Violence Rocks Iraqi Cities, Killing Dozens

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunfire, explosions and kidnappings picked up a withering pace across Iraq on Tuesday, killing at least 60 people, including many police officers and Iraqi soldiers.

The violence that shook Baghdad and towns to the north appeared to intensify anger against U.S. soldiers and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for not stemming months of unrelenting bloodshed that has led to thousands deaths and widening sectarian conflict. Most of the attacks targeted Iraqi security forces and suggested a calculated effort to undermine al-Maliki's new security plans.

The deadliest blast came near the industrial city of Beiji, where a roadside bomb exploded near a bus leaving an American base. The blast killed 23 Iraqi soldiers and wounded 20 others, said Brig. Gen. Qassim Musawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The bus was heading to a training mission in Baghdad and most of the soldiers were from Mosul, Musawi said.

In Baghdad's Karada neighborhood, three policemen, three Iraqi soldiers and eight civilians were killed when a car bomb exploded near a bank where security forces were picking up their monthly pay.

"I carried a burned body to put it in the ambulance, but I saw three legs and then I discovered that the burned body of the attacker was mixed with another body of a victim," said Abu Muntathar Husseini, an eyewitness who lives in the area.

"The terrorists are manufacturing their car bombs inside the security ring. The government should take better measures," Muntathar Husseini added. "Only Iraqis are being killed. No Americans are hurt by these terrorist acts. Our government is not being courageous in dealing with this situation. We need to face the terrorists."

North of Baghdad, in Muqdadiyah, a car bomb aimed at Iraqi security forces killed two policemen and five civilians near a hospital.

Sectarian fighting, ambushes on security forces, kidnappings, assassinations and other violence are paralyzing many cities and towns. The United States is planning to increase its troop strength in Baghdad from 9,000 to 13,000 soldiers, to help flush death squads and militants from the city -- a move they say will restore order to the rest of the nation.

The government thus far has failed to defeat the insurgency and ease the sectarian bloodshed between Sunnis and Shiites that has led to an undeclared civil war. Al-Maliki's efforts have been complicated further by internal security forces, made up mainly of Shiites, that have been accused of joining death squads. Interior Minister Jawad Bolani vowed earlier this week to clean his department of "unfaithful and corrupt elements."

But gunfire and explosions are constant, flaring like strikes of a match before quickly diminishing and striking again.

Two mini-buses carrying employees from the Ministry of Electricity were attacked Tuesday in northeast Baghdad. Four employees were killed and seven injured. The attackers disappeared. About the same time, a bomb exploded near the Ministry of Culture, killing one and injuring four.

Gunmen killed two Shiites at a bridge in Baghdad, and in the western part of the city a body was found with torture marks and signs of execution.

The U.S. military announced two deaths: a soldier killed in fighting Tuesday in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar Province and another by a bomb Monday during a convoy south of Baghdad. British forces stationed in the south announced that one soldier was killed overnight Monday by a mortar attack near Baradhiya.

A Section 32 hearing, the military equivalent of a grand jury, began in Baghdad on Tuesday for four soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division charged with murder in the shooting deaths of three Iraqi men. The Iraqis were allegedly handcuffed during a raid on a suspected militant training center near Samarra. The soldiers -- Pfc. Corey R. Clagget; Spc. William B. Hunsaker; Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard: and Spc. Juston R. Graber -- may face a court-martial.

Asad Abu Gulal, governor of the Shiite holy city of Najaf, announced that armed gangs kidnapped 45 people returning from a pilgrimage to Syria. Gulal said he fired his police chief and called for better security to stop the killings and kidnappings.

About 182,000 Iraqis have fled their homes to escape sectarian kidnappings and violence, according to government figures released this week. There was no word on the fate of 26 people kidnapped Monday from the Iraqi-American Chamber of Commerce and a mobile-phone company in a Shiite-dominated section of Baghdad.

The car bomb in Karada on Tuesday exploded shortly after 9:40 a.m. The attack was the second in less than a week in Karada, a predominantly middle-class Shiite neighborhood that has become a target for insurgents and Sunni extremists.

A military convoy of about 10 vehicles parked outside the Zuwiya bank, where security forces were collecting salaries. Loose checkpoints had been set up, but witnesses said a suicide bomber drove into the crossroads and exploded about 20 yards from the bank, killing 14 people.

"Every month at the same time they come to the Zuwiya bank," Assad Fuad, an eyewitness, said of the military convoy. "I saw the burned bodies on the ground. I saw four civilians burned and also Iraqi soldiers."

Abu Mohammed Karadi said he was sitting in his office about 50 yards from the blast. "I remembered my days in the Iraqi Army, so I jumped to the ground and stayed in place until the danger passed. I felt the shrapnel flying over me.... This is a challenge to (al-)Maliki and his government." He added: "The terrorists are attacking Karada ... because of the large number of government officials here. It is a big mistake to come each month to the same place. They were attacked very easily."