A suicide car bomb went off Thursday near a checkpoint to the complex housing U.S. occupation offices in central Baghdad, killing six Iraqi civilians and one U.S. soldier, and wounding 25 people, the U.S. military said.
At least three of the wounded were U.S. troops, two of whom were in critical condition. In addition, three Iraqi policemen were wounded.
"At 7:26 a.m., what appeared to be a suicide bomber in a car pulled up to the checkpoint, and then three cars back from the checkpoint, detonated his bomb," said Col. John Murray of the U.S. Army's Texas-based 1st Cavalry Division.
Hours later, a roadside bomb exploded on Saadoun Street, a busy commercial avenue on the east side of the Tigris River near the Palestine and Sheraton hotels. Two Iraqis were wounded.
In another incident, two other American troops were killed and two were injured when a roadside bomb detonated in Baghdad, the U.S. command said Thursday. A statement said the explosion occurred just before midnight Wednesday.
Elsewhere, gunmen assassinated the head of the local Agriculture Department in the northern city of Kirkuk Thursday in a drive-by shooting that also killed his driver and injured his wife, police said, according to The AP.
Najib Mohammed, a Kurd, was riding in his car when the gunmen opened fire from another vehicle, Gen. Sherko Shakir said.
Meanwhile, a bomb detonated in front of the headquarters of a main Kurdish party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan headquarters, in the city of Baqouba north of Baghdad Thursday. Four people were injured, said police Lt. Firas Dawoud. (Albawaba.com)
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