FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, Dec 17
Source: Reuters
Dec 17 (Reuters) - Following are security and other developments in Iraq as of 1400 GMT on Sunday: Asterisk denotes a new or updated item. * BAGHDAD - Gunmen in police uniforms kidnapped dozens of people at a Red Crescent office in Baghdad. Police said 10 to 20 people were seized. Antonella Notari, spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, said at least 25 people had been taken by gunmen from among staff and visitors. There were no ICRC personnel amongst them. * BAGHDAD - Gunmen driving vehicles usually used by government officials kidnapped three members of the Adhamiya municipal council and killed the fourth in Palestine Street in eastern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry source said. * NEAR RUTBA - Police found the bodies of five people, shot and tortured, near Rutba, about 500 km (350 miles) northwest of Baghdad, police said. * MAHMUDIYA - A car bomb killed a person and wounded two others in a bus station in the town of Mahmudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. * BALAD - At least seven mortar rounds landed in the town of Balad, 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, and wounded six people, the Joint U.S-Iraqi Coordination Centre said. * NEAR TIKRIT - A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded another near Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb detonated near a U.S. military patrol on Saturday, killing three soldiers and wounding one north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. MUSSAYAB - Police found the bodies of two people shot dead on Saturday in Mussayab, 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. JURF AL-SAKHAR - Police found the bodies of two people, shot dead and tortured, in Jurf al-Sakhar, 85 km (53 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. NEAR ISKANDARIYA - Gunmen killed Alaa Muhsin, a Sunni sheikh from the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, and Sheikh Ismail al- Khanfashi, deputy head of an Iraqi NGO. OTHER DEVELOPMENTS *BAGHDAD - British Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged his full support for the Iraq government during a visit to Baghdad and urged neighbouring states to support reconciliation and security in the country.
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