Baghdad - Less Violence?

From Iraq the Model, a blogger in Iraq, on Monday:

There hasn’t been any major security incidents in Baghdad since the attacks on three bridges in both its northern and southern suburbs on Friday May 11, more than a week ago. This doesn’t mean Baghdad is essentially calm: there are episodes -albeit minor and limited- still happening from time to time.

From Iraq Today, security incidents in Baghdad on Tuesday:

Baghdad:
#1: A parked car bomb ripped through a crowded outdoor market in southwestern Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 25 people despite a 3-month-old security crackdown meant to reduce violence in the capital. At least 60 people were wounded in the 10 a.m. blast in the Shiite-dominated neighborhood of Amil. Nearby buildings were badly damaged and set ablaze, while others were reduced to rubble.

#2: gunmen in two cars drove through the nearby Khadra neighborhood and ambushed a civilian car carrying three plainclothes police officers from the major crimes unit, killing two and wounding the third, police said.

#3: Another police officer was killed when a roadside bomb exploded next to a police patrol driving through an eastern Baghdad neighborhood about 9 a.m., police said. Three other officers were wounded in the attack.

#4: Later Tuesday, two mortar shells slammed into a teacher's college affiliated with Baghdad University, killing three students and injuring seven, police said.

#5: In the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, a sniper shot two civilians, killing one and wounding the other, police said.

#6: In central Baghdad, around seven people were killed and tens were wounded when an explosives-laden car was detonated.

#7: five Iraqis were wounded in a separate incident in al-Mansour district, western Baghdad, where a similar explosive charge was used.

#8: Separately, the cousin of the speaker of the Iraqi parliament was freed from his captors, also on Tuesday, the Iraqi military said while denying reports that he had been killed.

#9: In Zaytouna, eastern Baghdad, an explosive device blew up, killing a civilian and wounding three others.

#10: At least four college students were killed and 25 wounded in a mortar attack at Ibn al-Haitham college in Adhamiya district in northern Baghdad, police said.

#11: Iraqi security forces killed four gunmen, arrested 30 people and detained nine others in several areas of Baghdad during the past 24 hours as part of the security crackdown launched by the Iraqi government in mid-February 2007, the Baghdad operations command said on Tuesday.

#12: Iraqi forces also managed to defuse a bomb car in al-Rasheed district in southern Baghdad, in addition to eight explosive devices in several areas in Baghdad, the statement added. Explaining the losses to Iraqi security forces over the past 24 hours, the statement indicated that five Iraqi soldiers were killed and four others were wounded in a combat operation.

Monday incidents in Baghdad:

#1: Meanwhile, a roadside bomb detonated near a group of Iraqi soldiers patrolling the Sunni-dominated Adil neighborhood in western Baghdad, killing three of the soldiers and injuring two others.

#2: the Iraqi newspaper Azzaman reported Monday that one of its reporters, Ali Khalil, 22, was kidnapped while leaving a relative's house in the increasingly volatile Baiyaa neighborhood of Baghdad and found dead several hours later. Khalil was survived by his wife and 1-week-old baby, the newspaper said.

#3: A mortar shell struck the roof of Iraq's parliament inside Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone Monday, shaking the building but causing no casualties. Sheikh Sabah Saadi, an MP from the Shiite Fadhila Party, said the rocket landed on the roof of the parliament right above the speaker's office. "There are no casualties but there is slight damage to the office," he told France's AFP news agency.

#4: Four Iraqi policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Wazirya district in central Baghdad, police said.

#5: The office of Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the biggest Sunni group in parliament, said that the Iraqi army had opened fire on his motorcade in Adil district in western Baghdad. There were no casualties

#6: The Iraqi army killed two insurgents and detained 69 others in Baghdad during the past 24 hours, the Defence Ministry said. Another 26 insurgents were detained in other parts of Iraq

#7: (yesterdays update) 24 dead bodies were found all over Baghdad : 19 bodies were in the west bank (Kharkh) -- 5 in Bayaa, 4 in Amel, 2 in Mansour, 2 in Doura, 2 in Jihad, 2 in Saidiya, 1 in I'laam and 1 in Hurriya. 5 bodies were found in the east bank (Rusafa) -- 2 in Kasra Watash, 2 in Kahira (Cairo neighborhood) and 1 in Sadr City.

#8: At least three people were wounded when two mortar rounds hit central Baghdad, police said.

#9: A roadside bomb exploded near a U.S patrol, wounding seven people in eastern Baghdad, police said

#10: Around 5:30 p.m. Two mortar shells landed in central Baghdad in Kahramana square. The shelling caused injuries to 3 civilians, damaged 2 cars and near by shops.

#11: Around 6:00 p.m. a mortar shell landed in Shurta Rabiaa neighborhood, 2 residents were killed and 12 were injured.

#12: Around 8:15 p.m. a parked car bomb exploded in Al Iskan neighborhood near the pediatric hospital Al Tifl Al Markazi. 5 civilians were injured.

#13: Police found 24 dead bodies in Baghdad. the following is the number of corpses found in neighborhoods of Baghdad: 6 in Bayaa, 5 in Amil, 2 in Ghazaliyah, 2 in Sileikh, 1 Adhamiya, 1 Husseiniya, 2 Karrada, 2 New Baghdad, 2 Sadr, 1 Waziriyah.

I guess this is what passes for improvement in Iraq these days.