Weekend Attacks Claim 14 U.S. Lives

Jun 04, 07:39 AM

Current Headlines: By KIM GAMEL

By KIM GAMEL

The Associated Press

BAGHDAD - The U.S. military said Sunday that 14 American soldiers were killed during the past three days, including four in a roadside bombing and another who was struck by a suicide bomber while on a foot patrol.

The blast that killed the four U.S. soldiers occurred Sunday as the troops were conducting a cordon-and-search operation northwest of Baghdad, according to a statement. Two other soldiers were killed and five were wounded along with an Iraqi interpreter in two separate roadside bombings Sunday, the military said.

In the boldest attack, a U.S. soldier was killed Friday after the patrol approached two suspicious men for questioning near a mosque southwest of Baghdad, and one of the suspects blew himself up. Military spokesman Maj. Webster Wright said U.S. troops also fired at the second suspect after he began acting aggressively, and the gunfire detonated his suicide vest.

"Our initial analysis is that these guys were al-Qaida and were planning to launch attacks into Baghdad," Wright said in an e- mailed statement.

Seven other soldiers were killed in attacks across Iraq on Saturday.

Combined with the previously announced death of a U.S. soldier in central Baghdad on Friday, it was a deadly start for June. May was the third-bloodiest month since the war began in March 2003, with 127 troops killed.

A car bomb also exploded outside a U.S. base near the volatile city of Baqouba, leaving a number of troops gasping for air and suffering from eye irritations, the military said. It did not confirm a report in the Los Angeles Times that the car was carrying chlorine canisters and said the soldiers who were sickened had been treated and returned to duty.

The attacks came days after the Pentagon announced the completion of the troop buildup ordered by President Bush in January, raising the total number of troops in Iraq to about 150,000. That number may climb as more support troops move in.

The Bush administration has warned that the buildup will result in more U.S. casualties as more soldiers come into contact with enemy forces and concentrate on the streets of Baghdad and remote outposts.

Sectarian violence persisted against Iraqis as well, with a car parked near a police station by an open-air market exploding shortly after noon in the predominantly Shiite enclave of Balad Ruz, in volatile Diyala province of northeast of Baghdad. At least 10 people were killed.

Gunmen at a fake checkpoint in Baqouba, 35 miles north of Baghdad, also killed two passengers and wounded eight others when they opened fire on three minibuses that sought to flee from the highway trap.

At least 73 other Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide, including 31 bullet-riddled bodies of men who were apparent victims of death squads usually believed to be run by Shiite militias.

Meanwhile, Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled with Iraqi troops and local police searching for two militia leaders in the southern city of Diwaniyah . At least three people were killed and 24 wounded, Iraqi officials said .

The clashes in Diwaniyah erupted Saturday evening after Iraqi soldiers and police cordoned off a market in search of two senior Mahdi Army figures wanted by U.S.-led coalition forces in connection with sectarian killings.

Maj. Gen. Othman Ali, commander of the Iraq army's 8th Division, said his forces captured one of the men, but he escaped when fellow militiamen came to his aid.

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