Over 10 mortar rounds exploded in central Baghdad on Sunday, including three that hit the Green Zone, killing at least seven Iraqi civilians and injuring eight, police said.
The Iraqis were just entering the Green Zone at about 8 a.m. after making their way through several heavily guarded checkpoints when three mortars landed just inside it, said police Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq. According to the AP, he added the explosions and shrapnel from the mortars severed the victims' limbs and destroyed their identification cards. Three of the wounded were Defense Ministry employees.
Meanwhile, three American troops died Sunday when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb northwest of Baghdad, the U.S. command said. That brought the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq over the weekend to eight. Five Americans soldiers died Saturday in bombings in the southern area of the capital. In one incident on Saturday, four American troops died when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb while patrolling south Baghdad, the military said.
