Iraq : Violent Killings continue

President Jalal Talabani said today that nearly 1,100 people were killed in Baghdad alone last month , they were "the tip of the iceberg" as many deaths went unrecorded . He said that behind every unidentified corpse is "an orphan, a starving father or a grieving wife."

Near Baqouba, 35 miles NE of Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying employees of the state-run Diyala Electronics Co., which makes products such as televisions They planted a bomb aboard the vehicle that exploded when rescue workers arrived. In all, 11 Iraqis were killed and six wounded.

13 Iraqis were killed in other attacks, including four off-duty policemen in Ramadi.

In Baghdad, suspected insurgents riding in two BMWs assassinated a Defense Ministry press office employee as he drove to work at about 8:15 a.m., police said.

One of the BMWs stopped to block the car of Mohammed Musab Talal al-Amari, a Shiite, said police Capt. Jamil Hussein. Three men got out of the other BMW and opened fire in the residential neighborhood of Bayaa, killing al-Amari and wounding an Iraqi pedestrian, Hussein said.

Casualties from a suicide truck bombing in Tal Afar on Tuesday night rose to 22 dead and 134 wounded. The U.S. military flew some of the wounded to other cities when the local hospital was overwhelmed.

In two other shootings in Baghdad 3 were killed , suspected insurgents killed a Shiite taxi driver and a Shiite who once belonged to Iraq's disbanded Baath party, police said. A similar attack killed a civilian driver about 80 miles south of the capital, said police.

-The bodies of two Iraqis who had been handcuffed and shot were found in eastern Baghdad.

-Gunmen in two cars killed two traffic policemen in western Baghdad.

-In Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, two roadside bombs targeting two American convoys, missed their targets but killed one civilian and wounded three.

-An ambush by insurgents killed four off-duty policemen in Ramadi on Tuesday, apparently as they were leaving work. Ramadi, 70 miles west of

Scores of unidentified bodies turn up around the capital on a daily basis, many bound, tortured and shot execution style in an steady tide of reprisal sectarian killings.

At least 3,525 Iraqis have been killed in war-related violence this year. These numbers include civilians, government officials, and police and security officials, and are considered only a minimum based on Associated Press reporting.

It is no surprise therefore that Leadership of the Interior Ministry - supposedly the key to securing the country against violence - has been a main stumbling block in the formation of the new national unity government.

Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki has said the interior and defense portfolios will be filled by independents unaffiliated with individual parties or militias. Don't hold your breath.

LATE NEWS OF MORE VIOLENCE, DEATH, AND DAMAGE

Gunmen assassinated a chief of criminal intelligence Kenaan Hassan and two bodyguards on the way to work in the town of Baacouba northeast of the capital

Separately, gunmen killed a leading member of Al-Badr militia of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution (SCIRI) in Iraq, Ibrahim Al-Khazraji, in Al-Dujail province, 70 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital late on Tuesday.

In the Baghdad district of Al-A'thamiah, armed elements gunned down Justice Muhaimen Mahmoud on Tuesday.

After it was blown up fire gutted a crude pipeline in the region of Al-Jarf in Al-Musayeb province, 70 km south of the Baghdad.

Don'r worry Civil War has not broken out and George says "we are winning".