Bomb kills three US soldiers in Baghdad
Three American soldiers were killed and nine others wounded in a Baghdad bombing today.
The attack was one of a series to hit Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk, killing at least 66 people and wounding dozens more in two days.
The deadliest blast occurred in Baghdad’s southern Dora district, where a roadside bomb exploded near an American foot patrol.
The soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded as they patrolled near a popular outdoor market.
Earlier a suicide bomber killed seven US-backed Sunni paramilitaries as they queued to receive salaries at an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk.
Police said the victims were members of the local paramilitary Awakening Council – Sunnis who turned against the insurgents and help provide security. Eight others were wounded.
Awakening Council members, also known as Sons of Iraq, have been frequently targeted by al Qaida and other Sunni groups still fighting US troops and the US-backed Iraqi government.
Meanwhile a bomb exploded inside a police station in western Baghdad, killing three policemen and wounding 19 others.
Despite a dramatic drop in violence in Iraq, attacks still occur, although with less frequency. Bursts of attacks tend to be followed by periods of calm, only to have the violence spring up again.
The attacks came a day after a car bomb exploded near a group of restaurants in a Shiite neighbourhood of north-west Baghdad, leaving 41 people dead and more than 70 others injured.
That incident was the capital’s first major car-bombing since May 6, when 15 people were killed at a market in south Baghdad. It was also the deadliest in the city since twin car blasts killed 51 people in another Shiite neighbourhood, Sadr City, on April 29.
The failure to stop the bombings adds pressure on the Iraqi government to demonstrate that it can meet security challenges ahead of a June 30 deadline for the US to remove all combat forces from Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
