Ahead of the May 23rd Iran and 5 + 1 talks in Baghdad concerning Iran's nuclear program , the daily dance of death continues in country....

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/2012419614371880.html

Series of explosions rock Iraqi cities

Bombings in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Samara leave at least 26 people dead and dozens injured. Last Modified: 19 Apr 2012 10:39 inShare32 Email Print Share Feedback

The bombings targeted security patrols and officials [AFP]

A number of Iraqi cities, including Baghdad, Kirkuk and Samara, have been rocked by a series of deadly explosions, including 14 separate car bombings which have left 26 people dead and many more injured. In the capital, police said roadside bombs and car explosions targeted security patrols and the nation's top health official, Hamad Amin, the health minister, as his convoy was driving him to work. Al Jazeera's Jane Arraf reporting from Baghdad said: "The blasts were a series of co-ordinated attacks in Baghdad and northern cities but mostly within Shia neighbourhoods." At least three Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) went off in the neighbourhoods of al-Amel, southwestern Baghdad, and Taji, north of Baghdad, killing nine people and injuring 11, a police source told Al Jazeera. In Al Ghazaliya district, western Baghdad, an IED exploded as two gunmen were setting it up. Both gunmen were killed, the police source said. Police say two car bombs went off in Kirkuk, 290km north of Baghdad, which killed nine people and injured 24 others. In Samara city, north of Baghdad, two car bombs resulted in three people killed and six others injured. Thursday was the deadliest day in Iraq since March 20, when shootings and bombings claimed by an al-Qaeda affiliated group killed 50 people and wounded 255 nationwide. Violence in Iraq has fallen sharply from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks still continue across the country. and.... http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2012/04/18/kurdistans-barzani-to-meet-with-iraqs-hashemi-while-in-turkey/ Kurdistan’s Barzani To Meet With Iraq’s Hashemi While in Turkey Wednesday: 6 Iraqis Killed, 20 Wounded by Margaret Griffis, April 18, 2012 Print This | Share This The leader of the Kurdish Regional Government, Massoud Barzani, will travel to Turkey tomorrow to meet with Turkish leaders. Bilateral relations and regional developments will be among the topics discussed with President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. While there, Barzani will also meet with Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi. Last December, Hashemi took refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan when accused of having ties to terrorism. He is in Turkey while on a multi-country tour but intends to return to Iraqi Kurdistan soon. At least six Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded in attacks. In Mosul, two bodies were found. Gunmen killed a schoolteacher. A bomb killed one policeman and wounded four others near Samarra. In Balad, an I.E.D. targeting a car killed one civilian and wounded three others. A young man’s strangled body was found in Kirkuk. Five soldiers were wounded during a bombing in Jurf al-Sakhar. A blast at a Yathrib home wounded three people living there. In Baghdad, a bomb in the Harthiya neighborhood wounded two people. A policeman was wounded in a blast near Baquba. Gunmen in Hibhib wounded a civilian. In Hawija, gunmen wounded a policeman. A young girl was liberated from her abductors in Basra. An electoral commission office was set on fire in Tuz, but no casualties were reported. and..... http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=51768 After nine years of detention: Iraq orders Saddam-era officials to be freed Iraqi High Tribunal orders release of 15 officials from Saddam Hussein's regime, after finding no charges to bring against them. Middle East Online Post-Saddam Iraq: Prevalence of injustice BAGHDAD - The Iraqi High Tribunal has ordered the release of 15 officials from Saddam Hussein's regime, after finding no charges to bring against them, an official in the justice ministry said on Tuesday. Three have already been liberated, including Mahmud Faraj Bilal al-Samarrai, a scientist implicated in Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme under Saddam, who surrendered to the CIA in May 2003. Former Iraqi trade minister Mohammed Mahdi al-Saleh was freed in March. He was number 35 among the most wanted officials by US forces following the 2003 US-led invasion, and was arrested on April 23, 2003. And Hamed Yussef Hamadi, who served under Saddam as information and culture minister, then culture minister after the two ministries were split, and also as secretary of the presidency, was released in April. "The decision was taken on April 5 by the Iraqi High Tribunal to free 12 other officials one by one after a final check," the justice ministry official said. The remaining 12 include Hashem Hassan al-Majid, the governor of Babil province and the brother of "Chemical Ali," who was executed in 2010, and Fadel Salfij al-Azzawi, the governor of Salaheddin province at the time of the 1982 Dujail massacre. Also to be released are the chief of the air force at the time of the Gulf War, General Muzahem Saad Hassan al-Tikriti, Latif Mahal Hamud, the former governor of Basra province, and Ogla Abed Sigar, a former high-ranking official in the now-disbanded Baath party. "The 12 will be released today from Kadhimiya prison," said Badie Aref, a lawyer who has represented a number of Saddam-era officials, including former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz. The US military transferred 200 officials it held to Iraqi control before the departure of US troops at the end of last year.