BAGHDAD, December 18 – For the first time since the elections violence surged through Iraq as the heavy security measures for the elections were lifted.
The elections proceeded very clean, with little to no real incidents of violence. This is mostly due to the heavy security measures that were taken to make sure the voters were secure on this historic day.
This Sunday was the first real renewed occurrence of heavy attacks which ripped through the capital. At least 17 people were killed during these elaborate attacks. In the oil-rich city of Kirkuk two family members of a high ranking political party were eliminated. In Baghdad another member of a Shiite political party was eliminated in a similar fashion, probably both statements from the insurgents not to buy in to the democracy talks.
Also in Baghdad the first attack on a mosque since a while took place, a Shiite mosque was targeted and one woman was killed and another 15 people were injured. Elsewhere in the capital on policeman was wounded by a suicide bomber in a van and 11 of his colleagues were injured during a shootout in the west side of Baghdad.
