 66,000 220,000 1,664,014 1,858
    Reply to this comment
    by baddog777 April 4, 2008 9:45 AM PDT
    The column to the far right is the fatalities listed by the report you cited at

    http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf
    Reply to this comment
    by stn_sage April 4, 2008 10:06 AM PDT
    As long as a large minority of people are dedicated to death & destruction in order to get their way---this war will go on and on! And, is all the more reason why we shouldn''t be there!

    As bad as B/C are for launching this war---as bad, if not worse---are their supporters who wrap themselves up in the flag, who think supporting the war is a sign of patriotism, and then try to get others to likewise make the same mistake and suppost the war!

    Nothing is as unpatriotic as supporting an illegal, contrived, murderous war that is/will bankrupct this country eventually and create a generation of ''walking wounded'' that will be a constant reminder of how this countrys'' citizens failed to remain vigilant in guarding their personal liberties'', rights, & constitution! And, as a result, it was ''set aside''!
    Reply to this comment
    by beehive21-2009 April 4, 2008 10:18 AM PDT
    The robot attacked a funeral,usually,scared and off limits,a time for burying the dead. Please find out the ID of the robot,hang its family.Hang all family members of all robots in the future and you shall see ,no more robots.Why do we see all the people with rockets ,sks, ak47s firing in the air wearing masks burying a killer and no one fires a couple of missiles in to the band of mask men ?
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 4, 2008 10:43 AM PDT
    Here is an article on General Odum''s call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19671.htm

    If the Quisling Regime is going to kidnap Iraqis, torture them, murder their families and launch assaults on free Iraqis...then perhaps no place should be safe for them...no security for them in their service to the Occupation and their betrayal of the Iraqi people.

    If such people were to support an Occuppier in America...I would hope that they, their children, their dogs, their homes, their possessions, their mistresses and their friends would not be safe from retribution anywhere and at any time!!
    Reply to this comment
    by notblue April 4, 2008 10:47 AM PDT
    stn_sage, your theory and premise ould be correct if not for radical Islam, this ideology cares not about the run up to the war as they were the ones that attacked prior to Iraq, they could care less who the American president or vice president is as they attacked for years when both political parties had representatives in the white house. They could care less if you blame them or fellow Americans, their agenda is one of compliance or death, your rational for or against the war is meaningless to them there goal is death by terrerism, death by destruction or comkpliance and conversion to there vision, it''s that simple. While clear thinking adults want to attach blame or logic to this new evil it is not possible as the Jihadists agenda is not rational or logical.
    Reply to this comment
    by hungry1968 April 4, 2008 11:02 AM PDT
    Do you want further proof? Consider the latest census, of Americans. It shows the following FACTS about the distribution of American citizens, by Race:

    European descent .......69.12%
    Hispanic ...............2.5%
    Black ..................2.3%
    Asian ..................3.7%
    Native American ........1.0%
    Other ..................2.6%




    That adds up to 81%. Where are the other 19%?
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 4, 2008 11:06 AM PDT
    It is al-Maliki who broke the truce with al-Sadr. It is al-Maliki who launched an assault on Basra and called in the US airstrikes.

    al-Sadr is calling for a million Iraqis to come out and demonstrate against the Occupation.

    Can Maliki or any of the other Quislings get up a counter demonstration for the continuation of the Occupation? A "We love the people who murdered 1,000,000 of our fellow citizens...who created 4,000,000 refugees...who destroyed our civilian infrastructure...and, who want us to sign our oil over to"--Demonstration?
    Reply to this comment
    by jersupporter April 4, 2008 11:13 AM PDT
    are their supporters who wrap themselves up in the flag, who think supporting the war is a sign of patriotism, and then try to get others to likewise make the same mistake and support the war! Nothing is as unpatriotic as supporting an illegal, contrived, murderous war that is/will bankrupct this country eventually and create a generation of ''''walking wounded'''' that will be a constant reminder of how this countrys'''' citizens failed to remain vigilant in guarding their personal liberties'''', rights, & constitution! And, as a result, it was ''''set aside''''! Posted by stn_sage
    --------------------------------------
    Actually, supporting the troops is different than supportin the war. But we do need to get out of Iraq. Agree there.
    Reply to this comment
    by stn_sage April 4, 2008 11:16 AM PDT
    notblue - I repeat, as long as a large minority of people are dedicated to death & destruction in order to get their way---this war will go on and on!

    Whether or not you wish to identify them as Jihadists and/or detail their views---I did not---I believe my initial statement is correct! So, we''re in relative agreement on that point? Correct?! :)
    Reply to this comment
    by stn_sage April 4, 2008 11:21 AM PDT
    Actually, supporting the troops is different than supportin the war. But we do need to get out of Iraq. Agree there.
    Posted by JERSupporter at 11:13 AM : Apr 04, 2008

    My response:
    I agree! There''s a HUGE difference between supporting the troops and supporting the war!! And SPECIFICALLY, my criticism is directed at those supporting the WAR in my previous post!! I''m glad you agree we need to get out of there!
    Reply to this comment
    by prinzowhales April 4, 2008 12:08 PM PDT
    Here''s a link to a story of another brutal KBR rape where in the victim is being savaged by the sh*theads at KBR and the US Army...

    http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/81266

    Where is Congress, when all this is taking place? Counting their lucre from tens of millions of dollars that Congressmen have invested with the Merchants of Death like Haliburton...

    http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/03/america/NA-GEN-US-Congress-Defense-Investments.php

    One hundred and fifty-one members are invested in the military industrial complex that they are dumping hundreds of billions of dollars into while selling this country down the tubes!

    FREE IRAQ!...FREE AMERICA!!...DOWN WITH THE DEMOPUBLICAN REGIME!!
    Reply to this comment
    by joyous88 April 4, 2008 12:31 PM PDT
    they killed a collaborator

    mission accomplished
    Reply to this comment
    by ioweign April 5, 2008 9:27 PM PDT
    Do you want further proof? Consider the latest census, of Americans. It shows the following FACTS about the distribution of American citizens, by Race:

    European descent .......69.12%
    Hispanic ...............2.5%
    Black ..................2.3%
    Asian ..................3.7%
    Native American ........1.0%
    Other ..................2.6%




    That adds up to 81%. Where are the other 19%?

    Posted by hungry1968 at 11:02 AM : Apr 04, 2008

    Some are too busy campaigning for daddy and the others are walking in George W. Bush''s footsteps (********* most likely).
    Reply to this comment
    See all 19 Comments
    • MOST POPULAR
    • Viewed
    • Commented
    Latest News
    Featured Blogs