News From Iraq

-Insurgent fighters have killed at least 23 Iraqis, most of them police officers, in a wave of bombings across the country, after US generals warned the country could slip into civil war. DETAILS

-According to figures compiled from Iraqi security and health department figures, more than 1,000 civilians, 135 members of security forces and 143 insurgents were killed nationwide in July. In addition, 1,8000 civilians were injured. DETAILS

-Nine Iraqi police officers have been killed when insurgents detonated a series of bombs and fierce fighting erupted in the northern city of Mosul. DETAILS

-Army Spc. Andrew Velez, the second of two brothers to die during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, committed suicide, his family and military officials said Thursday. DETAILS

-Tens of thousands of Shiites draped in white shrouds gathered in Iraq's capital Friday for a pro-Hezbollah rally, while violence around the country left eight people dead. In the northern city of Mosul, a car bomb killed three policemen, and clashes between Iraqi security forces and Sunni insurgents left one policeman dead and eight people injured, officials said. Four Shiites were shot dead overnight by unidentified gunmen near Baghdad. The streets of the Shiite-dominated Sadr City slum in Baghdad were packed with thousands of people for the rally, called by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Organizers said about 250,000 people had gathered, but the estimate was impossible to confirm. Dressed in white shrouds - a symbol of their willingness to die - the demonstrators waved Hezbollah's yellow flags and chanted ''Death to Israel'' and ''Death to America.'' DETAILS

The following are security incidents in Iraq reported on Friday, Aug. 4:

BAGHDAD - Two civilians were killed and four others wounded when gunmen opened fire in the Doura district of south Baghdad, police sources said. They said the casualties may have been participants in a rally called earlier in the day by radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, in support of Hizbollah.

BAGHDAD - Three suspected militants linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq were killed in U.S. raids and an air strike southeast of Baghdad on Thursday afternoon, the U.S. military said.

MAHMUDIYA - U.S. soldiers killed two suspected militants in Mahmudiya, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, after they were shot at from a yellow van, the U.S. military said. The military said the van was subsequently stopped and the bodies of two men, together with several weapons, were found by security forces.

HADHAR - Ten people, including three policemen, killed when a suicide car bomber drove into a crowd of spectators at a football match where a police side was playing a local side in the town of Hadhar, 90 km (55 miles) south of Mosul. There were 12 wounded, including nine police, police said.

MOSUL - A senior Mosul police officer and two bodyguards were killed by a car bomb and at least one policeman and four militants died in heavy clashes between insurgents, and U.S. and Iraqi forces in the city, police sources said.

BAGHDAD - Two marines were killed in separate incidents in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The marines, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, died on Thursday. A police source said on Thursday that the vehicle was part of a convoy of supporters of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, heading to Baghdad for a rally, with one killed and 16 wounded.

UBAYDI - Three Iraqi civilians were killed and nine wounded by a mortar attack apparently aimed at U.S. marines in Ubaydi, 315 km (200 miles) west of Baghdad, near to the Syrian border, the U.S. military said. The attack was on Thursday evening.

BAGHDAD - U.S. soldiers killed an suspected insurgent they believed to be burying a roadside bomb north of the capital, the U.S. military said. The incident was on Thursday evening.