World

20 Dead In Latest Iraq Car Bombing

November 3, 2005 / 3:32 AM EST / CBS/AP

A suicide bomber detonated a minibus Wednesday in an outdoor market packed with shoppers ahead of a Muslim festival, killing about 20 people and wounding more than 60 in a Shiite town south of Baghdad. Six U.S. troops were killed, two in a helicopter crash west of the capital.

Also Wednesday, the U.S. command confirmed moves to step up training on how to combat roadside bombs — now the biggest killers of American troops in Iraq. At least 2,032 U.S. military service members have died since the Iraq conflict began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The suicide bombing occurred about 5 p.m. in the center of Musayyib, a Euphrates River town 40 miles from Baghdad. On July 16, nearly 100 people died in a suicide bombing in front of a Shiite mosque in Musayyib.

Witnesses said the latest attack took place as the market was crowded one day before the three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Many women and children were feared among the dead and wounded.

"They want to kill people before the feast," said Nagat Hassoun, 50, who lived a few hundred yards from the blast site. "They want people to stay at home and live in a tragedy. The aim is to cause sabotage. They're targeting the Shiites."

The town police chief, Lt. Col. Ahmed Mijwil, said 22 people were killed and 61 wounded. But officials warned the figures could change as rescuers frantically searched the area of meat and vegetable stalls, shops and cafes.

"The insurgents wanted to cause as many casualties as possible," said police Capt. Muthanna Khalid.

In other developments:

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Peter Pace, told reporters that the Department of Defense is not surprised with the increase in violence, pointing to the recent vote on the new Iraqi constitution. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told reporters that as the December election nears, more violence is expected and perhaps more troops will be brought into the area to help with security.

In Baghdad, Iraq's government announced that a raid in Mosul last Thursday killed four insurgents, including Abdul Sattar, identified as an al Qaeda in Iraq member leading militant operations there.

The U.S. military said it captured two Yemeni fighters in the Iraqi capital Tuesday who were on a reconnaissance mission and may have been involved in planning car bomb attacks.

The U.S. command said its soldiers detained 12 suspected insurgents after an attack on coalition forces early Tuesday in eastern Baghdad. Searching a nearby cement factory, U.S. and Iraqi forces found more than 65 AK-47 rifles, 120 AK-47 magazines, three machine guns and three ammunition drums, the military said.

The U.S. command also said it is accelerating counterinsurgency training for newly arrived officers, including the best ways to protect their troops against roadside bombs. Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the U.S. command will soon open the training school at Taji, an air base 12 miles north of Baghdad. U.S. troops undergo counterinsurgency training before heading to Iraq, but the command wants newcomers to become familiar with the latest insurgent tactics.

Wednesday, a Marine AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter crashed just north of Ramadi, killing its two Marine crew members, the military said. A U.S. statement said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

But APTN quoted an Iraqi resident as saying the helicopter was shot down. Hours after the crash, a Marine Corps F-18D fighter jet dropped two 500-pound bombs on what the U.S. military described as an "insurgent command center" about 400 yards from where the helicopter went down.

A U.S. warplane dropped two bombs on a suspected insurgent command center near Ramadi on Wednesday, and it was not known whether casualties resulted.

Fighting in Ramadi, which is 70 miles west of Baghdad, began on Tuesday night when insurgents used guns, rockets and roadside bombs to attack U.S. patrols, said police Capt. Nassir al-Alousi.

An Associated Press Television News video from the city's streets on Wednesday showed a burning civilian vehicle and what appeared to be the wreckage of a destroyed U.S. Humvee. A crowd of Iraqis gathered at the site, and one man, waving the remnants of a damaged U.S. M-16 rifle in the air, said the attacks had caused U.S. casualties.

The U.S. command said a Marine and a sailor died in Ramadi when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb Tuesday. At 8:10 a.m. Wednesday, a AH-1W Super Cobra crashed near the city, killing its two Marine crew members, the military said.

At 2 p.m. Wednesday, a Marine F-18D fighter jet dropped two 500-pound bombs on what the military described as an insurgent command center near where the Cobra had crashed.

Another fatality was a soldier from the Army's Task Force Baghdad who was killed by a roadside bomb Wednesday in a southern district of the capital, the military said.

In other violence Wednesday, 11 Iraqis were killed and 23 wounded by a car bomb, three roadside bombs and seven drive-by shootings. Most of the violence occurred in the capital.

In the worst of those attacks, a roadside bomb aimed at a U.S. military convoy south of Baghdad hit a minibus instead, killing five Iraqis, police said.

The U.S. command also announced that it is stepping up counterinsurgency training for newly arrived officers to give them the latest tactics about protecting patrols from such attacks.

At least 93 American service members died during October, making it the fourth deadliest month for the troops in the Iraq war. Many of the victims were killed by homemade bombs that the Pentagon has confirmed are becoming more powerful and technologically sophisticated.

At least 13 Iraqis were killed and 25 wounded in scattered shootings and other bombings around the country Wednesday alone.