BAGHDAD, 7 May 2007 — Eight American soldiers were killed in Iraq yesterday, including six who died along with a European journalist in a roadside bomb attack north of Baghdad, the US military said.
In a statement, the military said the deadliest incident took place in volatile Diyala province. It said the bomb hit a vehicle that the soldiers and the journalist were traveling in.
US military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said the journalist was European and worked for a news organization that did not have a permanent presence in Baghdad. He declined to give more information. The attack in Diyala was one of the worst single attacks against US forces in months. Two other US soldiers were killed in separate bomb attacks, the military said, including one in Baghdad.
Earlier, a car bomb killed 35 people and wounded 80 next to a crowded market in a Shiite district of Baghdad which has been a repeated target of attacks. Bystanders used blankets to carry the dead and wounded to pickup trucks. The blast tore off shop fronts and destroyed cars.
US forces also killed up to 10 militants and destroyed a torture room in Baghdad’s Sadr City. American commanders said the predawn raid, on suspected members of a cell known for smuggling sophisticated bombs from Iran, found 150 mortar bombs in the same building as the room and troops destroyed them in a controlled blast.
North of the capital, two suicide car bombers attacked police positions in the city of Samarra, killing 10 people, including Samarra’s police commander, officials said. They said 15 people were wounded. Most of the victims were police.
A larger van bomb rammed the gates of a police station and exploded, killing local police chief Col. Jalil Al-Dulaimi. The seriously wounded Iraqi policemen were evacuated by helicopter to a US hospital.
In Kerbala, south of the capital, witnesses reported seeing a member of the former ruling Baath party gunned down. The mortuary confirmed receiving the bullet-riddled body.
