Bomb kills U.S. soldiers, kids receiving toys
BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber detonated his explosives as American soldiers were handing out toys to children northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least three children and three of the troopers, U.S. and Iraqi authorities said.
Seven children were wounded in the attack in Baqouba, where U.S. soldiers wrested control from al-Qaida in Iraq last summer.
The attack, along with a series of other blasts in the capital and to the north, underlined the uncertainty of security in Iraq even as the American military said overall violence is down 55 percent since a troop buildup began this year.
Police said the attack occurred as U.S. soldiers were handing out toys, sports equipment and other treats in a playground near Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
The deaths raised to at least 3,870 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Elsewhere, officials in the southern city of Sumawah said a U.S. Army convoy opened fire Sunday in an unprovoked attack on motorists who were trying to get out of its way, injuring four and destroying a truckload of sheep.
The U.S. military apologized for the Sumawah incident, saying in a statement that two civilians were killed and four injured. Local officials said there were no deaths.
In all, at least 29 people were killed Sunday, including the three soldiers.
The deadliest attack was a parked-car bomb targeting a convoy carrying Salman al-Mukhtar, an adviser to the Iraqi finance minister. Al-Mukhtar escaped injury, but the blast in the predominantly Shiite district of Karradah in central Baghdad killed at least 10 people and wounded 21, including two of the official’s bodyguards, according to police and hospital officials.
The chief editor of an independent daily newspaper, al-Bayan al-Jadid, Sattar Jabbar, was in the car with the minister’s adviser when the explosion occurred but also was not hurt, Jabbar’s brother, Abdul-Wahhab, said.
Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, a U.S. military spokesman, said overall attacks in Iraq have fallen 55 percent since nearly 30,000 additional American troops arrived, and some areas are experiencing their lowest levels of violence since the summer of 2005.
Civilian casualties were down 60 percent across Iraq since June, and the figure for Baghdad was even better - 75 percent, Smith said.
But he acknowledged the “violence is still too high” and warned that Iraq still faces threats from Shiite militants as well as al-Qaida in Iraq.
U.S. and Iraqi officials have said in recent weeks that Iran appears to be honoring a commitment to stem the flow of deadly weapons to support Shiite militia fighters in Iraq, contributing to the sharp decline in violence. But American officials tempered that optimism on Sunday, saying it was too early to determine Iran’s role in the downturn.
Information from The Washington Post is included in this report.