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Iraq Transition

Iraqi military officer, son slain at home

Iraqi forces find weapons south of capital


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Jane Arraf remembers the humanitarian killed in Iraq.

Marla Ruzicka's parents say she was a bright light in a dark cloud.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Insurgents dressed in Iraqi military uniforms killed an officer and his son at their home in southern Baghdad, police sources said.

Lt. Gen. Adnan Qaragholi was shot to death by a band of about 10 insurgents who came to his door in the al-Doura district of the capital on Monday, police told CNN.

Qaragholi let the uniformed men inside, only to be killed along with his son, Iraqi army Capt. Alaa al-Din.

Qaragholi was an adviser to interim Defense Minister Hazem Sha'alan, the sources said. The insurgents left their uniforms in Qaragholi's home before fleeing in three cars, they said.

Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces found hidden weapons caches during operations south of Baghdad, a senior U.S. official said Monday.

They discovered a firing range, a bomb manufacturing plant and at least one 200-pound bomb in Salmak Pak, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the capital, the official added.

Also, the security forces detained a few suspected insurgents, the official said.

The operation involved about 2,000 Iraqi police and soldiers, with backup from U.S. attack helicopters, the official said.

In west Baghdad, U.S. authorities said an Iraqi teenager tipped off soldiers to the location of a safe house and an insurgent, who was taken into custody Friday.

"This is just an example of how people are starting to feel safe and secure enough to provide us with information," said Capt. Aaron Duplechin.

U.S. aid worker killed

An American humanitarian worker helping civilians injured in the Iraq war was killed Saturday in a car bomb blast, a Western official said Sunday.

Marla Ruzicka, founder of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, was traveling near Baghdad International Airport when a car bomb exploded, killing her and her driver, the official said.

The U.S. Embassy is investigating and hasn't been able to determine if the attack was a suicide mission or a bomb that was remotely detonated, the official said.

It's also unknown whether Ruzicka's vehicle was associated with a three-car convoy of the National Democratic Institute that was traveling the same road, the official added. That convoy may have been the target.

A Czech employee of a security firm hired to drive the convoy also was killed, said Les Campbell, regional director of the U.S. nongovernmental organization.

Ruzicka, 28, founded Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict in 2003, according to the group's Web site. Its mission is to "mitigate the impact of the conflict and its aftermath on the people of Iraq by ensuring that timely and effective life-saving assistance is provided to those in need."

In Lakeport, California, Ruzicka's parents remembered their daughter as a young woman with "a tremendous open heart." (Full story)

Other developments

  • A blast from a roadside bomb south of Baghdad killed an American soldier late Sunday and wounded another, the U.S. military said. Also, mortars hit Saturday night in a U.S. military camp in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, killing three soldiers and wounding seven others, including three seriously, the military said. The number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq war stands at 1,557, the military said.
  • Insurgents killed the public information officer for police in the northern city of Mosul as he drove to work Sunday, the U.S.-led coalition said Monday. Brig. Gen. Younis Mohammad Sulaiman is the fourth public servant in the Nineveh province to be killed in four weeks, the coalition said.
  • Texas oil executive David Chalmers Jr. and a business associate, Ludmil Dionissiev, pleaded not guilty Monday to U.S. charges they bribed Iraqi government officials in Saddam Hussein's regime as part of the U.N. oil-for-food program. (Full story)
  • The U.S. Army said it has promoted missing soldier Keith Matthew Maupin to sergeant. The Army board of inquiry also maintained Maupin's status as "missing-captured." Maupin disappeared after an April 2004 attack on a fuel convoy. (Full story)
  • CNN's Ryan Chilcote, Kevin Flower, Ayman Mohyeldin, Aneesh Raman and Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.


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