A car bomb and at least one suspected suicide bomber killed at least eight people in Mosul, Iraq and wounded around 120 during a soccer match on Friday in northern Iraq.

The blasts ocurred in Tal Afar, a town predominantly inhabited by Shi’ite Turkmen about 40 miles west of the city of Mosul, where Sunni Islamist insurgents such as al Qaeda remain active.

SOURCE: Reuters Canada Bombers attack soccer game in North Iraq, 8 dead

Bomb attacks in northwest Pakistan killed 41 an wounded 80 in an attack on a political rally of the secular Awami National party in Timergarah in the Lower Dir district, next to the Swat valley.

In a separate attack of car bombs and grenades, Islamist militants attacked the US consulate in Peshawar, the region’s main city, with car bombs and grenades in an apparent attempt to storm the heavily fortified compound. Four of the attackers were killed and three other people died — a paramilitary soldier, a private security guard and a civilian.

Video of bomb exploding near U.S. Consulate — Islamist militants attacked a U.S. consulate in northwest Pakistan with car bombs and grenades, killing three people, hours after 41 people died in a suicide attack on a political rally.

RAW VIDEO: Four bombs explode near U.S> Consulate in Peshawar.

Wikipedia: Peshawar | Timergarah (also Timergara or Timargarha) | Awami National Party

guardian.co.uk Dozens killed in Pakistan bomb attacks

A roadside bomb killed two anti-Taliban tribal elders and a woman travelling on a bus Thursday in in Salarzai district in the tribal region of Bajaur in northwest Pakistan. At least 20 passengers were injured in the blast of the IED.

Wikipedia: Salarzai | Bajaur | Pakistan

SOURCE: AFP Three killed, 20 hurt in NW Pak blast: officials

NATO reported that two US service members have been killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. Tuesday’s bomb attack mark the 18th death of Americans killed in Afghanistan this year.

SOURCE: ynetnews.com 2 US troops killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan

MON JAN 18 2010 KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Taliban militant insurgents attacked the presidential palace, several ministries and the Serena Hotel — host of many foreigners and visiting politicians. The attack began with gunfire about 10:00 a.m. Monday in downtown Kabul. At least five explosions heard.

Afghan security forces (about 200 members) responded to combat the insurgents — two policemen killed, 10 Afghan National Army soldier injured, and 18 Afghan National police were injured.

Taliban claims 20 fighters assaulted the city, and the Afghan government claims at least 10 insurgents were killed.

Wikipedia: Kabul | Afghan National Police | Afghan Ministry of Interior | Afghan National Army | Taliban

SOURCE: ABC News Taliban Strikes in the Heart of Kabul

Defne Bayrak, the wife of double agent Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who killed seven CIA officers in a suicide attack at FOB Chapman, Afghanistan, said on Thursday that her husband regarded the United States as an enemy and she was proud of his mission.

“I am proud of my husband. He has carried out a very important mission in such a war”
– Defne Bayrak, who now lives in Istanbul

Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi blew himself up inside a gym in Forward Operating base Chapman in Khost province in southeast Pakistan.

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WED DEC 30 2009 — A Canadian journalist Michelle Lang and four soldier were killed by and IED detonation while traveling with a provincial reconstruction team.

Calgary Reporter Michelle Lang

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THU DEC 24 2009 Narathiwat – Two soldiers and three civilians were injured when insurgents detonated a homemade bomb hidden in a motorcycle parked outside a grocery store near the Bannang Sata police station Thursday.

Wikipedia: Narathiwat Province

SOURCE: 5 injured in Narathiwat bomb attack

WED DEC 23 2009 — Two churches attacked in Mosul: Chaldean Church of St. George and Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Thomas. A pre-Christmas attack on a church killed two people in the Iraqi city of Mosul Wednesday while a Sunni Arab candidate died in a bombing in Fallujah, the first such murder ahead of March polls.

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