U.S. Marine Cpl. Chris Doukas of Vancouver, Wash., fires a 50-calibre machine gun from a helicopter during target practice in Anbar Province, in western Iraq, July 8, 2006. Anbar province, inhabited mostly by Sunni Arabs, is the country's most violent.
Two young victims of a morning car bomb rest in a local hospital, July 8, 2006, in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. The car bomb killed nine and wounded over 50, local police said.
Japanese troops say their goodbyes to their young Iraqi friends, July 8, 2006, in Samawah, southern Iraq. Japan began withdrawing its 600-member military contingent from Iraq. The first group of about 30 soldiers left their garrison in Samawah and flew to Kuwait, Japanese media said. Their departure marked the beginning of the end of Japan's biggest overseas military mission since World War II.
A young Iraqi boy looks through a hole from a firefight between insurgents and Iraqi and coalition soldiers, July 7, 2006, in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi soldiers clashed with gunmen in the Shiite district of Baghdad, and local officials said as many as nine people were killed and 34 wounded.
Iraqi mothers stand with their children next to a spray of bullet holes from a late-night firefight between insurgents and Iraqi and coalition soldiers following a raid in the area, July 7, 2006, in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, Iraq.
A British military helicopter, due to carry the first group of about 30 Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force soldiers pulling out of Iraq, is about to land at the JGSDF camp in Samawah, before heading for Taril airport, southern Iraq, July 7, 2006.
An Iraqi woman, with blood on her face, a traditional sign of mourning, cries for a family member killed in a Baghdad gun battle, July 7, 2006, at the site of the burial in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq. Najaf is the holiest place for Iraq's Shiite Muslims to be buried.
Iraqi Army soldiers guard suspected insurgents and captured weapons during a major raid, July 6, 2006, in the area around Baquba, northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. Abdul Rahman Jari Al-Janabi, commander of the 3rd brigade of the Iraqi Army, said that 36 suspected insurgents were arrested in the seizure of light- to medium-sized weapons.
Victims in an early morning car bomb attack are treated at a local hospital, Thursday, July 6, 2006, in Kufa, Iraq, 100 miles south of Baghdad. A suicide car bomb targeting Iranian pilgrims struck near a Shiite shrine in the holy city of Kufa, killing at least 12 people and wounding 37, police said.
Neighbor and eyewitness Hussein Mohammed, 33, points to the charred and blood splattered floor and wall where he found the body of the young Iraqi girl who was allegedly raped then killed along with family members in their home, July 6, 2006, in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, Iraq.
Iraqi police secure the scene of a drive-by shooting, Wednesday, July 6, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. A former judge during Saddam's regime was killed and his son was wounded in the shooting.
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team fire mortar illumination rounds in support of a targeting mission in Tall Afar, Iraq, Tuesday, July 4, 2006.
Local residents gather around the wreckage of a car bomb, Wednesday, July 5, 2006, in Baghdad. The car bomb killed six people and wounded 14 in northwestern Baghdad, police said. The neighborhood has a mixed Sunni-Shiite population and the target was unclear.
U.S. Marines stand guard while a doctor, left, enters a patient's room at the Ramadi General Hospital in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, July 5, 2006. U.S. and Iraqi forces raided a hospital in Ramadi that was suspected of being used as an insurgent base, the military said.
The U.S. military secures the area of a car bomb attack, Wednesday, July 5, 2006, in the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. A suicide car bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol in Mosul, killing at least two people and wounding four, police said.
Local residents gather around the wreckage of a car bomb, Wednesday, July 5, 2006, in Baghdad. The car bomb killed six people and wounded 14 in northwestern Baghdad, police said. The neighborhood has a mixed Sunni-Shiite population and the target was unclear.
U.S. Army Sgt. Kenneth Strong, left, and his fellow soldiers exit a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during an aerial traffic control point mission near Tall Afar, Iraq, Monday, July 3, 2006. The Soldiers are assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Tony Mallett, of Orange, Massachusetts, smokes flavored tobacco from a traditional Arab water pipe in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Monday, July 3, 2006. More than 125,000 U.S. troops will spend Independence Day in Iraq.
An officer of Iraq's Oil Protection Police watches the flames burn on an oil pipeline struck by an insurgent bomb, Monday, July 3, 2006, in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. The bomb hit the oil pipeline connected to filter stations, but the attack was not expected to affect exports, officials said.
Fardah Abdulla, 3, is surrounded by her family after suffering wounds from a mortar shell that landed on a market, Monday, July 3, 2006, in the Al-Shaab area of northeast Baghdad. The morning attack struck a popular produce market, wounding three civilians, including Abdulla.