A suicide bomber in a truck with explosives hidden under construction materials was waved through a checkpoint in southern Baghdad, where he detonated his payload, killing at least 20 on March 24. The attack was the deadliest of a wave of such bombings around Iraq that day that killed at least 47, including many police. Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, top US military spokesman in Iraq, said last week that the number of car bombs in Baghdad reached a record high of 44 in February, out of 77 nationwide. (AND, March 24)

From Military Families Speak Out, March 23:

House Votes to Continue Funding Iraq War;
Military Families Tell Pelosi: "You Bought This War—Now You Own It"
Today, Military Families Speak Out, the largest organization of military families speaking out against a war in the history of the United States, issued a "Certificate of Ownership for the Iraq War" to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and all who voted with the House Leadership to give President Bush the funding needed to continue the US military occupation of Iraq.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mamediarov and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed a memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation in Washington March 22. Azerbaijan announced it is seeking political support from the US to build new gas export pipelines, amid rising competition with Russia. Azeri news agency APA quoted US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza as saying the memorandum will express support for "new generation" pipelines to carry gas from the Caspian Sea to European markets.

At least three were killed and scores injured in clashes between Chechens and Kazakhs outside Kazakhstan's chief city of Almaty this week. The violence apparently began with an alcohol-fueled brawl in the town of Kazatkom in Almaty Region. Akhmed Muradov, spokesman of the Chechen community in Kazakhstan, said a crowd of Kazakh youths took to the streets, burning cars, beating Chechens and throwing Molotov cocktails into Chechen homes. Violence spread to nearby villages, with several homes burnt down in Malovodnoe. Special police forces are now maintaining order in the area.

John Dugard, a UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories likened Israel's treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories to "apartheid," and said that failure to address the situation will make it hard to solve abuses elsewhere.

British soldiers are accused of shooting dead a 12-year-old boy close to the Afghan capital, Kabul. NATO told AlJazeera March 22 that an investigation into the incident is under way. The soldiers apparently opened fire on the vehicle in which the boy and his family were travelling. Meanwhile, NATO-led forces reportedly killed 38 Taliban fighters in two attacks in Helmand province. (AlJazeera, March 22)

During his unannounced visit to Baghdad, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon felt the shockwaves of a nearby rocket attack while giving a press conference. Ban and his staff left the press meeting shaken but unscathed. Iraqi deputy prime minister Salam al-Zubayi is undergoing surgery for stomach and shoulder wounds after being injured in a bomb attack while he was attending prayers near the Green Zone in Baghdad. (Madrid11, March 23)

Moktada al-Sadr's Shi'ite militia, the Mahdi Army, is breaking into splinter groups, with up to 3,000 gunmen financed directly by Iran and no longer loyal to the militant cleric, Iraqi and US officials say. Two senior Mahdi Army commanders also told the AP that hundreds of breakaway fighters have crossed into Iran in the past 18 months for training by the elite Quds Force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and Muslim fighters in Bosnia and Afghanistan.