BAGHDAD — A radical Islamic group thought to be a front for al-Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for a Friday suicide bombing that killed five U.S. soldiers in the northern city of Mosul. The soldiers were based at Fort Carson.
The attack, the single deadliest on Americans in Iraq in more than a year, also killed two Iraqi national policemen.
In statements posted Monday on extremist websites, the Islamic State of Iraq said it planned and carried out the bombing. The group also claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed at least nine U.S.-allied Sunni Muslim militiamen in southern Iraq on Saturday.
The Islamic State of Iraq is regarded by the U.S. as a front group for al-Qaeda in Iraq, though the group describes itself as a coalition of several extremist organizations. In 2006, it declared an Islamic state in Iraq’s Sunni Muslim areas.
The group said the attacks were part of a plan, dubbed the “Plan of Good Harvest,” announced last month to target Americans and their supporters.
The Americans who died were assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, out of Fort Carson.
Also on Monday, an American soldier was killed when an armor-piercing bomb struck a convoy south of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
