Militants launch attacks in Iraq and Egypt

Another bloody day in Iraq as attacks near the Syrian border saw 4 US soldiers dead and 4 others injured. In fresh car bomb attacks in Baghdad at least 11 people were killed and 40 injured. ABC also reported that a joint Iraqi – US patrol was attacked in west Baghdad. The final death toll for Friday’s 17 attacks rose to at least 50 in what is seen as an attempt to shake the newly formed Iraqi government. In Cairo, Egypt, 4 people were killed and a number of others injured when ‘Islamic militants’ launched a number of sporadic attacks. In the first a grenade or bomb was thrown from a bridge near to a 5 star hotel and an Egyptian museum. Information was confused as regards the numbers and nationalities of dead and injured. CNN reported that 1 person was dead, believed to be an Arab. It also reported 7 injured, four of them foreigners. One security source was reported as saying that two were Israelis, 1 Italian and a Russian. The Egyptian health minister, Mohammed Awad Tag Eddin, told Nile TV News that the injured comprised three Egyptians, two Israelis, 1 Swiss and one Italian. The BBC report painted a different picture. The Arab was said to be a ‘wanted militant’ who detonated his device after being pursued by police. In another incident they reported that ‘the sister and fiancée of the bomber’ fired upon a tourist bus before shooting themselves. They reported 3 dead, the ‘bomber’ and his two relatives, and 10 injured. 20:36 GMT/UTC/ZULU