BAGHDAD - Roadside bombers killed seven US troops Saturday, four of them in a
single blast near Baghdad, and an eighth soldier died of a non-combat cause -
raising to 25 the number of American soldiers killed this week.
![](xin_350604240903635320877.jpg) US and Iraqi forces check a map in
Baqouba, Iraq, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Thursday,
June 21, 2007. [AP]
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Explosions aimed at US patrols
that kill several troops at once are common, but the recent frequency of such
large-scale attacks may signal militants are using larger bombs or explosively
formed penetrators, known as EFPs, as they fight back against a series of US
military operations.
The military has staged a series of counterattacks this week on roadside bomb
factories and insurgent strongholds where stockpiles of explosives have been
uncovered.
US forces using tips from Iraqi informants raided a safe house before dawn on
Saturday and detained three militants with suspected of ties to Iran, the
military said. The operation in Sadr City, Baghdad's main Shiite enclave, was
the latest in a series of raids on targets where militiamen are believed to have
ties to Iran.
The United States claims Iran is arming Shiite militias and some Sunni
insurgents with EFPs, which have killed hundreds of US troops in recent months.
In the deadliest attack Saturday, four US soldiers were killed and an Iraqi
interpreter was wounded when a bomb blew up their vehicle during combat
operations northwest of Baghdad.
Roadside bombs also killed a US airman in Tikrit, and two US soldiers in
eastern Baghdad whose unit had recently targeted roadside bomb networks, the
military said. In addition, a British soldier died Saturday of wounds from a
roadside bombing a day earlier in the southern city of Basra. A US soldier also
died Saturday of a non-combat cause, the military said.
Since Sunday, two other roadside bombs have killed nine troops in the Baghdad
region - five northeast of the capital on Thursday and four in western Baghdad
on Wednesday.
At least 3,555 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war
started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The US military also cracked down elsewhere in Iraq, killing seven al-Qaida
fighters and 10 suspects in several areas - Tikrit, Mosul, east of Fallujah and
south of Baghdad.
The military said in a statement that the raid in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's
hometown 80 miles north of Baghdad, had targeted a senior leader of al-Qaida in
Iraq. Two men were shot to death as they sped toward US forces in a vehicle that
was found to have a bomb on the back seat. Two other suspects believed to have
ties to a militant leader were detained, the military said.
At least 38 Iraqis were killed or found dead across Iraq, including 15 in
Baghdad, who were shot to death after being tortured.
Amid the violence, two Sunni Arab political blocs threatened to boycott the
275-seat parliament, demanding reinstatement of Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a
Sunni. The Shiite-dominated legislature wants him to step down and has named his
Shiite deputy, Khaled al-Attiya, as a temporary replacement.
Many legislators viewed al-Mashhandani's erratic behavior as unbecoming and a
hindrance to parliament's ability to pass key benchmark legislation as demanded
by Washington.
Kurds in northern Iraq, meanwhile, prepared for Sunday's announcement of a
verdict against Saddam's cousin, Chemical Ali, and other defendants who could
face the death penalty for the 1980s crackdown against the ethnic minority.
Many said they were looking forward to closure, anticipating the harshest
penalty against Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam's cousin and the former head of the
Baath Party's Northern Bureau Command.
He is accused of ordering the use of chemical weapons against Kurds in the
late 1980s scorched-earth campaign. Saddam feared the Kurds were siding with
Iran during the eight-year war between Baghdad and Tehran.
"Finally, the past hard days are gone. I am ready to start over without this
burden on my chest," said Lokman Abdul-Qader, a 40-year-old resident of Halabja
who lost six relatives in a chemical attack and says he has suffered from acute
asthma attacks since he inhaled the nerve and mustard gas that was used.
Al-Majid has denied he was responsible for the Halabja attack or others that
earned him the nickname "Chemical Ali."
The prosecution says 180,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the
operation. The defendants who face charges of war crimes and crimes against
humanity, have claimed they were acting on orders and the campaign was aimed at
Kurds during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. If convicted, they could be hanged.
Saddam was a defendant in the case but was executed on Dec. 30 after his
conviction for the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims in Dujail after a 1982 attempt
on his life.