Just another day in the life and death of Iraq LIX

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Just reporting the news:

A suicide bomber driving a tanker truck struck an Iraqi army checkpoint outside the capital today, killing at least 13 soldiers in the deadliest of a series of attacks against Iraqi forces as they try to take over their country’s security.

In southern Iraq, an apparent rocket attack at the U.S.-run Camp Bucca detention facility killed at least six detainees and wounded 50, the military said. No American casualties were reported.

Well, hey, no Americans, but at least the violence is still getting some MSM attention -- for example, on Page A22 of tomorrow's Washington Post.

**********

More from that Post article:

-- "Fighting also broke out north of Baghdad in Diyala province, which has grown increasingly deadly for U.S. and Iraqi soldiers over the past several months."

-- "The violence broke out on a day when the Iraqi government criticized neighboring Turkey for launching artillery shells into Kurdish territory along the border in northern Iraq. An official with Iraq's Foreign Ministry, Muhammad al-Haj Hamoud, demanded in a letter to the Turkish charge d'affaires in Baghdad that Turkey halt its shelling, according to a ministry statement. The attacks have ignited 'huge fires' and scared the population in Dahuk and Irbil provinces, the statement said. The Turkish forces are targeting guerrillas from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, who have used the border area to launch attacks in Turkey. The Iraqi government said that it did not condone the Turkish guerrillas' presence in Iraq but that the attacks could affect the 'friendly atmosphere' between the two countries."

Friendly. Right.