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Iraq bomb kills 9 U.S. soldiers

The truck attack is the single deadliest assault on American forces in more than a year.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 24, 2007

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-rigged truck into a U.S. military outpost near Baghdad on Monday, killing nine soldiers and wounding 20 in the single deadliest attack on U.S. ground forces in more than a year, military officials said early today.

Suicide attackers rarely penetrate defenses that surround American troops, but a 10-week-old U.S. counterinsurgency strategy has placed them in outposts and police stations that some soldiers say have made them more vulnerable.

The attack occurred near Baqubah, the capital of Diyala province, about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, where U.S. soldiers have been engaged in increasingly fierce fighting with Sunni insurgents.

At least 48 Iraqis were killed in seven other bombings, violence that has persisted despite a nearly 10-week-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown aimed at pacifying Baghdad, to which President Bush has committed an extra 30,000 troops.

Sunni militants are believed to have withdrawn to surrounding areas such as Diyala province where they have safe haven. The U.S. command also deployed an extra 700 soldiers to the area last month.

A 10th soldier was killed Monday in a roadside bombing in the Diyala town of Muqdadiyah, the military said.

The truck bombing was the single deadliest attack since Dec. 1, 2005, when a roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 on a foot patrol near Fallujah. Twelve soldiers died when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Diyala on Jan. 20; the military said it might have been shot down but the investigation is still ongoing.

Another car bombing Monday at an Iraqi police checkpoint near Diyala's provincial council headquarters in Baqubah killed seven Iraqi policemen and wounded 13, the military said. The council was about to begin a meeting to discuss its 2007 budget, the U.S. military said.

As fighters have fled the ongoing security crackdown in Baghdad, attacks have risen against American and Iraqi forces in Diyala. U.S. soldiers have recently moved into at least seven small outposts in and around Baqubah.

Monday's deaths bring to at least 56 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Diyala since November. The province has become the third deadliest for Americans this year, following Baghdad and Anbar provinces.

The deaths raised to 85 the number of U.S. service members who died have in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for American troops since December, when 112 died.

At least 3,332 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

At least 70 Iraqis were killed or found dead Monday, including the 48 who died in seven bombings. Twin car bombings killed at least 19 outside Ramadi, about 60 miles west of Baghdad, and a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a restaurant near Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, killing seven and injuring 14.

Of the 20 wounded in the attack in Baqubah, 15 soldiers were treated and returned to duty while five others were evacuated to a medical facility for further care, the military said. Identities were not released pending notification of relatives.

It was the second bold attack against a U.S. base north of Baghdad in just over two months. On Feb. 19, insurgents struck a U.S. combat post in Tarmiyah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding 17 in what the military called a "coordinated attack."

It began with a suicide car bombing, then gunfire on soldiers pinned down in a former Iraqi police station, where fuel storage tanks were set ablaze by the blast.

The U.S. military also announced Monday that an infantryman from Sarasota died Saturday in Iraq. Pfc. Christopher M. North, 21, died from wounds after his unit was hit with roadside bombs and small-arms fire during combat in Baghdad, the Department of Defense said.

North was assigned to 1st Battalion, 4th Cavalry of the 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. He joined the Army in July 2005 and began serving at Fort Riley, Kan., in December 2005. It was his first deployment to Iraq.

North's father, Mark North, a sales representative in Bradenton, said he had two short conversations with his son since he was deployed to Iraq. He said his son wanted to go into law enforcement and one day join the FBI.

"He was into cars. He was into motorcycles, anything that went fast. He had more friends than I could ever think about counting," Mark North said. "Everybody got along with him."

North was the second 4th Brigade soldier to be killed in recent days and the 95th Fort Riley soldier killed since the war started in 2003.

Information from the Associated Press and Washington Post was used in this report.

[Last modified April 24, 2007, 01:06:27]