Using lists to improve an article

Here’s an example of an article that I think could use bulleted lists and subheads to chunk the wide-ranging content. It is a Guardian article I found on Google News today. Although the headline reads “Car Bomb Blast Kills 2 in Central Baghdad,” the article continues on to elaborate on other recent security challenges in Iraq. There is no distinction between the headline subject material and subsequent contextual information about other instances of violence and a newly announced country wide cordon. The writing is fine, but the organization could benefit from a few changes.

For brevity’s sake, I’ll only post the portion of the article I “fixed.” My additions are italicized and precede the portion of the story where I thought they should be inserted. For comparison, you can read the entire article here.

Holiday border closure:

“Also Thursday, Iraqi authorities announced the country's borders would be sealed for five days this month around the time of a major Shiite religious holiday. About 180 people were killed in suicide attacks at Shiite shrines during last year's holiday.

Rising violence after brief lull:

“Violence has been on the rise after a brief lull during the Jan. 30 national elections, with insurgents targeting Iraqi security forces in a bid to undermine public confidence in police and soldiers.”

(Below I condensed the list of recent attacks into an easier to read list.)

• Gunmen fired on an Iraqi police patrol Thursday in the city of Baqouba, north of Baghdad
• In a separate attack, assailants gunned down a police lieutenant in Baqouba's industrial neighborhood, the official said.
• West of Baghdad, five bodies in Iraqi National Guard uniforms were found in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi.
• In the northern city of Mosul, American forces raided the house of a high-ranking Iraqi National Guard officer and arrested four of his security guards
• In the northern city of Kirkuk, a roadside bomb exploded several minutes after a U.S. military patrol passed, killing one Iraqi
• Evidence of another attack on Iraqi security troops surfaced Thursday in an insurgent video that showed gunmen shooting dead four blindfolded Iraqis

Final election results delayed by recount:

“Iraqi officials, meanwhile, said that they'll have to recount votes from about 300 ballot boxes because of various discrepancies, delaying final results from the country's landmark national elections. Up to several thousand other ballots were declared invalid because of alleged tampering.”