FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, March 23
Source: Reuters
March 23 (Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq as of 1330 GMT on Friday: * Indicates new or updated item * NEAR BASRA - Iranian forces seized 15 British Royal Navy personnel, Britain said. The British defense ministry said the incident took place in Iraqi waters, where it routinely boards merchant vessels with U.N. permission to search them. The Foreign Office summoned Iran's ambassador and demanded the immediate, safe release of the personnel. * BAGHDAD - Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Salam al-Zobaie, a leading Sunni Arab politician, was wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a hall where he was attending prayers inside his own compound, and a car bomb exploded at his home. Officials said at least six of Zobaie's entourage were killed. * BAGHDAD - Five people were killed and 20 wounded when a car bomb exploded in the Baghdad Shi'ite stronghold of Sadr City, police said. The blast hit a used car lot in the al- Habibiya area of Sadr City. * DIWANIYA - The bullet-riddled bodies of a woman and her teenage daughter were found in Diwaniya, police said. * FALLUJA - A U.S. marine was killed in combat in Anbar on Thursday, the U.S. military said. BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb that hit his patrol in western Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. It did not say when the incident happened. NAJAF - A suicide car bomb exploded near a police checkpoint in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad, wounding three policemen, police said. The suicide bomber survived the blast and was captured by police as he tried to run away. DIWANIYA - Police said they found the bodies of two policemen on Thursday in Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad. The men had been shot. YUSUFIYA - A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one policeman and wounded two in Yusufiya, 15 km south of Baghdad, police said. MOSUL - Police said the bodies of four people, including two teenagers, were found on Thursday in Mosul, 390 km north of Baghdad. The victims had been tortured and handcuffed before being killed. TIKRIT - Police found the bodies of a police lieutenant colonel and his driver in Al Door, near Tikrit, 175 km north of Baghdad. The two had been kidnapped on Thursday.
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