A suicide car bomber in Iraq struck a vehicle checkpoint in Ramadi, Anbar province, killing at least 11 people, both police and civilians, Feb. 18. The attack also left 15 people wounded. Four police and a young girl were among the dead. (AlJazeera, Feb. 18) On Feb. 13, provincial officials in Maysan charged that US forces shot eight Iraqis, most of them "innocent bystanders," in a raid in a village north of the provincial capital of Amara. "What happened this morning was a massacre in every sense of the word," said governor Mohammed Shia al-Sudany. The US military said the raid was against suspected members of an Iran-backed militia. (Press TV, Feb. 13)

Iraq's Ministry for Human Rights will file a lawsuit against the US and UK over their use of depleted uranium bombs, an Iraqi minister says. Iraq's Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, told Assabah newspaper that the suit will be based on reports from the Iraqi ministries of science and the environment finding an increase in the number of babies born with defects in the countries' southern provinces. The US and UK are said to have dropped nearly 2,000 tons of depleted uranium bombs following the 2003 invasion. (Tehran Times, Feb. 2)

The US Department of Justice is investigating whether Blackwater, now known as Xe, bribed Iraqi officials to allow the company to continue operating in the country following shooting deaths in 2007, the New York Times reported Jan. 31. The Justice Department's fraud division reportedly began an inquiry into the alleged $1 million bribery in late 2009. Bribery of foreign officials is a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Blackwater will likely claim that the $1 million was restitution to the families of the individuals killed in 2007, which would exempt the company from violation of federal law. A conviction under the FCPA may include both criminal and civil penalties. (Jurist, Feb. 1)

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside of the Forsenics Lab of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior's Criminal Investigation Department on Jan. 26, killing 21 people and injuring at least 80 others. The building collapsed shortly after the attack, which comes one day after coordinated deadly attacks against several Baghdad hotels frequented by westerners left 36 dead. Some have suggested that the attacks might be in retaliation for the previous day's execution of "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid. The bombing has also aroused concerns about Iraq's ability to ensure citizens' safety in the run-up to the general election scheduled for next month. Iraq's election legislation was just amended in December following a political impasse, causing the election to be pushed back from Jan. 31 to Feb. 27.

US Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled Jan. 19 that charges may be brought again against six individuals accused of massacring 17 people in Nisur Square, Baghdad, in 2007 while working for Blackwater Worldwide. The decision comes two weeks after a previous indictment was dismissed without prejudice.

Death squads returned to the streets of Baghdad with the first targeted killing of civilians in the city for more than two years, Iraqi media reported Jan. 19. Masked gunmen walked into the office of the Mawteni charitable foundation in a Sunni part of central Baghdad and executed five employees. They also left behind a car bomb at the entrance of the building, which exploded when police arrived on the scene, injuring two officers. (London Times, Jan. 19)

The Supreme Iraq Criminal Tribunal sentenced Ali Hassan al-Majid to death by hanging on Jan. 17, finding him guilty of having ordered the Kurdish town of Halabja gassed in 1988. The gassing of Halabja, which killed 5,000 Kurds, was part of the wider Anfal campaign against Kurds in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime, which saw numerous such attacks. Though al-Majid, better known by his sobriquet "Chemical Ali," has the right to appeal, Iraq deputy justice minister Busho Ibrahim said that his hanging is expected within days. Al-Majid, who has already been sentenced to death three other times, has still more alleged crimes to his name, but those will not go to trial.

Shell Oil and Malaysia's state-run Petronas finalized a contract Jan. 17 to develop Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field. In December, Shell and Petronas beat a rival bid from France's Total and China's CNPC to develop the 12.6 billion barrel field in southern Iraq. The field currently produces just 46,000 barrels per day. Shell and Petronas have pledged to increase that output to 1.8 million bpd. (BBC News, Jan. 17)