World

Suicide Horror Returns To Ramadi

November 21, 2007 / 8:06 AM EST / CBS/AP

A suicide car bomb exploded Wednesday at an Iraqi police checkpoint guarding a courthouse in Ramadi, killing at least six people in the largest attack on Anbar province's capital in months, police said.

The dead included three women, said Col. Jubair Rashid Naief, a provincial police official. Another 13 people were wounded, he said.

Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, was once a base for Sunni insurgents, but has seen a huge security improvement since many Sunni tribesmen began partnering with U.S. forces last year.

Wednesday's suicide blast was the largest such attack in Ramadi in months.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said a sophisticated roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi interpreter and wounded three other soldiers on patrol Tuesday in eastern Baghdad. The soldiers were returning to a U.S. base after conducting an escort mission when they were struck by an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, the military said.

EFPs fire a slug of molten metal capable of penetrating even the most heavily armored vehicles, and are have been responsible for hundreds of U.S. deaths in Iraq.

American officials say the bombs come from Iran, but a senior commander recently reported a dramatic reduction in EFP incidents in Iraq, and credited the Iranian government's efforts to stem their flow across the border.

At least 3,874 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Violence has declined sharply in Iraq in recent months, due in part to stepped up U.S. military activity, a decision by the biggest Shiite militia to suspend operations and the Sunni Arab revolt against al Qaeda in Iraq.

The U.S. general in charge of training and equipping Iraqi forces said Wednesday that overall, Iraq's security situation is "better than it has been in previous months."

"It's certainly much better than earlier this year," said Lt. Gen. James Dubik, commander of Multi-National Security Transition Command.

"But this is an enemy that is cunning, ruthless and desirous to figure out another way to re-engender violence and steal away security gains from the Iraqi people," Dubik told reporters in the U.S.-guarded Green Zone.

The U.S. military also issued a statement Wednesday saying six suspected militants were killed and 10 captured in two days of raids across central and northern Iraq.

In other developments:

(AP Photo)

Iraqi security troops unearthed six decomposed bodies Wednesday in southern Baghdad. The bodies were found buried in the backyards of residents who had fled violence in their Saydiyah neighborhood, said Iraqi Army Col. Jabbar Hussein. Iraqi soldiers wearing white surgical masks wrapped the mud-coated bodies in blankets and black plastic bags and loading them into the back of a pickup truck. It was unclear when the victims died.

Gunmen attacked a police patrol in downtown Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, police said. The identities of the dead were unknown. A police officer was also killed in a drive-by shooting in central Kut, 100 miles southeast of the Iraqi capital, police said. The victim was shot dead on his way to work, police said.

On Tuesday, a British Puma helicopter crashed southeast of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and seriously injuring two others, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Wednesday. The cause of the night crash was not immediately known, the ministry said in a statement. Earlier, the U.S. military said in a statement that an investigation was under way, but initial reports indicated the crash was not due to hostile fire.