9 US Soldiers Killed in Iraq, Pilgrims Attacked

Mar 06, 06:22 PM

Current Headlines: Nine US soldiers were killed in two bomb attacks north of Baghdad, the military said yesterday, in the deadliest day for US forces since they launched a security crackdown in the capital three weeks ago.

Commanders had warned that militants may launch assaults outside Baghdad, where more than 90,000 Iraqi and US troops have intensified operations to rein in sectarian violence.

In the worst of Monday's two attacks against US forces, six soldiers were killed and three were wounded by a blast near their vehicles in Salahaddin province, a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold north of Baghdad.

In a separate incident, three US soldiers were killed and one wounded by another blast near their vehicles in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

The US military did not specify if the two blasts were caused by a roadside bomb or a car bomb.

But US commanders are concerned about the increased use by insurgents of a particularly deadly type of armor-piercing roadside bomb which, US commanders say, is made in Iran. The bombs have killed more than 170 US troops in Iraq since 2004.

More than 3,170 US soldiers have died in Iraq since the US-led invasion in March 2003.

Despite the crackdown, seen as the last chance to avoid an all- out civil war, violence continued in other parts of Baghdad, defying Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's plan to bring order to the lawless city of seven million.

In the latest of a string of sectarian attacks against pilgrims of the Shi'ite majority by suspected Sunni Arab insurgents, eight pilgrims were killed and 23 wounded in three separate car bombs in Baghdad, police said.

The pilgrims were heading on foot to the holy city of Kerbala, south of Baghdad, to mark a religious event. At least seven pilgrims were killed on Monday.

82 Shi'ites die in attacks

Insurgents killed 82 Shi'ite pilgrims walking to the holy city of Kerbala in attacks across Iraq yesterday, police said.

In the worst incident, two suicide bombers strapped with explosives walked into a roadside tent near the city of Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 47 people and wounding 117, police said. The pilgrims had gathered inside the tent to eat and rest on their way to Kerbala, police said.

The attacks are likely to increase sectarian tensions between majority Shi'ites and Sunni Arabs that have threatened to plunge the country into all-out civil war. Police said 237 pilgrims were wounded in total.

Insurgents also launched attacks against Shi'ite pilgrims in and around Baghdad. A car bomb in the southern Baghdad district of Doura killed 12, police said.

Agencies

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