Dozens Dead In Wave Of Iraq Violence

Extremists Pound Green Zone With Rockets And Mortar Fire, As Suicide Attack Hits Mosul

(AP)  Rockets and mortars pounded Baghdad's U.S.-protected Green Zone Sunday and a suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi army post in the northern city of Mosul in a surge of attacks that killed at least 57 people nationwide.

The latest violence underscored the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups as the war enters its sixth year and the U.S. death toll in the conflict approaches 4,000.

Attacks in Baghdad probably stemmed from rising tensions between rival Shiite groups - some of whom may have been behind the Green Zone blasts. It was the most sustained assault in months against the nerve center of the U.S. mission.

The deadliest attack of the day was in Mosul when a suicide driver slammed his vehicle through a security checkpoint in a hail of gunfire and detonated his explosives in front of an Iraqi headquarters building, killing 13 Iraqi soldiers and injuring 42 other people, police said.

Iraqi guards opened fire on the vehicle but couldn't stop it because the windshield had been bulletproofed, said an Iraqi army officer. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not supposed to release the information.

Mosul, Iraq's third largest city about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, has been described as the last major urban area where the Sunni extremist al Qaeda group maintains a significant presence.

In Baghdad, rockets and mortars began slamming into the Green Zone about sunrise, and scattered attacks persisted throughout the day, sending plumes of smoke rising over the heavily guarded district in the heart of the capital.

A U.S. public address system in the Green Zone warned people to "duck and cover" and to stay away from windows.

U.S. spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said four people were wounded in the Green Zone, which includes the U.S. and British embassies as well as major Iraqi government offices. She gave no nationalities.

But Iraqi police said 10 civilians were killed and more than 20 were injured in rocket or mortar blasts in scattered areas of eastern Baghdad - some of them probably due to misfired rounds.

Also in the capital, seven people were killed and 14 wounded in a suicide car bombing Sunday in the Shiite area of Shula in the capital, police reported. Such attacks are the hallmark of Sunni religious extremists.

Gunmen opened fire on passengers waiting for buses in a predominantly Shiite area in southeastern Baghdad, killing at least seven men and wounding 16 people, including women and children, according to police.

Police also found the bullet-riddled bodies of 12 people - six in Baghdad, four in Mosul and two in Kut, scene of clashes between government troops and Shiite militiamen.

Elsewhere, several mortars or rockets struck a U.S. base in the Shiite city of Hillah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said. The American military did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the attack.

No group claimed responsibility for the Green Zone attacks, but suspicion fell on Shiite extremists based on the areas from which the weapons were fired.

The attacks followed a series of clashes last week between U.S. and Iraqi forces and factions of the Mahdi Army, the biggest Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Al-Sadr led two uprisings against U.S.-led coalition forces in 2004. Last August he declared a six-month cease-fire to purge the militia of criminal and dissident elements.

U.S. officials have cited the truce, which al-Sadr recently extended, among the reasons behind a 60 percent drop in violence since President Bush ordered 30,000 U.S. reinforcements to Iraq early last year.

But the cease-fire has come under severe strains in recent weeks. Al-Sadr's followers have accused the Shiite-dominated government of exploiting the cease-fire to target the cleric's supporters in advance of provincial elections expected this fall.

Al-Sadr recently told his followers that although the truce remains in effect, they were free to defend themselves against attacks. Al-Sadr followers have demanded the release of supporters rounded up in recent weeks.

U.S. officials have insisted they are not going after Sadrists who respect the cease-fire but are targeting renegade elements, known as special groups, that the Americans believe have ties to Iran.

But the pattern of the attacks against the Green Zone could be a signal to the Americans and their Iraqi partners to ease their pressure against mainstream Sadrists or the special groups.

Elsewhere, 12 gunmen were killed Sunday in a raid against a suspected suicide bombing network east of Baqouba, the U.S. military said.

Iraqi police reported a dozen civilians killed in an air strike in the same area. But the military said those killed in the raid were insurgents, including six who had shaved their bodies apparently in preparation for suicide operations.

A police commander was shot to death along with his driver in Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.

A roadside bomb near the northern city of Tuz Khormato killed four Iraqi soldiers, including an officer.

The violence was reported by police officials who declined to be identified because they weren't supposed to release the information.

[leftyintexas]

But how can this be?? We''re winning the war on ''terror'', aren''t we? At least that''s what the grand Doofus tells us. Ha!Ha!Ha!

[denn034]

Why would the Shiite Iran give the Sunni al Qaida missiles to use against the US knowing they''ll also use them against Iraqi Shiites after the US leaves?

[denn034]

If the Shiites may be behind the blast, then, doesn''t that indicate the US is fighting two insurgencies of Sunnis and Shiites that''re fighting each other and the US. Remember, the Sunnis and Shiites hate each other.

[killtheliars]

But our wise and fearless leader Bush says the surge is working, just like the economy is fine. Since he is always correct and honest the news reports must be lies.

[j-whitman]

nutsie11,,,, If you can''t figure out how to defend yourself or support your community so they can for you -- Obviously you are the wrong person to own a gun

[nmrosen]

Utterly insane, disgusting, and psychotic war we are in. It is the embarrassment of all that we hold sacred. Team Bush and all those affiliated with the lies that brought us to war should be impeached and convicted of high crimes and treason. They should be prosecuted for war crimes as well. To do anything less is to spit in the face of the civilization that we hold dear. I once supported this effort BEFORE I knew the truth. It is a scandal of HUGE import and HUGE consequences. We need a CHANGE in leadership and we need it NOW. We cannot even wait until November. Someone, please save our once beautiful republic!

[lochlan-2009]

nutsie11..Do you think 7 years of Prick Cheney and his finger puppet Bush have something to do with our troubles? $4,000 dead Americans, that''''s more than were killed on 9/11,thousands more sons and daughters comming home with missing arms and legs,billions of wasted tax dollars, war profiteers ripping us off everyday, the economy in a nose dive, American jobs being sent off to places like China, seniors, cutting pills in half so they can stretch medication, thousands of"working" Americans with NO health insurance and YOU what to blame illegal imigration from Mexico for our problems. Stop tuning into Limbaugh and "think" before you say stupid things. You''''re being used but you are too blind to know it.

Posted by vmcneal2

Couldn''t have said it better myself. You are dead on accurate.

[vmcneal2]

WonderYman...I disagree with you''re stats. It''s not just oil, Muslims holdings in the United States are huge. If they pulled all of their money out of the US our economy would be in much deeper Sh*T than it is now. And who is the blame for this..greedy Americans people like Prick Cheney who would sell their own mothers to make a buck.

[vmcneal2]

nutsie11..Do you think 7 years of Prick Cheney and his finger puppet Bush have something to do with our troubles? $4,000 dead Americans, that''s more than were killed on 9/11,thousands more sons and daughters comming home with missing arms and legs,billions of wasted tax dollars, war profiteers ripping us off everyday, the economy in a nose dive, American jobs being sent off to places like China, seniors, cutting pills in half so they can stretch medication, thousands of"working" Americans with NO health insurance and YOU what to blame illegal imigration from Mexico for our problems. Stop tuning into Limbaugh and "think" before you say stupid things. You''re being used but you are too blind to know it.

[nmrosen]

All those who call for constant war and constant killing and constant mayhem and constant destruction, blowing up people, often innocent of course some not so innocent, they more often than not never experience the chaos of war but think it some glorious and yes "romantic" as the decider in chief called it, so really all those who support it, want to fight it, want to blast bodies into oblivion THEY SHOULD fight it. Go sign up, get over there and pull the triggers and drop the bombs. Cheney, Bush, Rove and the whole putrid lot spent not one day not one hour dropping those bombs of pulling those triggers. There is an evil inclination in man and many in this country to love war, to love the glory, to love the killing, to love the utter mayhem. I say if you love that so much go DO IT!!