Here’s a round up of what Iraqis are hearing and reading tonight.

The 2 big stories are:

1. The Baghdad curfew
2. The Iranian offer to treat Sadr city bombing victims.

Baghdad Curfew

Starting 6a.m. tomorrow the curfew will be lifted for pedestrians only at present it is planned to lift the curfew fully on Monday morning.

Iran’s Hospitalisation Offer

Here’s part of the health ministry statement:

“The Iranian ambassador in Baghdad has contacted the Department of Health in the Ministry of Health and expressed his country’s readiness to treat the Sadr City wounded in hospital in Tehran.”
………
“the process of transporting the wounded will begin tomorrow, Sunday.”

[This is a very big deal indeed. They’ll be treated free. At present there’s no free treatment in Iraq for anyone. - markfromireland]

Mosul:

The body of a young man was found in the Karama neighbourhood (East Mosul.) A young woman was shot in the afternoon. wounding a woman in Mosul. Source - Brigadier Abdul Karim Khalaf al-Jabouri to Voices of Iraq

An army officer - Jassim Ahmed Saleh, was shot by a sniper in west Mosul. His condition is said to be serious.

A police checkpoint came under mortar fire - no casualties reported.

Salah al-Din:

A soldier was shot in Ad Duluiyah (near Tikrit).

a police officer holding the rank of major was kidnapped together with three civilians north of Samarra.

Basra

A barrage of six 60-mm mortar shells was fired last night in Abu al-Khasib (20 kilometers south of Basra) to four landed in the main square which injured five civilians.

The British installation near Basra governorate building was mortared . Some civilian I haven’t been able to get figures. That installation is attacked with monotonous regularity. I’m surprisedit’s even being reported.

Babil (Babylon)

bomb explosion north of Hilla (about 50km). Two Iraqi soldiers wounded. The bombing was the signal for a gunfire attack.

Aziziyah (Kut) Wasit

Clashes occurred five p.m. Baghdad time today in the town of Aziziyah (90 km north of Kut) between Iraqi security forces and a group of unidentified gunmen. No details of casualties yet. The report says that the police in Aziziyah weren’t contactable.

Al-Anbar - Fallujah

A Marines sniper deployed on the rooves of buildings in hand Amiriyat al-Fallujah (about 20 km south of the city) shot an elderly man who died of his wounds. There is no indication that he was anything other than an innocent civilian.

A suicide car bomber attacked an American patrol, east of Fallujah today Saturday 25/11/2006 killing four civilians and wounding eight others, including children. He was targeting an American patrol that had just finished a raid on houses in east Fallujah.

Al-Anbar - Hit

Eyewitnesses reported to Aswataliraq that armed men attacked before noon today, a military bridge at the town of Hit in Anbar province. The confrontation lasted about 15 minutes. no reports of casualties. Interestingly they were armed with precision rifles as well as machine guns.

There’ve been a lot of “incidents in Hit lately - mfi.

Baghdad: - abduction

Armed men kidnapped 12 Iraqi citizens living in Western Baghdad yesterday evening. They demanded a US$40,000 ransom for their release.

[That’s a big jump until a few weeks ago the standard ransom was US$30,000 - markfromireland ]

According to witnesses some of whom were relatives of the hostages the kidnappers were traveling in government cars and wearing the uniform of the Iraqi National Guard.

[Surprise surprise - markfromireland ]

Najaf - kidnap gang

According to Aswataliraq the gang that’s been operating in Al-Ansar, Najaf, kidnapping women for sale in “neighbouring countries” suffered a major setback. Police stormed a house and arrested several of them - all the accused are from Al-Azhar. The accused include Hassan Jawad Kadhim Algelaui and his wife.

Kirkuk: failed bombing

Two men were killed as they tried to plant a bomb according to Colonel Yadkar Muhammad of the police in Kirkuk.

[Their colleagues who blew themselves to smithereens in Kirkuk on Monday trying the same thing still haven’t been identified chiefly because the pieces were so small. - mfi]

Sources:

• Al Sabah al Jadid newspaper - Baghdad
• Al Taakhi newspaper - Baghdad
• Hawlati newspaper - Al Sulaimaniyah
• Al Mannarah newspaper - Basrah
• Radio Annas - Baghdad

Translated by: markfromireland