American soldiers killed two Iraqi women - one of them about to give birth - when the troops shot at a car in a city north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials and relatives said Wednesday. Nabiha Nisaif Jassim, 35, was being raced to the maternity hospital in Samarra by her brother when the shooting occurred Tuesday. Jassim, the mother of two children, and her 57-year-old cousin, Saliha Mohammed Hassan, died by the U.S. forces, according to police Capt. Laith Mohammed and witnesses.
The shooting deaths occurred in the wake of an investigation into allegations that U.S. Marines killed unarmed civilians in the western city of Haditha.
A car bomb in the northern city of Mosul killed five policemen.
Meanwhile, 42 dumped bodies have been uncovered in different parts of Baghdad over the last 24 hours -- many of them shot, bound and showing signs of torture, police sources said on Wednesday.
Most of them were found in eastern Baghdad, the sources added, according to Reuters. Twelve were in one place in the Baladiyat district and eight in the nearby Sadr City area of the capital.
Car bombs targeting Shiite areas devastated a bustling outdoor market and an auto dealership Tuesday, part of an onslaught that killed 54 people. According to the AP, the bombs also injured 120 people, officials said. The death toll made Tuesday one of the bloodiest days in Iraq this month.
On his part, Iraq's new prime minister declared a state of emergency Wednesday in the southern city of Basra, vowing to crack down with an "iron fist" on rival gangs battling each other for power.
