Iraq bomb attacks kill 18

Two US Marines died on Monday after separate roadside bombings near Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, the military said.

A US Soldier died of non-combat related injuries on Sunday at Camp Dublin, near Baghdad International Airport, the military added.

Today’s attacks in and around the northern town of Hawija appeared co-ordinated and aimed at checkpoints manned by members of Iraq’s fledgling army, which has been a constant target of insurgents opposed to the country’s new US-backed government.

The first explosion, caused by a roadside bomb, rocked Hawija, about 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk. Soon after, three suicide bombers waiting in lines of cars at army checkpoints to the west and north of Hawija struck in quick succession.

In the deadliest attack, 10 civilians and one soldier were killed at a checkpoint in Dibis, two miles west of Hawija, army Lt. Faleh Ahmed said. Three soldiers and two civilians were killed at a checkpoint in Bagara, three miles west of Hawija. Two soldiers died in a suicide attack on the Aziziya checkpoint at the northern entrance to Hawija.

“I was standing some distance from the checkpoint when I heard a big explosion and I was thrown onto the ground,” Lt. Sadiq Mohammed 26, whose right leg was wounded in the Dibis attack, said from his hospital bed. “This is a terrorist act because real resistance should only target American troops, not Iraqis trying to protect their country.”

The Tal Afar offensive is targeting “terror suspects” responsible for multiple attacks on civilians, US Army spokesman Sgt. John Franzen said.

Eyewitnesses said US helicopters were flying overhead as tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles patrolled its narrow streets, regularly coming under small arms fire from militants. Tal Afar police Capt. Amjad Hashim said about 20 suspected insurgents had been captured.

Hashim also claimed insurgents fired an anti-aircraft rocket at a US helicopter, striking it and making it return to its base. Franzen said an American OH-58 two seat reconnaissance helicopter suffered “mechanical difficulties” but was unaware if it had come under enemy attack.

The Tal Afar operation comes a day after US and Iraqi military commanders met with nearly 80 local tribal elders and agreed to “work together to end violence” and rebuild the ancient city’s police and local government services, the military said in a statement.

The US military said “terrorists” attacked a convoy of civilian contractors delivering supplies for coalition forces and US forces cordoned off the attack scene in Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad. No further details were provided.

More than one hour later, a suicide car bomber targeted a five-car convoy destroying two GMC Suburban vehicles near Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Iraqi police Sgt. Khalid al-Duleimi said. It was not immediately clear who was travelling in the vehicles.

More than 860 people have died during the less than six-week period since Iraq’s new Shiite-led government was announced.

But Iraqi and US officials maintain that a high-profile counterinsurgency offensive in Baghdad, dubbed Operation Lightning, has helped curb the number of attacks in the capital, where multiple suicide car bombings and drive-by shootings have become a sinister part of daily life.

The operation, which began May 22, is the biggest Iraqi-led offensive since Saddam’s ouster two years ago. Before it began, authorities controlled only eight of Baghdad’s 23 entrances. Now all are under government control.

At least 887 arrests have been made during the operation, according to government figures, and 608 mobile and 194 permanent checkpoints have been established around Baghdad.

Sunni Arab Islamic extremists opposed to the new Shiite-led government and former Saddam Hussein loyalists, who lost their positions of power following the former dictator’s ouster, are believed to be major players in the rampant insurgency.

The influential Sunni group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, condemned Operation Lightning, saying it was targeting members of the minority and fuelling sectarian tensions. The government has acknowledged some mistakes have been made during the operation.

“We tried to reduce tension, but the government took another path. What is being done by the army during the raids and the arrests is only enhancing the culture of hatred,” said association spokesman Abdel-Salam al-Qubeisi.

Meanwhile, a Sunni Arab politician claimed that two insurgent groups were ready to open talks with the government and eventually lay down their arms and join the political process.

The disclosure today by Ayham al-Samarie was the first time any Iraqi politician has publicly acknowledged contacting Iraq’s insurgency and opened a new front in efforts to counter it.

It was not possible to verify his claims and the government would not comment on them.

Al-Samarie, who has dual US-Iraqi citizenship, said the two groups were the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Mujahedeen Army, the Arabic for holy warriors. He said he had not met any of their field commanders but began contacting their political leaders about five months ago. He did not name them.

He said the two factions represented more than half of the “resistance,” the term used by many in Iraq to exclude militant Muslim groups working with Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi of al Qaida in Iraq and others who target civilians as well as Iraq’s security forces.

The Islamic Army in Iraq has claimed responsibility for several attacks and is believed to be responsible for kidnapping and killing several of the more than 200 foreigners taken hostage in Iraq in the past 18 months. Little is known about the Mujahedeen Army.

Some Iraqi officials believe that the imminent trial of Saddam, perhaps within two months, may further lessen the violence.

Saddam, who was captured in December 2003, is facing about 14 cases ranging from gassing thousands of Kurds and suppressing a Shiite uprising to executing religious and political foes during his 23-year reign, according to a list.

A Sunni cleric, Salam al-Kardici, has been shot dead and his body found today dumped underneath a bridge in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, police and a local mosque leader said.