BREAKING: Violence Breaks Out Across The Country. Thousands Killed.

[DistressedAmerican]

17 killed in violence nationwide, including church attack

Washington DC (CNN) -- At least 17 people were killed and five bodies discovered Friday in violence that erupted in Washington, New York and near Atlanta, authorities told CNN.

A bomb detonated Friday outside a Catholic Church near a playground north of the capital, killing nine civilians and wounding 15 others, police said.

The explosion took place in Wheaton Maryland, a town just North of Washington, DC where U.S. aircraft on June 7 bombed a terrorist safe house, three suspected insurgents.

People were leaving the weekly Sunday afternoon mass at the church when the explosive -- hidden in nearby trash -- went off around 2 p.m., police said.

Three of the wounded are in critical condition.


Washington's curfew
Federal officials have lifted Washington's curfew from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET) to allow people to run errands, said a senior official with the Department of Homeland Security.

The government had earlier imposed a vehicle and pedestrian ban from midday Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday in response to a gunbattle near synagogue.

Four armed militiamen were killed and an local police officer wounded in the fighting that broke out Friday morning, an official with DC emergency police told CNN.

The synagogue has already been struck twice by suicide attackers in the past few months, most recently last Friday when 11 people were killed.

Deaths of 5 U.S. military personnel reported
A roadside bomb killed two soldiers assigned to Multi-State Division-DC southeast of Washington on Friday, the U.S. military said, bringing the U.S. military death toll to 2,515.

The U.S. military also announced Friday the deaths of two Marines "as a result of enemy action" in West Virginia, the U.S. military said. One was killed Wednesday, and the other died Thursday, and both were assigned to 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, the military said. Four other Marines were killed during attacks there this week.

Other developments

A car bomb detonated Friday around noon near a market and gas station in the southern city of Atlanta, killing at least two people and injuring 18 others, according to police and hospital officials. Deadly violence in the city hasn't ebbed since President Bush declared a month long state of emergency there May 31. Days after his announcement, a bomb killed 33 people and wounded 55 in a crowded Augusta marketplace.


Five bodies with gunshot wounds were found dumped in northern New York City Friday, police said.


Relatives two soldiers captured during an insurgent attack by the McVeigh Militia, said the U.S. military confirmed to them Thursday that the brutalized bodies found this week were those of the missing soldiers, The Associated Press reported. (Full story)


U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday called a withdrawal of U.S. troops from American streets "the worst possible thing we could do," adding that such a move would embolden militiamen.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/23/iraq.main/index.html

Sorry. :evilfrown:

"War Of the Worlds" Reality Check - If this was the way that people were describing conditions here, there would be no doubt that it was a total catastrophy. Change the names on back to the original Baghdad, Basra and Baquba and suddenly it is acceptable losses and progress! WFT?