Feb 19, 9:15 AM EST
Two Soldiers Killed in Iraq Base AttackBAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Insurgents launched a brazen coordinated attack on a U.S. combat post Monday, sending in a suicide bomber and clashing with American troops. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 17 wounded, the military said.
The assault began with a suicide bomber exploding a vehicle outside the base north of Baghdad, said the military statement. It gave no further details beyond the number of dead and wounded.
Residents said U.S. forces fought with militants after the suicide bomber tried to break through barriers around the base near Tarmiyah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad. For hours, helicopters were seen landing at the base and leaving.
Baghdad's majority Shiite neighborhoods were the focus of the attacks in the capital. A suicide bomber donated an explosives-rigged belt on a public bus headed for the Karradah neighborhood, police reported. Five people were killed. Two other bombs - both in the southeastern Shiite neighborhood of Zafraniyah - killed a total of eight.
In Mahmoudiya, 20 miles south of the capital, a car bomb went off among auto repair shops, killing two and wounding two, police said. Mahmoudiya is mostly Shiite with Sunnis living in villages around the community and has long been a flashpoint for sectarian violence.
Elsewhere in Iraq, a car bomb in Ramadi, about 90 miles west of Baghdad, killed at least nine bystanders congregated at a police checkpoint in the aftermath of a failed suicide attack. In Duluiyah, a Sunni area about 45 miles north of Baghdad, at least four were killed when a bomb-rigged car exploded.
more:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ?SITE=TNCHA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-19-08-36-47http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree