Iraq - 200 dead in deadly attacks

Iraq yesterday saw a series of devastating attacks which killed over 200 people. They were victim to 3 suicide tanker bombs which targeted Qahtiniya in the Sinjar area of north-west Iraq. The blasts, which occurred at around 20:00 local time, is one of the worst string of attacks to hit the country and the first to hit the Kurdish area of the country for some time. Early reports which broke at around 21:00 GMT suggested 175 had died and at least 200 were injured in the coordinated attacks. But this morning numbers had increased sharply [BBC / CNN]. This week has also seen more US casualties. A sniper shot and killed a U.S. soldier, then lured his comrades to a booby-trapped house where four more troops died in an attack believed to be the work of Al Qaeda in Iraq on Saturday.A further five US personell died this week when their helicopter crashed to the west of Baghdad [Reuters]. It brings the total US casualty count to 3,699 since hostilities began in March 2003. Forty one have died in August so far with 71 killed last month.