5 U.S. Troops Killed In Iraq, 104 In April

Five U.S. troops and an Iraqi interpreter were killed in separate attacks, including three in a single roadside bombing in Baghdad, the military said Monday, making April the deadliest month so far this year.

The roadside bomb killed three Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldiers and wounded another while they were on a combat patrol Sunday in eastern Baghdad, the military said. An Iraqi interpreter also was killed in the attack.

Another Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier on a combat patrol was killed by small arms fire in eastern Baghdad Saturday, the military said in a separate statement.

Both attacks occurred in eastern Baghdad, a predominantly Shiite area where American and Iraqi forces have stepped up their activities as part of a security crackdown that began on Feb. 14 to quell the sectarian violence.

A Marine assigned to Multi National Force-West also killed Sunday while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, a Sunni insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, the military said.

The deaths raised to at least 104 American troops who have died in Iraq as April draws to a close, making it the deadliest month since December, when 112 Americans died. The U.S. monthly death toll has topped 100 five other times since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count based on military figures.

At least 3,351 members of the U.S. military have died since the war started, according to an AP count.

In other violence Monday, police say a suicide bomber struck a funeral in a Shiite enclave north of Baghdad Monday, killing at least 20 people and wounding 30.

A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi checkpoint in a predominantly Sunni area in Baghdad, killing four people and wounding 10, police said.

The blast occurred at an Interior Ministry checkpoint in Nisour Square in the western neighborhood of Harthiyah. Those killed included two commandos and two civilians, while five commandos and five civilians were wounded, police said.

The attack occurred despite stringent security measures and extra U.S. and Iraqi forces on the streets as part of a security crackdown now in its 11th week.

Elsewhere in western Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded on a commercial street in the religiously mixed neighborhood of Baiyaa, killing one civilian and wounding two others, police said.

Gunmen also killed a retired brigadier in the Iraqi army under ousted leader Saddam Hussein while he was driving his car in southwestern Baghdad, police said.

A parked car bomb struck a police patrol in the Raas al-Jada, a mainly Sunni Arab area in the northern city of Mosul, killing one policeman and wounding two others, police Brig. Gen. Mohammed Idan al-Jubouri said.

The attack occurred about four hours after some 50 gunmen attacked a police station in the same area, prompting a firefight and clashes as police chased the gunmen through the narrow streets. Four of the gunmen were killed and two others detained, while one policeman was wounded, police said.

Police also cordoned off the area and blocked five bridges after four mortar rounds landed on the police command headquarters elsewhere in Mosul, causing no damages, said Brig. Saeed Ahmed al-Jubouri, the media director for the provincial police.

In other developments: