Mosque attack blast kills 79

The Daily Telegraph | Mosque attack blast kills 79: "by Mustafa Ahmed and Jay Deshmukh in Baghdad | April 08, 2006

THREE suicide bombers, two of them disguised as women, killed at least 79 people and wounded 164 as worshippers left a popular Baghdad Shiite mosque after weekly Friday prayers overnight."
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Mr Saghir's mosque packs thousands of worshippers every Friday. The cleric is known for his fiery sermons promulgating the rights of Iraq's Shiites.

"This is a filthy war against the Shiites," Mr Saghir told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel.

He blamed newspapers close to the ousted Sunni elite for provoking the attack by waging "a campaign defaming our mosque, saying that some Sunnis were detained in the mosque." ...

U.S. Says 9 More Soldiers Killed in Iraq: 1038 Iraqis in Mar, 741-Feb, 608-Jan, 375-Dec ...

Excite News - U.S. Says 9 More Soldiers Killed in Iraq: "Apr 3, 9:52 PM (ET) | By VANESSA ARRINGTON

Nine more American troops died in Iraq, the U.S. military reported Monday, five of them in a vehicle accident in a remote, rain-soaked western area. Their deaths brought the number of service members killed so far this month to 13 - nearly half the number who died in all of March.

Three more Americans - two Marines and a sailor - were missing in the Sunday accident in which a truck overturned near Asad air base, a U.S. statement said. All the dead were Marines, the statement added.
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Although U.S. casualties have been on the decline, deaths among Iraqis have increased because of rising tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. At least 1,038 Iraqi civilians died last month in war-related violence, according to an Associated Press count.

The AP count showed at least 375 Iraqi civilians killed in December, 608 in January and 741 in February. Most of the increase appeared a result of a sharp rise in the number of civilians found dead throughout Baghdad - apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings.

Bringing Back the Wounded With Heart, Soul and Surgery - Los Angeles Times

Bringing Back the Wounded With Heart, Soul and Surgery - Los Angeles Times: "By David Zucchino, Times Staff Writer | April 2, 2006"

Injured troops are swept up in a lifesaving process unmatched in past wars -- reaching hospitals in minutes and the U.S. in days. But their agony doesn't end on the battlefield.
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Despite the destructive force of roadside bombs, the rate of wounded who die is lower in Iraq than for any war in U.S. history. Since the war began three years ago, about 10% of those wounded have died of their injuries, according to the Pentagon, down from 24% during the Vietnam War and 30% during World War II. The highest lethality rate was 42%, during the Revolutionary War.
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More than 17,000 American troops have been wounded in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’ ... Claims of atrocities by soldiers mount

Iraqis killed by US troops ‘on rampage’ - Sunday Times - Times Online: "March 26, 2006 | Hala Jaber and Tony Allen-Mills, New York

Claims of atrocities by soldiers mount

THE villagers of Abu Sifa near the Iraqi town of Balad had become used to the sound of explosions at night as American forces searched the area for suspected insurgents. But one night two weeks ago Issa Harat Khalaf heard a different sound that chilled him to the bone.

Khalaf, a 33-year-old security officer guarding oil pipelines, saw a US helicopter land near his home. American soldiers stormed out of the Chinook and advanced on a house owned by Khalaf’s brother Fayez, firing as they went.

Khalaf ran from his own house and hid in a nearby grove of trees. He saw the soldiers enter his brother’s home and then heard the sound of women and children screaming.

“Then there was a lot of machinegun fire,” he said last week. After that there was the most frightening sound of all — silence, followed by explosions as the soldiers left the house.

Once the troops were gone, Khalaf and his fellow villagers began a frantic search through the ruins of his brother’s home. Abu Sifa was about to join a lengthening list of Iraqi communities claiming to have suffered from American atrocities."

The residents said troops entered homes and shot and killed 15 members of two families ... under investigation for possible war crimes

Excite News: "Iraqis Detail Deadly U.S. Marine Raid | Mar 20, 7:48 PM (ET) | By BASSEM MROUE

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Residents gave new details Monday about the shootings of civilians in a western Iraqi town, where the U.S. military is investigating allegations of potential misconduct by American troops last November.

The residents said troops entered homes and shot and killed 15 members of two families, including a 3-year-old girl, after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. Marine.

The military, which announced Friday that a dozen Marines are under investigation for possible war crimes in the Nov. 19 incident, said in a statement Monday that a videotape of the aftermath of the shootings in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad, was presented in support of the allegations.

The charges against the Marines were first brought forward by Time magazine, which reported this week that it obtained a videotape two months ago taken by a Haditha journalism student that shows the dead still in their nightclothes.

The magazine report mirrored what was told independently to The Associated Press by residents who described what happened as "a massacre." However, Time said the available evidence did not prove conclusively that the Marines deliberately killed innocents. ...

[Yesterday] At least 39 people were killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs ... nearly 1,000 Iraqis dead since the bombing last month

Excite News: "Ongoing Wave of Violence in Iraq Kills 39 | Mar 20, 10:47 PM (ET) | By STEVEN R. HURST

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - At least 39 people were killed by insurgents and shadowy sectarian gangs, police reported Monday - continuing the wave of violence that has left nearly 1,000 Iraqis dead since the bombing last month of a Shiite Muslim shrine.

As the Iraq war entered its fourth year, police found the bodies of at least 15 more people - including that of a 13-year-old girl - dumped in and near Baghdad. The discoveries marked the latest in a string of execution-style killings that have become an almost daily event as Sunni and Shiite extremists settle scores.

Sectarian killings have swept across Iraq since the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra. An Associated Press tally, including the deaths reported Monday, put the toll at 993 since the golden dome atop the Askariya shrine was left in rubble by two bombers, who are believed to remain at large.

Among those killed in scattered violence Monday were 10 policemen, who are prime targets for insurgents, most of them Sunni militants, trying to break the will of the mainly Shiite police force. ...

killing at least 58 people and wounding more than 200. ... at least 10 more ... and wounded more than 30

Sunday Times: Four men found hanged in slum [ 14mar06 ]: "Four men found hanged in slum | From correspondents in Baghdad | 14mar06

POLICE found four hanged men dangling from electricity pylons in a Baghdad Shiite slum, hours after car bombs and mortars shells ripped through teeming market streets, killing at least 58 people and wounding more than 200.

The grim scene underscored fears yesterday's bloody assault on a stronghold of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr would plunge Iraq into another frenzy of sectarian killing.

Bomb blasts in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Tikrit - many of them targeting Iraqi police patrols - killed at least 10 more people Monday and wounded more than 30." ...

IViolence Unleashed Last Week Killed More Than 1,300 -- three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military

Iraq Death Toll Higher Than First Thought: "Violence Unleashed Last Week Killed More Than 1,300 | By Ellen Knickmeyer and Bassam Sebti | Washington Post Foreign Service | Monday, February 27, 2006; 7:12 PM

BAGHDAD, Feb. 27 -- Grisly attacks and other sectarian violence unleashed by last week's bombing of a Shiite shrine have killed more than 1,300 Iraqis, making the past few days the deadliest of the war outside major U.S. offensives, according to Baghdad's main morgue. The toll was more than three times higher than the figure previously reported by the U.S. military and the news media.

Hundreds of unclaimed dead lay at the morgue at midday Monday -- sprawled, blood-caked men who had been shot, knifed, garroted or apparently suffocated by the plastic bags still over their heads. Many of the bodies had their hands still bound -- and many of them had wound up at the morgue after what their families said was their abduction by the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr."

Dozens of bodies discovered in Baghdad

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Dozens of bodies discovered in Baghdad: "Staff and agencies | Thursday February 23, 2006

Iraqi police recovered the bodies of dozens of people in Baghdad today as violence spread across the country following the bombing of a Shia shrine in Samarra.

The bodies were found riddled with bullets as fears grew that the country was sliding into civil war after the attack yesterday which destroyed the golden dome on the al-Askari shrine, one of Shia Islam's most revered sites.

Police and army officials said the bodies of 31 men were found at eight sites in the capital, predominantly in Shia areas. Most had their hands bound, and they had had all been shot.

At least 40 more bodies were found in the village of Nahrawan, south of the capital.

Elsewhere in the country, a bomb targeting an Iraqi army foot patrol killed 12 people and wounded 21 in Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, according to an Iraqi army source.

Four civilians and the colonel commanding the patrol through a busy market in the centre of the city were among the dead.

Earlier, gunmen opened fire on a Sunni mosque in Baquba, killing one person and wounding two. ...

In January more than 800 people — soldiers, security officers and civilians — were killed

31 Days in Iraq - New York Times: "by ADRIANA LINS de ALBUQUERQUE and ALICIA CHENG | Published: February 6, 2006

In January more than 800 people — soldiers, security officers and civilians — were killed as a result of the insurgency in Iraq. While the daily toll is noted in the newspapers and on TV, it is hard for many Americans to see these isolated reports in a broader context. The map, based on data from the American, British and Iraqi governments and news reports, shows the dates, locations and circumstances of deaths for the first month of the year. ..

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/02/06/opinion/Iraq162.jpg

CIA-operated unmanned drones were believed to have killed 18 people, including women and children

Excite News: "Qaeda No.2 away during attack: Pakistan official | Jan 14, 9:11 AM (ET)

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeted al Qaeda's second-in-command, U.S. sources said, but Ayman al-Zawahri was away at the time, according to a senior Pakistani official on Saturday.

The strike on Friday killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and three houses were destroyed in a village near the Afghan border, residents said.

Pakistan condemned the airstrike and would summon the U.S. ambassador to protest the attack, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. He had no information about Zawahri.

CIA-operated unmanned drones were believed to have been used in the attack on Damadola village, across the border from Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. sources said." ...

Pakistan tribal lawmaker says US plane kills [18] civilians .. no Al Quaida ...

Xinhua - English: "Pakistan tribal lawmaker says US plane kills civilians | www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-13 21:52:32

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A lawmaker from Pakistan Bajur tribal region said on Friday that an American spy plane fired missiles on three civilians' houses, killing 18 people, including women and children.

'A U.S. spy plane have been flying in the Bajur region for three days. The plane did such flight early morning and bombed three houses of locals in the Damadola village, 50 kilometers away from the Pak-Afghan border,' Member of Pakistan's National Assembly from the Bajur tribal region Sahibzada Haroon ur Rashid told journalists on phone from Bajur.

Damadola is around 200 km northwest of the capital, Islamabad.

Rashid said that the plane first threw light and then made a circle around the target and fired eight missiles on the houses of three local tribesmen.

A total of 18 people were killed in the attack which carried out at 3 a.m. on Friday, he said. Four other people, including two children, were injured and they are said to be in critical condition.

Rashid said that no al-Qaeda member or foreign citizen among those died.

'It is inhuman act to kill civilians under the excuse of foreign militants,' he said." ...

Mr. Bush is planning to ignore ban on 'cruel, inhuman or degrading' treatment whenever he chooses

Unchecked Abuse: "| Wednesday, January 11, 2006; Page A20 | Washington Post Editorial

CONGRESS VOTED by an overwhelming margin last month to ban all U.S. personnel from inflicting 'cruel, inhuman or degrading' treatment on any prisoner held anywhere by the United States. President Bush, who had threatened to veto the legislation, instead invited its prime sponsor, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), to the White House for a public reconciliation and declared they had a common objective: 'to make it clear to the world that this government does not torture and that we adhere to the international convention of torture.' His national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, said that 'the legislative agreement that we've worked out with Senator McCain' makes the ban on cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment 'a matter of law that applies worldwide, at home and abroad.'

From all that, it might be concluded that the Bush administration has committed itself to ending the use of practices falling just short of torture that it has used on foreign detainees since 2002. But it has not. Instead, it is explicitly reserving the right to abuse prisoners, while denying them any opportunity to seek redress in court. Having publicly accepted the ban on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Mr. Bush is planning to ignore it whenever he chooses. As a practical matter, there may be no change in the operations of the CIA's secret prisons, where detainees have been subjected to such practices as painful shackling, mock execution, induced hypothermia and "waterboarding," or simulated drowning. ...

Suicide bombers kill 14 at Iraqi ministry, 22 wounded

Excite News: "Suicide bombers kill 14 at Iraqi ministry | Email this Story | Jan 9, 8:00 AM (ET)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Two suicide bombers dressed as senior police officers blew themselves up inside the Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad on Monday, killing 14 people and wounding 22 as Iraq marked National Police Day. ...

Copter crash kills 12; five U.S. Marines slain

Copter crash kills 12; five U.S. Marines slain: "Copter crash kills 12; five U.S. Marines slain | Last update: January 08, 2006 – 10:39 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed in northern Iraq, killing all 12 Americans believed to be aboard, while five U.S. Marines were slain in separate weekend attacks, the military said today. ...

In other violence Sunday, five people were killed in separate attacks in Baghdad, including a policeman killed by a suicide car bomber that targeted an Interior Ministry patrol. Seven others were wounded. ...

130 Iraqis, 7 U.S. soldiers killed in bombings - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com

130 Iraqis, 7 U.S. soldiers killed in bombings - Conflict in Iraq - MSNBC.com : "130 Iraqis, 7 U.S. soldiers killed in bombings | MSNBC News Services | Updated: 8:13 p.m. ET Jan. 5, 2006

One attack near Shiite mosque, another at police recruiting site"

KARBALA, Iraq - In one of the deadliest days in Iraq since the U.S. military overthrew Saddam Hussein, bombs killed at least 130 Iraqis and seven U.S. soldiers on Thursday — shattering hopes that last month’s election and the new year would herald a more peaceful era.

Nearly 200 people were wounded in the attacks on Iraqis in two cities. Another three bombs exploded in Baghdad, two of them detonated by suicide bombers. And insurgents sabotaged an oil pipeline near the northern city of Kirkuk, causing a huge fire ...

U.S. Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians: 97 CIVILIANS dead, 38 insurgents

U.S. Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians: "Eyewitnesses Cite Scores Killed in Marine Offensive in Western Iraq | By Ellen Knickmeyer | Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 24, 2005; Page A01

RAMADI, Iraq -- U.S. Marine airstrikes targeting insurgents sheltering in Iraqi residential neighborhoods are killing civilians as well as guerrillas along the Euphrates River in far western Iraq, according to Iraqi townspeople and officials and the U.S. military.

Just how many civilians have been killed is strongly disputed by the Marines and, some critics say, too little investigated. But townspeople, tribal leaders, medical workers and accounts from witnesses at the sites of clashes, at hospitals and at graveyards indicated that scores of noncombatants were killed last month in fighting, including airstrikes, in the opening stages of a 17-day U.S.-Iraqi offensive in Anbar province.

"These people died silently, complaining to God of a guilt they did not commit," Zahid Mohammed Rawi, a physician, said in the town of Husaybah. Rawi said that roughly one week into Operation Steel Curtain, which began on Nov. 5, medical workers had recorded 97 civilians killed. At least 38 insurgents were also killed in the offensive's early days, Rawi said. ...
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"I wholeheartedly believe the vast majority of civilians are killed by the insurgency," particularly by improvised bombs, said Col. Michael Denning, the top air officer for the 2nd Marine Division, which is leading the fight against insurgents in Anbar province....

Bush says 30,000 Iraqis killed since war began

Reuters Business Channel | Reuters.com: "Bush says 30,000 Iraqis killed since war began | Tuesday 13 December 2005, 7:15pm EST | By Tabassum Zakaria

PHILADELPHIA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Monday about 30,000 Iraqis have been killed since the Iraq war began and predicted this week's election will not be perfect but will be part of a Middle East turning point.

'Trophy' video exposes private security contractors shooting up Iraqi drivers

Telegraph | News | 'Trophy' video exposes private security contractors shooting up Iraqi drivers: "'By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent | (Filed: 27/11/2005)

A 'trophy' video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

The video, which first appeared on a website that has been linked unofficially to Aegis Defence Services, contained four separate clips, in which security guards open fire with automatic rifles at civilian cars. All of the shooting incidents apparently took place on "route Irish", a road that links the airport to Baghdad.
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In one of the videoed attacks, a Mercedes is fired on at a distance of several hundred yards before it crashes in to a civilian taxi. In the last clip, a white civilian car is raked with machine gun fire as it approaches an unidentified security company vehicle. Bullets can be seen hitting the vehicle before it comes to a slow stop.

There are no clues as to the shooter but either a Scottish or Irish accent can be heard in at least one of the clips above Elvis Presley's Mystery Train, the music which accompanies the video. ...

U.S. troops opened fire on a crowded minivan north ...

Excite News: "US army accidentally killed civilians | Nov 21, 8:22 AM (ET) | By Faris al-Mehdawi

BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. troops opened fire on a crowded minivan north of Baghdad on Monday, fearing a car bomb attack, and killed at least three members of the same family, including a child, the U.S. military and survivors said.

The U.S. army's 3rd Infantry Division confirmed the incident, saying its troops had opened fire after first trying to wave the minivan to a stop and then firing warning shots. ...

north of Baghdad: suicide bomber: 36 killed, 5 US dead, about 50 wounded, 120 Iraqi dead in 2 days

Excite News: "Blasts Kill 49 in Iraq; U.S. Troops Killed | Nov 19, 3:52 PM (ET) | By CHRIS TOMLINSON

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A suicide bomber detonated his car in a crowd of Shiite mourners north of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 36 people and raising the death toll in two days of attacks against Shiites to more than 120. Five American soldiers died in roadside bombings.
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Police said about 50 people were injured. On Oct. 29, a bomb hidden in a truck loaded with dates exploded in another Shiite community in the same area, killing 30 people....

"I saw cluster bombs everywhere and so many bodies that were burnt, dead with no bullets in them,"

Independent Online Edition > Middle East: "'I treated people who had their skin melted' | By Dahr Jamail | Published: 15 November 2005
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"They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud," he said. He had seen "pieces of these bombs explode into large fires that continued to burn on the skin even after people dumped water on the burns".

As an unembedded journalist, I spent hours talking to residents forced out of the city. A doctor from Fallujah working in Saqlawiyah, on the outskirts of Fallujah, described treating victims during the siege "who had their skin melted".

He asked to be referred to simply as Dr Ahmed because of fears of reprisals for speaking out. "The people and bodies I have seen were definitely hit by fire weapons and had no other shrapnel wounds," he said.

Burhan Fasa'a, a freelance cameraman working for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), witnessed the first eight days of the fighting. "I saw cluster bombs everywhere and so many bodies that were burnt, dead with no bullets in them," he said. "So they definitely used fire weapons, especially in Jolan district." ...

The destruction of Falluja was an act of barbarism that ranks alongside My Lai, Guernica and Halabja ...

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | A name that lives in infamy: "Mike Marqusee | Thursday November 10, 2005 | The Guardian

The destruction of Falluja was an act of barbarism that ranks alongside My Lai, Guernica and Halabja

One year ago this week, US-led occupying forces launched a devastating assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja. The mood was set by Lt Col Gary Brandl: 'The enemy has got a face. He's called Satan. He's in Falluja. And we're going to destroy him.'

The assault was preceded by eight weeks of aerial bombardment. US troops cut off the city's water, power and food supplies, condemned as a violation of the Geneva convention by a UN special rapporteur, who accused occupying forces of 'using hunger and deprivation of water as a weapon of war against the civilian population'. Two-thirds of the city's 300,000 residents fled, many to squatters' camps without basic facilities.
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The city's main hospital was selected as the first target, the New York Times reported, "because the US military believed it was the source of rumours about heavy casualties". An AP photographer described US helicopters killing a family of five trying to ford a river to safety. "There were American snipers on top of the hospital shooting everyone," said Burhan Fasa'am, a photographer with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation. "With no medical supplies, people died from their wounds. Everyone in the street was a target for the Americans."

The US also deployed incendiary weapons, including white phosphorous. "Usually we keep the gloves on," Captain Erik Krivda said, but "for this operation, we took the gloves off". By the end of operations, the city lay in ruins. Falluja's compensation commissioner has reported that 36,000 of the city's 50,000 homes were destroyed, along with 60 schools and 65 mosques and shrines.

The US claims that 2,000 died, most of them fighters. Other sources disagree. When medical teams arrived in January they collected more than 700 bodies in only one third of the city. Iraqi NGOs and medical workers estimate between 4,000 and 6,000 dead, mostly civilians - a proportionately higher death rate than in Coventry and London during the blitz. ...

U.S. military in Iraq denied a report shown on Italian state television on Tuesday saying U.S. forces used incendiary white phosphorus against civilia

My Way News: "US denies using white phosphorus on Iraqi civilians | Nov 8, 3:42 PM (ET) | By Phil Stewart

ROME (Reuters) - The U.S. military in Iraq denied a report shown on Italian state television on Tuesday saying U.S. forces used incendiary white phosphorus against civilians in a November 2004 offensive on the Iraqi town of Falluja.

It confirmed, however, that U.S. forces had dropped MK 77 firebombs -- which a documentary on Italian state-run broadcaster RAI compared to napalm -- against military targets in Iraq in March and April 2003.

The documentary showed images of bodies recovered after a November 2004 offensive by U.S. troops on the town of Falluja, which it said proved the use of white phosphorus against men, women and children who were burned to the bone.

'I do know that white phosphorus was used,' said Jeff Englehart in the RAI documentary, which identified him as a former soldier in the U.S. 1st Infantry Division in Iraq.

'Burned bodies. Burned children and burned women,' said Englehart, who RAI said had taken part in the Falluja offensive. 'White phosphorus kills indiscriminately.'

The U.S. Marines in Baghdad described white phosphorus as a 'conventional munition' used primarily for smoke screens and target marking. It denied using it against civilians.

'Suggestions that U.S. forces targeted civilians with these weapons are simply wrong,' U.S. Marine Major Tim Keefe said in an e-mail to Reuters." ...

Seven More U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq - Capping the bloodiest month for American troops since January

Seven More U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq - Yahoo! News: "By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Capping the bloodiest month for American troops since January, the U.S. military reported Monday that seven more U.S. service members were killed — all victims of increasingly sophisticated bombs that have been become the deadliest weapon in the insurgents' arsenal.

Bombs also claimed a toll Monday among civilians in Basra,
Iraq's second-largest city and the major metropolis of the Shiite-dominated south, which has witnessed less violence than Sunni areas. A large car bomb exploded along a bustling street packed with shops and restaurants as people were enjoying an evening out after the daily Ramadan fast. At least 20 were killed and about 40 wounded, police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said. ...