February 11, 2009 4:26 PM
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4 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Iraq Explosion
Four U.S. soldiers died Monday from wounds suffered in a combat explosion in Diyala province north of Baghdad, the American military reported. Twelve others had minor injuries and returned to duty.
The military statement announcing the deaths gave no other details and said identities of the victims were being withheld until family could be notified.
Earlier Monday the military said one soldier was killed during fighting in eastern Baghdad a day earlier. Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting.
At least 3,673 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber slammed his truck into a densely populated residential area in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar on Monday, killing at least 28 people, police said. The attack occurred in a crowded Shiite neighborhood of the mixed city, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.
At least 40 others were wounded in the attack, said Brig. Gen. Rahim al-Jibouri, commander of Tal Afar police. The death toll was expected to rise, he said.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed nine civilians and wounded eight during rush hour Monday morning, police said.
The bomb had been planted at the Zaafaraniyah intersection in the Jisr Diyala area, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media. The route is frequently used by Iraqi police and army patrols. All the victims were pedestrians, the officer said. Three cars were also damaged.
The attacker in Tal Afar drove a dump truck filled with explosives and covered with a layer of gravel, said Brig. Najim Abdullah.
Within an hour of the attack, authorities imposed a complete curfew on the city, he said.
Abdullah, who also is mayor of Tal Afar, said the blast occurred six miles northeast of the city center. Most of the dead, he said, were women and children. Rescue workers were still digging in the rubble for more victims.
In other developments:
A report in The Washington Post says investigators don't know what happened to about a third of the guns given to Iraqi security forces — or who has them now. A study by the Government Accountability Office shows U.S. military officials have lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi forces in 2004 and 2005, according to the newspaper. The report says the highest previous estimate of unaccounted-for weapons — given to Iraqi forces as part of their training — was 14,000.
Republican presidential contenders sparred generally agreed during a televised Sunday debate that the United States must remain in Iraq to help win the war against radical Islamic extremists. "Just come home," dissented Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the lone advocate of a quick troop withdrawal. He said there had never been a good reason to go to war in the first place. (Read more)
The U.S. military said Sunday that U.S. troops three days earlier killed a man they describe as an al Qaeda leader who was the mastermind of the latest bombing of the Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, Iraq, and a suspect in the 2006 bombing of the same Shiite holy place. (Read more)
Iraqi officials say the nation's power grid is on the brink of collapse because of insurgent sabotage, rising demand, fuel shortages and provinces that are unplugging local power stations from the grid. Electricity Ministry spokesman Aziz al-Shimari said power generation nationally is only meeting half the demand, and there had been four nationwide blackouts over the past two days. The shortages across the country are the worst since the summer of 2003, shortly after the start of the war in Iraq.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The military statement announcing the deaths gave no other details and said identities of the victims were being withheld until family could be notified.
Earlier Monday the military said one soldier was killed during fighting in eastern Baghdad a day earlier. Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting.
At least 3,673 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber slammed his truck into a densely populated residential area in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar on Monday, killing at least 28 people, police said. The attack occurred in a crowded Shiite neighborhood of the mixed city, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad.
At least 40 others were wounded in the attack, said Brig. Gen. Rahim al-Jibouri, commander of Tal Afar police. The death toll was expected to rise, he said.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed nine civilians and wounded eight during rush hour Monday morning, police said.
The bomb had been planted at the Zaafaraniyah intersection in the Jisr Diyala area, a predominantly Shiite neighborhood, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media. The route is frequently used by Iraqi police and army patrols. All the victims were pedestrians, the officer said. Three cars were also damaged.
The attacker in Tal Afar drove a dump truck filled with explosives and covered with a layer of gravel, said Brig. Najim Abdullah.
Within an hour of the attack, authorities imposed a complete curfew on the city, he said.
Abdullah, who also is mayor of Tal Afar, said the blast occurred six miles northeast of the city center. Most of the dead, he said, were women and children. Rescue workers were still digging in the rubble for more victims.
In other developments:
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