al-Qaeda continues to take a beating in Iraq and incompetence is starting to show in their actions, meaning al-Qaeda must be scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of fighters and strategists:

Killings, kidnaps and arrests marked a new bloody day in conflict-torn Iraq on Wednesday, with at least three Iraqis killed and 10 others wounded in northern Baghdad and 14 militants killed by their own explosives near Tikrit.

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In other developments, Iraqi security forces killed 14 gunmen, captured 114 others and arrested two suspected militants in several areas of Baghdad during the past 24 hours under the Baghdad Fardh al-Qanoun (Law Enforcement) – security plan, sources said.

The forces managed also to free three captives, defuse two bombs and confiscate large amount of weapons and ammunition in different areas of Baghdad, mainly in Kadhimiyah City in northern Baghdad, the source added.

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In related news, fourteen militants were killed in northern Iraq on Wednesday when they accidentally blew themselves up in the Shurqat district, north of Tikrit.

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In Baquba, gunmen stopped a mini-bus carrying Iraqi students, kidnapping eight males, the Association of Muslim Scholars said Wednesday, adding that the kidnappers left the female students.

I wonder if Allah gives out virgins for blowing themselves without taking out any innocent women and children in the process? But the real blunder, in my mind, is kidnapping children. al-Qaeda leaders turned tail and ran from the battles in Bagouba (supposedly some trying to escape dressed as women in one report I saw but now cannot find) and have been butchering Iraqi Muslims left and right. Kidnapping Iraqi children is a clear sign of desperation and will only inflame the Iraqi street and move more of them to ally with the Iraqi government and the US. That is really a dumb, brutal mistake on al-Qaeda’s part.