Baghdad, Iraq – A suicide car bomber struck in the main Shiite district of the Iraqi capital Wednesday, killing at least nine people as the U.S. military said its troop buildup in Baghdad was nearly complete. Three U.S. soldiers were killed by bombs in the capital.
At least 85 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide, police reported.
The suicide attack occurred at dusk near a police station in Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of the Mahdi Army militia. Three policemen and six civilians were killed and 34 people were wounded, police said.
Ahmed Mohammed Ali, 31, who sells ice cream and cigarettes in Sadr City, said the blast sent a cloud of black smoke billowing into the air.
“I saw police and civilian cars on fire,” Ali said. “There were several wounded people, including women and children, and most of the wounds were caused by burns. There were charred bodies near pools of blood.”
No group claimed responsibility, but suicide bombings are generally associated with Sunni religious extremists led by al-Qaeda in Iraq. Such extremists consider Shiites heretics and collaborators with the Americans.
Also Wednesday, two U.S. soldiers were killed and two others were wounded when a bomb devastated their vehicle in southern Baghdad, the U.S. command said. Another soldier died in a blast in western Baghdad.
At least 3,354 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. Last month, at least 104 U.S. service members died – the highest monthly figure since December.
The U.S. military announced that its buildup of forces was nearly complete with the arrival this week of the fourth of five brigades ordered to Baghdad by President Bush in January.
About 3,700 soldiers from the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, based in Fort Lewis, Wash., will be deployed in the Baghdad area and in northern Iraq, the military said.
