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Here is a timeline of the deadliest bomb attacks since 2007:

February 3, 2007 - A truck bomb kills 135 people and wounds 305 at a market in the Sadriya quarter of central Baghdad.

March 6 - Two suicide bombers strike in Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 105 pilgrims. Insurgents launch a total of 12 attacks against Shi'ite pilgrims. In all, 137 pilgrims are killed and 310 are wounded.

March 27 - A truck bomb explodes in Tal Afar, close to the Syrian border and Mosul, killing 152 people.

April 18 - Multiple car bombings kill 191 people around Baghdad. One car bomb near a market in the central Sadriya neighborhood kills 140 people and wounds 150.

April 28 - A suicide car bomber kills 60 people and wounds 170 at a checkpoint in Kerbala.

May 13 - Suicide truck bombing in northern town of Makhmour kills 50, with 70 people wounded.

June 19 - A car bomb near the Khilani Shi'ite mosque in central Baghdad kills 87 people.

July 7 - A truck packed with explosives covered with hay blows up in a crowded market in the northern town of Tuz Khurmato, killing 150 people and wounding 250.

July 16 - Eighty-five people are killed by a suicide truck bomb in the city of Kirkuk. At least 180 are wounded.

August 14 - At least three suicide bombers driving fuel tankers kill and wound at least 796 people in Yazidi residential compounds in the villages of Kahtaniya and al-Jazeera in northern Iraq near the Syrian border. Yazidis are members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect who live in northern Iraq and Syria.

February 1, 2008 - Female bombers kill 99 people in attacks blamed on al Qaeda at two popular Baghdad pet markets, the city's worst attacks in six months.

February 24 - A suicide bomber targeting pilgrims heading to one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest rites in southern Kerbala kills 63 people and wounds scores in Iskandariya.

March 6 - Two bombs explode in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite Karrada district, killing 68 people. Another 120 were wounded.

April 15 - A car bomb kills 40 people and wounds 80 outside a provincial government headquarters in Baquba, local capital of Diyala province. Another car bomb, believed to be driven by a suicide attacker, explodes outside a popular restaurant in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province, killing 13.

June 17 - A truck bomb blasts the al-Hurriya neighborhood of northwestern Baghdad, killing 63 people and wounding 75. The U.S. military said the attack was carried out by a "special groups cell."

December 11 - A suicide bomber detonates explosives inside a Kurdish restaurant north of Kirkuk. At least 50 people are killed and 109 wounded in the blast.

June 20, 2009 - A suicide bomber detonates a truck filled with explosives as crowds of worshippers leave the Shi'ite al-Rasul mosque in Taza, near Kirkuk. At least 73 people were killed and more than 250 wounded.

June 24, 2009 - A bomb kills 72 people at a busy market in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City. At least 127 people are wounded.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;)

They fired guns as they stormed past guards and set off a huge blast that killed at least five persons and wounded 65 more, Pakistani officials said.

A victim (left) being carried out of the blast site while an injured women tries to cover her wound in Peshawar

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the largest city in Pakistan's restive north- west. But it fit the pattern of recent Taliban attacks the militants said were in retaliation for a military campaign against them in the Swat Valley region.

Local television networks showed part of the Pearl Continental Hotel had been demolished in the blast -- reduced to concrete rubble and twisted steel. The scene was pandemonium, with armed police rushing around and men standing by looking stunned. One man held a bloodied rag to his head. A large crater was blasted into the ground.

A reporter saw six foreigners being helped out of the hotel. They all had wounds and at least two of them had bandages around their heads. One of them said: " We work for UNHCR." He added that that officials from World Food Program were also staying at the hotel.

Police official Liaqat Ali said he learned from witnesses that three men riding in a truck approached the main gate of the hotel and opened fire at security guards before driving inside.

" They drove the vehicle inside the hotel gates and blew it up on reaching close to the hotel building," Ali said.

Sahibzada Anis, a top government official in Peshawar, said at least five persons were killed.

Source: Mail Today Suicide Attack In Peshawar Hotel Kills Five

The data collected by The News reveals that around 108 people were killed and 584 injured during suicide attacks across Punjab in 2009, while 274 people were killed and 722 injured in 2008. No less than 107 people were killed and 279 injured in suicide attacks in 2007.

On February 5, 2009, 32 people were killed and 48 others injured when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself amidst a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in Dera Ghazi Khan. Police said the blast targeted dozens of people converging on the Al Hussainia Mosque after dark, shortly before a religious gathering. Police blamed sectarian extremists for the incident. The explosion occurred just 50 feet short of the mosque. On March 16, 2009, around 15 people were killed and 25 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a busy bus stand at Pirwadhai in Rawalpindi. It was believed that the original target of the bomber could have been the participants of the `long march'. The suicide bomber riding a on a motorbike blew himself up outside a restaurant, which was set up close to a cab stand.

On March 23, 2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the headquarters of the Special Branch (SB), an intelligence agency of the Federal Capital Police, in Sitara Market, killing himself and a policeman.

Two police officials were wounded in the attack. Over 120 personnel of the Special Branch lived on the premises of the SB headquarters and most of them were present in their barracks at that time. Police Constable Faisal Khan, deployed at the main gate of the headquarters, reportedly got hold of the suicide bomber when he was advancing towards the barracks. The bomber detonated the bomb, killing both of them.

On April 04, 2009, eight Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel were killed, and seven others injured, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at an FC check post on the Margalla Road in Islamabad. The blast, which took place at 7:35pm, was followed by an exchange of fire between FC personnel and unidentified accomplices of the suicide attacker. The crossfire continued for around 20 minutes. On April 5, 2009, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of an imambargah in Chakwal, killing 24 people, including three children, and injuring 140 others, at a religious gathering.

The target was the gathering of around 800 people in an imambargah in Muhallah Sarpak. The majlis ended at 12:15pm and people were preparing to leave the imambargah when a 15-year old boy, who looked like an Afghan, stormed into the crowd and blew himself up. On May 27, 2009, no less than 27 people, including ISI and police officials wee killed while over 362 injured when an explosive laden vehicle was detonated amidst ISI and Rescue 15 buildings at Fatima Jinnah Road.

As per data of suicide attacks carried out during 2008, on January 10, at least 24 people, including 17 policemen, were killed and 80 others injured in a suicide bomb blast outside the Lahore High Court, minutes before the arrival of an anti-government lawyers' procession. The blast ripped through GPO Chowk in front of the Lahore High Court as the suicide bomber walked up to around 60 riot police - who had gathered there ahead of a demonstration against President General Pervez Musharraf's government - and blew himself up. Around 200 lawyers were inside the High Court at the time of the blast, and others were marching from a nearby district court.

On February 4, at least ten people were killed and around 10 others wounded when a suicide bomber crashed his bike into an armed forces bus carrying students and officials of Army Medical College, near the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi. An eyewitness said the suicide bomber hit the 30-seater bus in front of National Logistic Cell offices close to the GHQ, blowing away the roof, windows and doors of the bus. Several other vehicles were also damaged. A van carrying schoolchildren was also partially damaged, but the children remained unhurt.

On February 25, a suicide bomber killed eight people, including the Pakistan Army's surgeon general, in Rawalpindi - the highest-ranking military official killed since the country joined the US-led war on terror. Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig, surgeon general and director general of army's medical services, died after a teenage suicide bomber blew himself up next to a military convoy on a busy road in Rawalpindi. Five civilians were also killed, while 25 others were injured, an army statement said.

On March 4, eight people were killed and 24 others injured when two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the parking area of the Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore. The incident occurred at around 1:10pm when classes in the Pakistan Navy War College were in progress. Five Navy officials and two suicide bombers died on the spot while one Navy official succumbed to injuries at a hospital.

On March 11, at least 30 people were killed and more than 200 injured in suicide blasts at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) headquarters and an advertising agency office in Lahore. The first attack was carried out at the FIA regional headquarters on Temple Road, severely damaging the eight-storey establishment and adjacent buildings. The building also housed the offices of a special US-trained unit created to counter terrorism. The second attack was carried out on Bungalow No 83/F in Model Town - the office of an advertising agency. Two children and a gardener died in the bombing and about 12 people were injured.

On June 2, a suspected suicide bomber blew up his car outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, killing at least eight persons and injuring 30 others. The Danish foreign minister said a Pakistani cleaner employed at the embassy and a Danish citizen of Pakistani origin had died and three other local employees were hurt, but the embassy's four Danish staffers were unharmed.

On July 6, 20 people, including 15 policemen, were killed and more than 40 people injured in a suicide attack near Melody Market area of Islamabad. The suicide bomber targeted policemen deployed at a rally observing the first anniversary of an army raid on the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.

On August 13, a suicide blast in Lahore killed at least nine persons and injured more than 35, targeting policemen standing guard on the eve of the Independence Day. The attack took place at the busy Dubai Chowk in the Allama Iqbal Town area at around 11:34pm, as citizens poured into streets before midnight to celebrate the 61st anniversary of Pakistan's independence, which falls on August 14. Among the dead were two policemen and a woman.

On August 21, two suicide bombers blew themselves up at the gates of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) in the high security cantonment town of Wah, around 30 kilometres from Islamabad, killing at least 70 persons in what was described as the deadliest attack on a military installation in the country's history. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack. The POF at Wah is a cluster of around 20 industrial units producing artillery, tank and anti-aircraft ammunition for the Pakistani armed forces. It employs around 25,000 to 30,000 workers.

On September 20, a suicide bomber detonated a truck packed with explosives at the Marriott Hotel in capital Islamabad, killing at least 60 people. At least 200 people, including a Pakistan People's Party legislator, were injured in the explosion, which ruptured a gas pipeline and triggered a huge blaze. A US national was killed and several foreigners were injured. A group calling itself Fedayeen-i-Islam claimed responsibility for the suicide attack.

On October 6, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of people at the house of Rashid Akbar Niwani, a Shia Member of National Assembly from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), in Bhakkar, 260 kilometres southwest of Islamabad, killing 25 people and wounding 60 others, including Niwani.

On October 9, a suspected suicide car bombing destroyed part of an Anti-Terror Squad building and wounded at least six policemen in the heavily guarded Police Lines area in Islamabad.

In 2007, no less than six incidents of suicide attacks were reported in Punjab. On September 4, at least 30 people were killed and 70 others wounded in two suicide attacks at Qasim Market and RA Bazaar in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. The first suicide bomber targeted a bus that was carrying around 35 employees of a defence agency to their office near the Qasim Market, killing at least 20 people. Soon after, another blast occurred near the RA Bazaar police station, killing 10 more people.

On October 30, a suicide bomber killed eight people, including three police personnel, and injured at least 18 others, including 14 police personnel, when he blew himself up at a police picket near district courts in the cantonment area of Rawalpindi. President Pervez Musharraf had reportedly been meeting governors and chief ministers at Camp Office less than a kilometre away from the site. The fortified army posts at the checkpoint and the nearby gate to the residence of Joint Chief of Army Staff Chairman General Tariq Majid were reportedly scarred with shrapnel and spattered with blood.

On November 1, a suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) bus, killing seven officers of the PAF and three civilians on the Faisalabad Road in Sargodha. At least 28 people were wounded in the attack. The bus was reportedly carrying PAF staff from the Mushaf Mir Airbase to Kirana Ammunition Depot when the bomber targeted the bus at approximately 6.45am.

On November 24, two suicide bombers simultaneously targeted military personnel and installations at two different places in Rawalpindi, claiming over 32 lives and wounding 55 others. In the first attack that occurred at 7:55am, the suicide bomber while trying to enter the Hamza Camp, the main office of the ISI, hit the staff bus of the agency. The blast, which occurred 200 metres from Faizabad at the Murree Road, killed over 30 personnel in the bus and guards standing at the main gate. At the same time near the GHQ, another suicide bomber blew up his car after hitting an Army check-post when he was intercepted while trying to infiltrate into the high security zone. Two Army personnel were killed while one was injured in the second attack.

On December 10, eight people, including five schoolchildren, were injured when a suicide bomber exploded his car targeting a Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) bus carrying air force employees' children at a military base at Kamra around 50 kilometres northwest of Islamabad. A suicide bomber exploded his car on the outskirts of the PAC factories on the Qutba-Attock Road on Monday at 7.30am near a PAC school bus carrying children to schools in Attock City.

On December 27, Benazir Bhutto, the chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was assassinated in a gun and suicide attack as she drove away from a campaign rally just minutes after addressing thousands of supporters at Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi. At least 30 more people were killed and over 100 others wounded in the attack.

Security officials and workers at the site of the suicide car boombing in Lahore Wednesday

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday blamed the Taliban for the attack outside the ISI headquarters in Lahore, saying the strike could be a retaliation of the Government's military offensive against the militant outfit.

"It appears to be a fallout of the ongoing military operations in Swat, Dir and other areas of NWFP," said Malik. There would be no let up in the crackdown on these "anti-national elements", he added.

"They want to destabilise Pakistan.

Threats have been held out by Tehrik-eTaliban chief Baitullah Mehsud," the Interior Minister told reporters in Karachi.

"We are in a state of insurgency. There is a war inside the country and there were two options before the Government... either to cave in... or to confront and crush them," Malik said. "We have opted to flush them out," Malik said and sounded a warning to radical groups to lay down arms as they had no other option left. The Government has geared up intelligencesharing with the provincial Government, the Interior Minister added.

The attack at the ISI headquarters on Wednesday that killed 35 and injured 390, is the third major strike to rock Lahore in less than three months, following the March 3 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team and the March 30 attack on the Manawan police academy.

The attack came a day after Taliban spokesperson Maulvi Mohammad Omar threatened attacks across Pakistan if the military operation in Swat was not stopped. However, no group immediately took responsibility for the attack. According to reports, some suspects picked up in connection with the terror attack on the Lankan cricket team here being interrogated inside the ISI office when the blast took place.

The site is also close to the Lahore High Court where Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, detained in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attack, was scheduled to appear for a hearing on Wednesday.

Last year in March, some suspects involved in the Naval War College attack were interrogated at the Federal Investigation Agency building when a mini-truck loaded with huge explosives ran into it, killing 30 people, mostly FIA officials.

— April 29 — Twin car bombs tear through Baghdad's Sadr City, killing 41.

— April 24 — Back-to-back suicide bombers strike near Shiite shrine in Baghdad, killing 60.

— April 23 — Baghdad suicide bomber hits Iraqis collecting humanitarian aid, killing 31.

— April 23 — Suicide bomber strikes restaurant north of Baghdad in Muqdadiyah, killing 57.

— April 6 — Series of bombings within four hours in Baghdad kill 37 people.

— March 26 — Car bomb tears through market in Shiite area in east Baghdad, killing 20.

— March 23 — Suicide bomber strikes Kurdish funeral north of Baghdad in Jalula, killing 27.

— March 10 — Suicide bomber targets tribal leaders at market in Abu Ghraib, killing 33.

— March 8 — Suicide bomber strikes police academy in Baghdad, killing at least 30.

— March 5 — Car bomb tears through livestock market in Hillah, killing 13.

— Feb. 13 — Female suicide bomber targets Shiite pilgrims in Musayyib, killing 40.

— Feb. 11 — Twin car bombs explode at a bus terminal and market area in Baghdad, killing 16.

— Jan. 4 — Female suicide bomber strikes Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, killing 38.

— Jan. 2 — Suicide bomber hits luncheon at a tribal leader's home in Youssifiyah, killing 23.

A crowd of women and children was struck Thursday by a bomber in Baghdad, one of three attacks in Iraq that killed 80.

The second suicide bombing struck a restaurant filled with Iranian tourists in a restive city north of the capital.

The number of people killed in the attacks is the largest single-day total since February 2008.

The overall level of violence in Iraq is at its lowest since the American invasion in 2003, and Iraqis have been venturing out to parks, restaurants and nightclubs. But a string of recent attacks, highly organized and carried out under tight security, has raised worries that Baathist and jihadi militants are regrouping into a smaller but still lethal insurgency seeking to reassert itself as the American troop presence on the ground is reduced before a full withdrawal in 2011.

"The government was treating the situation like they'd won a victory," said Sheik Jalal al-Din Saghir, a member of Parliament from the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a Shiite political party. "They relaxed. We can't ignore that there were security successes, but that doesn't mean the story is finished."

The government may have scored at least one important security victory on Thursday, announcing the capture of a major leader of the Sunni insurgency, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. But reports of his arrest, and even his supposed death, have been announced before, and some American military officials even question whether such a man exists.

Iraqi leaders say Mr. Baghdadi is the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni militant forces that includes Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown group that American intelligence officials say is led by foreigners.

The Iraqi military provided no further details about the arrest, and the United States military has not confirmed it.

On Thursday, Hussein al-Shami, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, defended the government's security gains.

"The security situation is still good, but there are some sleeper cells that are targeting the softer areas," he said. "They just want to send a message to the government and the world that they are still here."

The woman who blew herself up in Baghdad's central Karada district on Thursday resembled most of the other women crowded outside a food distribution site that was catering mainly to those displaced by the war.

She wore a black abaya and, like many of the other women, was walking with a child, in her case a young girl, according to Iraqi Army and police officials who interviewed survivors at the scene.

The woman stood out, the witnesses said, only because she began nudging her way through the crowd, which had been waiting patiently for the bags of flour, bottles of cooking oil and other staples that the police were handing out. The witnesses said she tugged the child, who looked about 5 years old, along with her.

Once she reached the center of the crowd, she set off the blast, with explosives that the police believe she hid under her flowing clothes.

Afterward, a tattered black abaya stuck to a wall on the first-floor balcony of an adjacent apartment building, singed by the explosion. The sidewalk was littered with bags of macaroni and loose leaf tea that had been part of the giveaway. Flies swarmed on bits of human flesh.

One woman sat on the ground, wailing as she beat the sidewalk with the palms of her hands. She said she had lost her husband, her son, her sister and six grandchildren.

Source: www.nytimes.com 80 Are Killed in 3 Suicide Bombings in Iraq

2009.04.20 Afghanistan Khost 2 8 Islamists bomb a passenger bus, killing two civilians.
2009.04.20 Afghanistan Uruzgan 1 2 Religious extremists kill a civilian with a roadside bomb.
2009.04.19 Somalia Merka 1 0 Islamic gunmen murder a humanitarian worker.
2009.04.19 Ingushetia Sunzhen 1 1 Mujahideen stage a grenade attack on a home, killing a woman.
2009.04.19 Afghanistan Zabul 2 3 Three local police are murdered in a Taliban ambush.
2009.04.19 India Pulwama 1 0 A former terrorist who renounced violence is shot to death by Islamists.
2009.04.19 India Doda 2 0 Lashkar-e-Toiba militants open fire on local security forces, killing two.
2009.04.19 Iraq Mussayib 2 0 Two Sunnis are gunned down by suspected al-Qaeda.
2009.04.19 Iraq Baghdad 1 0 Terrorists assassinate a government official.
2009.04.19 Pakistan Hangu 2 0 A man and woman are executed by the Taliban for having relations outside of marriage.
2009.04.18 Pakistan Khyber 4 0 Four men are killed in a remote-controlled bomb attack.
2009.04.18 Pakistan Hangu 27 55 A Holy Warrior rams an explosives-laden truck into a local checkpoint, sending at least twenty-seven souls to Allah.
2009.04.18 Afghanistan Kandahar 2 4 A woman is among two people blown to bits by a planted bicycle bomb.
2009.04.17 Afghanistan Parwan 5 5 Five security guards are gunned down by suspected Sunni radicals.
2009.04.17 Iraq Baghdad 7 15 Seven people are killed when Jihadis lob mortars into a residential neighborhood.
2009.04.17 Afghanistan Nimroz 3 3 A suicide bomber takes out three civilians.
2009.04.16 Pakistan Lahore 1 0 An 18-year-old woman is shot dead by her brother-in-law for trying to leave the marriage.
2009.04.16 India Anantnag 1 1 A woman is murdered, and her son wounded, when Mujahideen intrude into the home and open fire on the family.
2009.04.16 Pakistan Mardan 1 0 A woman is killed when Islamic militants bomb the offices of a humanitarian organization.
2009.04.16 Iraq Baquba 1 4 One person is killed in an al-Qaeda bombing.
2009.04.15 Pakistan Charsadda 18 5 A suicide bomber drives an explosives-laden car into a police checkpoint, killing both officers and civilians.
2009.04.15 Iraq Kirkuk 11 22 Eleven Iraqis are murdered by a Fedayeen suicide bomber near an oil facility.
2009.04.15 Philippines Elian 2 0 Moro Islamists ambush and kill two locals.
2009.04.15 Somalia Mogadishu 1 0 A government official is assassinated by al-Shabaab terrorists.
2009.04.15 Pakistan Jacobabad 1 0 A young girl is killed by her uncle on suspicion of sexual immorality.
2009.04.15 Pakistan Karachi 1 0 A lawyer is gunned down in a suspected sectarian attack.
2009.04.14 Thailand Yala 1 0 A villager is murdered by Mujahid gunmen.
2009.04.14 Pal. Auth. Gaza 1 0 A 28-year-old woman is murdered by her family in an honor killing.
2009.04.13 Philippines Basilan 1 0 Abu Sayyaf terrorists behead a kidnapped Christian.
2009.04.13 Afghanistan Herat 4 0 Four civilians are blown to bits when Sunni hardliners bomb a passenger bus.
2009.04.13 Afghanistan Khost 2 0 Two construction crew guards are murdered by Islamic militants.
2009.04.13 Pakistan Jandola 2 0 Two people are kidnapped and shot to death by Mujahid.
2009.04.13 Afghanistan Nimruz 2 0 A man and woman are publicly executed by the Taliban for eloping.
2009.04.13 Iraq Baghdad 0 4 Fundamentalists toss a grenade into a liquor shop.
2009.04.13 Somalia Mogadishu 1 5 Terrorists send a rocket into a Red Cross building, killing one civilian.
2009.04.13 Somalia Mogadishu 1 3 A woman is among the casualties as Islamists set off a bomb along a city street.
2009.04.12 Jordan Basira 1 0 A 28-year-old pregnant woman is stabbed to death by her younger brother in an 'honor killing.'
2009.04.12 Iraq Yathrib 2 0 al-Qaeda terrorists murder two Iraqis with a roadside bomb.
2009.04.12 Iraq Mosul 3 2 Mujahideen gun down a civilian and two policemen.
2009.04.12 Pakistan Peshawar 1 7 Islamic militants attack a trucking terminal, killing a security guard.
2009.04.12 Afghanistan Kandahar 1 0 A women's rights activist is murdered by four fundamentalist gunmen.
2009.04.11 Iraq Iskandariya 12 32 A dozen innocents waiting in line for pay are blown apart by an al-Qaeda suicide bomber.
2009.04.10 Iraq Mosul 7 20 Five Americans are among seven murdered by a Fedayeen suicide bomber.
2009.04.10 Afghanistan Helmand 6 7 Religious extremists attack a police post, killing six local officers.
2009.04.10 Philippines Basilan 1 8 Muslim terrorists attack a Christian village, killing one and kidnapping several young children.
2009.04.10 Thailand Narathiwat 1 2 Mujahideen gunmen fire into a passenger train, killing one railway worker.
2009.04.10 Pakistan North Waziristan 2 0 Two civilians are kidnapped and beheaded by Taliban militants.
2009.04.10 Pakistan Bannu 1 2 Islamists bomb a tribal elder meeting, killing one member.
2009.04.10 Somalia Mogadishu 2 9 The 'Mujahideen Youth Movement' take out two civilians in a mortar attack.
2009.04.09 Afghanistan Lashkar Gah 5 17 Two children are among five Afghans blown apart by a Shahid suicide bomber.
2009.04.09 Algeria Jijel 3 0 Three brothers are massacred by Islamic fundamentalists at a fake checkpoint.
2009.04.09 Pal. Auth. Gaza 3 0 A 5-year-old boy is among three family members gunned down over immoral behavior.
2009.04.09 Thailand Pattani 1 0 A teenager is kidnapped and beheaded by Mujahideen.
2009.04.08 Algeria Kabylie 1 0 A cop is killed in a Mujahideen bombing.
2009.04.08 Pakistan Lahore 1 0 A Muslim man guns down his niece to keep her from marrying against the family's permission.
2009.04.08 Pakistan Buner 5 0 Taliban fighters attack a local village, killing five people.
2009.04.08 Iraq Baghdad 7 19 Jihadis bomb a marketplace, murdering seven patrons.
2009.04.07 Iraq Baghdad 7 14 Mujahideen blow seven people to bit with a car bomb.
2009.04.07 Iraq Fallujah 3 7 A suicide bomber takes out three Iraqis.
2009.04.06 Iraq Baghdad 37 100 Six coordinated terror bombings leave thirty-seven Iraqis dead.
2009.04.06 Iraq Jalawla 3 0 Three civilians are gunned down in a Sunni drive-by.
2009.04.06 Pakistan Mansehra 4 0 Three female aid workers and their driver are brutally murdered by suspected Muslim militants.
2009.04.06 Afghanistan Khost 2 1 Taliban bombers take out two local security personnel.
2009.04.06 Philippines Basilan 3 9 Three laborers are cut down by automatic weapons at point-blank range by Abu Sayyaf militants.
2009.04.06 Pakistan Mingora 1 1 A village guard is murdered by Islamic gunmen.
2009.04.05 Pakistan Chakwal 24 35 Two dozen innocents, including four children, are blown to bits in a religious center by a Shahid suicide bomber.
2009.04.05 Jordan Sahab 1 0 A 22-year-old woman is stabbed to death by her brother for 'spending too much time out of the house.'
2009.04.05 Iraq Mosul 2 1 A child and his mother are among three casualties of two terror attacks.
2009.04.05 Somalia Mogadishu 1 6 A child is killed in an Islamist mortar attack.
2009.04.05 Iraq Abu Ghraib 1 2 A civilian is taken out in an al-Qaeda bombing in a residential area.
2009.04.04 Pakistan Islamabad 8 4 Eight embassy guards are blown to bits by a Shadid suicide bomber.
2009.04.04 Pakistan Miranshah 7 30 Children are among seven people murdered by a Fedayeen bomber.
2009.04.04 Iraq Mosul 1 0 A Christian repairman is shot to death by Muslim gunmen in front of his workshop.
2009.04.04 Thailand Pattani 2 0 A 60-year-old man and his teenage son are shot to death outside their home by Islamic terrorists.
2009.04.03 Philippines Basilan 2 8 A woman is among two people killed when Islamic militants bomb a fast food shop near a Catholic cathedral.
2009.04.03 Afghanistan Ghazni 4 0 Four construction crew workers are killed in a Taliban bombing.
2009.04.03 Iraq Baghdad 2 5 Jihadi bombers successfully kill two Iraqis.
2009.04.02 Iraq Baghdad 2 0 Two homosexuals are killed by their tribes in a bid to "restore family honor."
2009.04.02 Israel Bat Ayin 1 1 A 45-year-old Muslim slips into a Jewish settlement, stabs a 7-year-old and axes a 13-year-old to death.
2009.04.02 Iraq Baghdad 2 0 Two older Christian sisters are murdered by Mujahideen gunmen.
2009.04.02 Pakistan Koral 1 0 A Muslim man stabs his sister to death for marrying without the family's permission.
2009.04.02 Afghanistan Heart 4 0 Sunni fundamentalists kill three civilians and a local cop in an ambush.
2009.04.02 Iraq Baqubah 3 0 Terrorists plant a bomb at a car dealership, killing three people.
2009.04.02 Daghestan Khasavyurt 3 0 A local cop and his two brothers are kidnapped and murdered by Islamic separatists.
2009.04.01 Pakistan Upper Dir 5 2 Five police are slaughtered in a brutal Taliban ambush.
2009.04.01 Iraq Mashtal 1 0 A Christian man is gunned down in front of his restaurant by Islamic terrorists.
2009.04.01 Afghanistan Kandahar 13 17 A Fedayeen attack on a government office leaves thirteen people dead.
2009.04.01 Somalia Mogadishu 1 1 A civilian is killed when al-Shabaab terrorists fire at a vehicle carrying a lawmaker.
2009.04.01 Iraq Mosul 4 0 Two bombings and a shooting leave four dead, including a schoolteacher and a 7-year-old child.
2009.03.31 Iraq Mosul 7 40 A suicide truck bomber takes out seven Iraqis.
2009.03.31 Iraq Kirkuk 1 0 An elderly Christian is gunned down by Muslim radicals.
2009.03.31 Philippines Alamada 1 3 Moro Islamists gun down a local soldier guarding a town square.
2009.03.31 Pakistan Samundri 1 0 A father of four young children is murdered by suspected Islamists.
2009.03.31 Iraq Kirkuk 1 0 A 71-year-old Christian man is killed in his own home by Muslim intruders.
2009.03.30 Iraq Baqubah 3 9 Mujahid bombers murder three people outside a real estate office.
2009.03.30 Pakistan Bannu 5 3 A Shahid rams an explosives-laden vehicle into a police checkpoint, killing five officers.
2009.03.30 Afghanistan Paktia 3 0 Three local cops are killed by a Taliban roadside bomb.
2009.03.30 Afghanistan Kandahar 9 8 A Fedayeen bomber calmly walks into a government office and detonate, leaving at least nine dead.
2009.03.30 Thailand Pattani 2 0 A married couple is brutally shot to death by Islamic extremists.
2009.03.30 Pakistan Lahore 9 93 Civilians are among at least nine innocents slain in a Fedayeen attack on a police academy.
2009.03.30 Iraq Hillah 3 0 Three al-Qaeda victims are found dead in a car.
2009.03.30 Thailand Narathiwat 1 0 Muslim gunmen murder a civilian as he is walking home.
2009.03.30 Somalia Saydhelow 3 10 A woman is among three people killed in an al-Shabaab ambush.
2009.03.30 Thailand Pattani 1 1 A vendor is murdered by Muslim gunmen while riding on his cart with his 14-year-old son.
2009.03.29 Iraq Basra 5 6 Five Iraqis are blown apart by a Jihad roadside bomb.
2009.03.28 Thailand Yala 1 0 A 51-year-old man is gunned down in his home by Muslim radicals.
2009.03.28 Iraq Fallujah 2 0 Two farmers are murderd by Muslim extremists while working in their fields.
2009.03.28 Afghanistan Paktia 7 5 Seven local security personnel are killed by Sunni hardliners in two separate attacks.
2009.03.27 Philippines Maguindanao 7 2 Moro Islamists ambush a security patrol, killing seven members.
2009.03.27 Thailand Pattani 3 0 Mujahdieen gunmen murder three civilians in two attacks.
2009.03.27 Pakistan North Waziristan 3 0 Three civilians are shot to death by armed fundamentalists.
2009.03.27 Iraq Jalawla 1 1 A cleric is gunned down by al-Qaeda assassins.
2009.03.27 Thailand Narathiwat 1 16 A local farmer is shot to death as he returns from work and sixteen others injured in a separate bombing.
2009.03.27 Pakistan Jamrud 71 115 Over seventy people are slaughtered by a horrific Taliban suicide attack on a rival mosque.
2009.03.26 Pakistan Dera Ismail Khan 3 3 Three Sunnis are shot to death in a sectarian drive-by attack.
2009.03.26 Afghanistan Helmand 9 6 Nine local police are gunned down when armed religious extremists attack a checkpoint.
2009.03.26 Pakistan Tank 11 25 A Shahid suicide bomber detonates at a restaurant, killing a dozen patrons.

An Iraqi police officer inspects a car damaged in a suicide bomber attack in Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 20, 2009. A suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi military uniform struck a U.S. military delegation visiting the mayor of violence-wracked Baqouba on Monday, injuring at least eight American soldiers and nine others.(AP Photo)

A suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi army uniform struck a U.S. military delegation visiting the mayor of violence-wracked Baqouba on Monday, injuring at least eight American soldiers and killing three Iraqi civilians.

Police officials claimed the attacker was disguised as a soldier -- a tactic used before to pass through checkpoints -- but U.S. forces have faced attacks from actual members of the security forces as well.

In February, two police officers opened fire on U.S. soldiers in the northern city of Mosul, killing one and raising worries about insurgent infiltration in security forces.

The Baqouba attack occurred as a group of Iraqi officials, led by Mayor Abdullah al-Hiyali, waited at the main gate of the municipal building to greet the U.S. soldiers, said Raad al-Dahalaki, the deputy mayor.

Source:Associated Press Bomber strikes US soldiers meeting Iraqi officials

The children, who were detained in a village near the northern city of Kirkuk, were part of a cell known as the "Birds of Paradise" and were being specially trained to avoid detection as they carried out attacks, security officials said.

"Special forces units have arrested an organisation of children consisting of four individuals under the age of 14 who call themselves the 'Birds of Paradise'," said General Abdelamir al-Zaidi, the commander of the Iraqi army division in Kirkuk. "The group relies on children and is connected to al-Qaeda. It works to recruit children and young people to carry out suicide attacks and to aid the terrorist groups in detonating roadside bombs."

Al-Qaeda groups have previously used Iraqi children to carry out attacks on US and Iraqi security forces, even using them in one instance as a cover to sneak a car bomb past a Baghdad checkpoint before detonating the device with the youngsters still inside. Militants have also been accused of using mentally disabled women as suicide bombers.

Other insurgent groups have used children to fire rocket-propelled grenades and set roadside bombs, knowing that they were less likely to be shot at by soldiers.

The newly discovered children's cell appeared to derive its name from the Islamic belief that when children die they become birds of paradise.

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk Iraqi children trained by al-Qaeda to be suicide bombers

Security forces after Wednesday's bomb attack in Kirkuk when 10 Iraqi soldiers died in the ethnically mixed city. Iraq's security forces have lost scores of men in recent bombings

The attack came a day after a car bomb killed 10 Iraqi soldiers in the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk in the north and marked yet another setback for Iraq's security forces, which have lost scores of men in recent bombings.

The bomber used the tried and tested technique of disguising himself as a soldier -- a simple task in a highly militarised country where many shops sell uniforms and insignia -- and joining the lunch queue. The attack was timed to coincide with the arrival of a new unit, soldiers said. The blast also wounded 50 soldiers.

The explosion occurred in Habbaniyah, to the west of Baghdad in the area known as the Sunni Triangle. Long an al-Qaeda stronghold, the terrorists were driven out over the past two years as local tribes turned on their erstwhile allies, who had tried to ignite a civil war by constantly bombing Shia civilians.

On Wednesday a car bomb in Kirkuk, a tense oil city on an ethnic fault line between Arabs and Kurds, killed 10 soldiers and wounded 22, an attack blamed on Ansar al-Sunna, a local group linked to al-Qaeda. Last week a suicide bomber also disguised in military fatigues blew himself up at a base south of Baghdad where members of an Awakening Group, a tribal militia that had turned on al-Qaeda, were queueing to collect their salaries. Nine militiamen and soldiers died in the blast.

The string of deadly attacks have underscored that while security in Iraq has improved drastically over the past two years, the country is far from stable, with terrorists still capable of causing havoc that could undermine reconciliation efforts between sectarian and ethnic groups after years of war.

Even US troops are vulnerable to the renewed bombings, with five American soldiers killed by a truck bomb at their base in Mosul in the north last week. US commanders have said that their troops may have to stay in Mosul and Baqouba, just north of the capital, beyond a June 30 deadline to withdraw from Iraq's cities because of the threat still posed there by al-Qaeda.