Two car bombs shook the capital in quick succession yesterday, killing at least 11 people, including a US soldier, and wounding 16, US and Iraqi officials said. A Marine was reported killed in action west of the capital.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the violence was expected to increase in the run-up to next year's elections and it was unlikely the US would pull out any troops before then.
A suicide attacker detonated a minibus packed with explosives near an east Baghdad police academy, police Captain Ali Ayez said at the scene.
At least four mangled bodies were strewn in the street amid scattered shoes, papers and a handbag. Police collected body parts on stretchers.
The dead included three police academy students and a female officer, Ayez said.
US forces assisted the wounded, including a police recruit who received stitches in his abdomen at the scene. Police recruiting centers have been frequently targeted in an attempt to undercut support for Iraq's security services.
The nearby Kindi Hospital received 10 bodies and treated five wounded from the blast, said Dr. Ali Ghazi. Police said 15 people were injured in all.
At least eight cars were damaged and shards of glass covered the street.
Another car bomb exploded as US military convoy was passing near a small market in east Baghdad, police Lieutenant Ahmed Hussein said at the scene. One American soldier was wounded in the attack, said Captain Mitchell Zornes of the US 1st Cavalry Division. The soldier was evacuated for treatment but died at a nearby military medical facility, a military statement said.
The blast also wounded at least one Iraqi bystander and left a gaping crater in the road.
Iraq's most feared terror group, Tawhid and Jihad, claimed responsibility for both attacks in a statement posted on an Internet site known for its Islamic content. The claim could not be verified.
Improvised bombs have become insurgents' weapon of choice in turbulent Iraq. US officials are struggling to build up Iraq's own security resources to cope with the threat.
"Our hope is that as we build up Iraqi forces we will be able to relieve the stress on our forces and see a reduction in coalition forces over some period of time, probably post-Iraqi election." Rumsfeld told Marines at Al Asad air field in Iraq's western desert yesterday morning. "But again, it will depend entirely on the security situation here in this country."
It was Rumsfeld's first visit here since the US handed over authority to an interim Iraqi government June 28.
With US troops getting killed at a rate of more than one per day in Iraq, Rumsfeld's trip was not announced in advance.
Another Marine was killed in action Saturday in Anbar province, where the air field is located, the military said in a statement. No details were released.
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's government hopes to suppress insurgents and take control of rebel enclaves before the legislative elections planned for January.
Shiite militiamen loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr agreed Saturday to begin handing in weapons, a significant step toward restoring order in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City slum, a center of Shiite militant resistance.
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