[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
watch One-Minute World News
Last Updated: Friday, 16 September 2005, 13:43 GMT 14:43 UK
Timeline: Surge of Iraq violence
Insurgents in Iraq have been launching almost hourly attacks on Iraqi and US military targets as well as civilians in a relentless wave of violence.

The BBC News website shows where and when the attacks have been reported in the last three days (all times given are Iraqi local time, which is four hours ahead of GMT).


Before dawn - Suspected insurgents dressed as Iraqi troops drag 17 people out of their homes in the town of Taji, north of Baghdad, and execute them in the street.

0630 - A suicide car bomber kills mostly Shia labourers who had gathered to look for work in Oruba Square in Baghdad's northern district of Kadhimiya. More than 100 dead and many other are wounded.

0900 - A suicide bomber in a car blows himself and 11 other people up in Baghdad as they were queuing to refill petrol canisters.

Early afternoon bombing in western Baghdad on Wednesday
One of the largest blasts rocked the centre of Baghdad
Time unknown - gunmen opened fire on a police car in the northern Baghdad district of Adhamiya, killing two top police officials and two officers. Three Iraqi soldiers and four policemen died when a suicide car bomber struck as rescuers arrived to help.

1000 - a suicide car bomber rams an Iraqi military convoy killing three soldiers in al-Adel district of west Baghdad.

1010 - a suicide bomber kills four civilians and wounds 22 in the Shula neighbourhood of north-west Baghdad.

1322 - A large explosion shakes downtown Baghdad. Witnesses say the blast occurred between the main railway station and the Rashid Hotel. A suicide bomber has targeted a passing US military convoy. A 10-minute exchange of heavy machine gun fire afterwards injures 14 Iraqi police officers.

1340 - Al-Qaeda in Iraq says it is waging a nationwide suicide bombing campaign to avenge a military offensive on the town of Talafar in northern Iraq.

1400 - Gunmen attack two police stations in the western Baghdad district of Karada, critically wounding three policemen.

Afternoon - A mortar shell lands on a civilian vehicle in eastern Baghdad, killing the driver.

Afternoon - Gunmen shoot dead an Iraqi army officer and wound a civilian passer-by in the southern Doura district of Baghdad.

2155 - At least two people are killed and more than 50 wounded when a market is hit by mortar fire south of the capital.


0745 - At least two policemen are killed and four wounded in a roadside bombing in the northern oil city of Kirkuk which completely destroyed a police patrol vehicle.

Victim of a roadside bombing in Kirkuk
Kirkuk has not been spared in the 36-hour onslaught
0800 - At least 16 police and five civilians are killed in a suicide car bomb attack Thursday morning in Baghdad's Doura district.

0930 - Three Shia Muslims are killed by gunmen in northern Baghdad as they head for a religious event in the pilgrimage city of Karbala.

1100 - A preacher at a Shia mosque in the nothern city of Mosul is killed and three civilians were wounded when a bomb left at the front door of the mosque explodes.

1200 - At least 10 police are killed and 17 wounded when two cars driven by suicide attackers strike their patrol in Doura.

1310 - Three civilians are killed when a roadside bomb struck a Ministry of Industry bus in eastern Baghdad.


0800 - At least two people are killed and 14 others injured when gunmen in a minibus open fire on a crowd of day labourers gathered in a square in the New Baghdad district.

1000 - Gunmen break into the house of a local mayor in Iskanariya district and shoot him dead, after first killing his four bodyguards.

1100 - A suicide bomber kills three policemen and wounds six others after driving his explosives-packed car at a police convoy on a highway near Hasswa, south of Baghdad.

1200 - A member of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's office and preacher at Imam Ali mosque in Najaf is gunned down by insurgents in Sadr City in northeast Baghdad.

1500 - A suicide car bomber blows himself up as worshippers were leaving Friday prayers in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, killing at least 10 people.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Has China's housing bubble burst?
How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire
Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit


Americas Africa Europe Middle East South Asia Asia Pacific