Over 150 people have been killed [April 18] in a series of blasts in Baghdad, with at least 115 dying in a bombing at a food market in the [Shi'ite] district of Sadriya. The other major incident was an attack on a police checkpoint that has left at least 42 people dead. [BBC [1], April 18]
Iraq has promised £12.5 million [$25 million] to the government of Jordan and Syria to cope with the estimated two million Iraqi refugees that have shelter across the borders. A further two million are thought to be displaced within Iraq. The United States has offered to resettle 20,000 Iraqi refugees within its borders. [BBC [2], April 18]
British officials have transferred responsibility for the southern province of Maysan over to Iraqi authorities. The province is the fourth to be handed over. [AlJazeeera [3], April 18] Iraqi authorities aim to have the security for all of Iraq under their jurisdiction by the end of 2007. [Reuters [4], April 18]
From Madrid11.net Security Briefs [5], April 18
See our last posts on Iraq [6], the refugee crisis [7] and the civil war [8].
