World Jun. 05, 2008 - 07:35AM JST ( 11 )

BAGHDAD —

Two car bombs rocked Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 19 people, while U.S. troops suffered their biggest single loss in a month, bringing to an end a relative lull in violence, officials said.

In the first blast, a powerful truck bomb targeted the home of a senior police officer coordinating security operations with the military in the capital of six million people, police said.

Fifteen people were killed, including the officer’s nephew. At least 65 more were wounded, with three of them being relatives of the intended target in the Al-Shab neighborhood. The victims were rushed to two hospitals. Unconfirmed reports said up to 18 people had died.

Police said the officer, whose name was not given, was not at home when the bomber struck.

Separately, a car bomb exploded outside a family restaurant serving fast food and ice cream in the Jadiya neighborhood, killing four people and wounding 10, police said.

The attacks came as another bombing of police in Salaheddin province, north of Baghdad, killed four policemen, including an officer.

Earlier in the day, three American soldiers were killed by small arms fire in the mainly Sunni Arab town of Hawijah, near the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. deaths on Wednesday raised to 4,090 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to a tally based on the independent website www.icasualties.org.

Wednesday’s attack produced the highest single loss for American troops since four marines died in a mine attack in the former Sunni rebel bastion of Anbar province on May 4.

Overall, U.S. troops last month saw their lowest level of losses since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The number killed in May dropped to 19, with the previous low being in February 2004, when 20 died.

Iraqi security authorities also reported a 50 percent decline in the number of Iraqi nationals killed last month to 563 from April. The number of Iraqis wounded last month was also down to 1,003 from 2,008 in April.

U.S. military authorities had said that the decline in violence was due to stepped up operations against militia and insurgents, but that al-Qaida in Iraq operatives still had the ability to stage spectacular strikes.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said its troops together with local police found a water-filled mass grave in an eastern neighborhood of Baghdad on Tuesday. Local officials said there were 55 bodies at the site.

“Based on the varying states of decay, it appears that the remains are approximately two years old,” a statement said. “Iraqi police officials are investigating the incident.

“Our hearts go out to the families and friends of the Iraqi citizens found in this despicable grave,” a spokeswoman said.

“Criminals and extremists continue to show no regard for the sanctity of human life or capacity for a peaceful resolution to their problems.”

Local police officer Lieutenant Hazem al-Rubaye said they found 55 bodies in the mass grave and eight of them were of women.

In the central holy city of Karbala, police reported the arrest of five men wanted in connection with the murders of 721 people over an 18-month period.

Major General Raed Shaker Jawdat, head of police there, said the men were questioned about sectarian murders and they claimed the victims were loyalists of the Baath party of executed dictator Saddam Hussein.

“When we searched the background (of the victims), we found that only 11 of the 721 were in fact Baathists,” Jawdat said.

He said the five men in custody were suspected of leading a criminal gang of some 150 people.

 

Wire reports