Baghdad, Iraq – A car bomb killed at least 13 people Wednesday in a Shiite part of Baghdad, and the U.S. command announced the deaths of eight more American soldiers.
At least 44 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide Wednesday, according to police reports. The toll marked an uptick in the daily carnage as President Bush prepares for a showdown in Congress over the future of the U.S. mission.
The deadliest attack occurred when a roadside bomb exploded along a busy highway during the morning rush hour in the eastern Baghdad district of Baladiyat. A medic at a nearby hospital said 13 people died, but a police officer put the figure at 15.
Three of the U.S. soldiers died and two others were wounded after their Humvee was hit Tuesday with an explosively formed penetrator, or EFP, a type of bomb that the U.S. alleges Iran has been supplying to Shiite militias.
Iran denies the allegation.
Two other U.S. soldiers were killed and another wounded in an eastern section of Baghdad on Wednesday during combat operations, the military said. Two other Americans died Wednesday in a blast in Salahuddin province north of the capital. Another soldier was killed and two were wounded during fighting Tuesday in western Baghdad, the U.S. command said.
The bloodshed in mostly Shiite eastern Baghdad occurred a week after the country’s most powerful Shiite militia leader, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, ordered his fighters to cease attacks for up to six months so he could restructure his Mahdi Army.
But U.S. commanders say renegade elements within the Mahdi Army are disregarding al-Sadr’s order. The U.S. believes those groups are backed by Iranians, a charge Tehran denies.
