Insurgents wreak havoc across Iraq

By Associated Press - Athens Banner-Herald

Published Thursday, August 26, 2010
Buzz up!BAGHDAD - Bombers and gunmen killed at least 55 Iraqis in two dozen attacks across the country Wednesday, mostly targeting security forces and rekindling memories of the days when insurgents ruled the streets.

http://images.morris.com/images/athens/mdControlled/cms/2010/08/26/700398150.jpg Associated Press || Jessica Hill/AP
Staff Sgt. Guido Constant is hugged by his daughter, Lunise, and his son, Kendrick, at the Army aviation support facility Wednesday in Windsor Locks, Conn. About 110 soldiers in the Connecticut National Guard who were deployed to Iraq last winter have returned home.
Associated PressJessica Hill/AP
Staff Sgt. Guido Constant is hugged by his daughter, Lunise, and his son, Kendrick, at the Army aviation support facility Wednesday in Windsor Locks, Conn. About 110 soldiers in the Connecticut National Guard who were deployed to Iraq last winter have returned home. The attacks made August the deadliest month for Iraqi policemen and soldiers in two years, and came a day after the U.S. declared that its troop levels were at their lowest level since the war began in 2003.

Powerful blasts targeting security forces struck where they are supposed to be the safest, turning police stations into rubble and bringing down concrete walls erected to protect them from insurgents.

At least 265 security personnel - Iraqi military, police and police recruits, and bodyguards - have been killed from June through August, compared with 180 killed in the previous five months, according to an Associated Press count.

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