Middle East News

Dozens killed and wounded across Iraq (Roundup)

Apr 6, 2007, 14:39 GMT

Baghdad - Dozens of Iraqis were killed and wounded across conflict-torn Iraq on Friday as armed clashes broke out in the mostly Shiite city of Diwaniya between joint Iraqi-US forces and militants, sources and media reports said.

At least 25 Iraqis were killed and more than 30 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack targeting a police checkpoint in western Ramadi, an Iraqi police source said Friday.

The blast originated from a truck loaded with explosives and chlorine gas, the source said.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, is located about 110 kilometres west of the capital Baghdad.

In Diwaniya, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad, at least 30 men were killed and many others wounded in clashes on Friday between joint Iraqi-US forces and Shiite Mahdi Army militants, pan-Arab news broadcaster al-Jazeera reported.

US tanks began entering Diwaniya as the clashes erupted in the Jumhuri area, the Voices of Iraq news agency quoted a witness as saying. US military aircraft flew over the city and all roads were sealed off, the witness added. The local authorities also imposed a curfew all over the city.

The US military said that the security operation in Diwaniya aims to stop militants' activities in the city.

The Diwaniya local council two weeks ago asked the central government for the Iraqi army's intervention to administer a law enforcement security plan in the capital of the predominantly Shiite province of Qadissiya.

The Diwaniya local council two weeks ago asked the central government for the intervention of the Iraqi army's intervention in administering operations under the security plan in Diwaniya, the capital of predominantly Shiite province of Qadissiya.

The Mahdi Army is a resistance militia created by the Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in June 2003.

Meanwhile a US soldier was killed and two others were wounded Thursday in an explosion near their vehicle in Diyala province north of Baghdad, the US army said Friday.

It was reported Friday that a total of seven US soldiers were killed across Iraq over a 48-hour period.

At least 28 soldiers were killed in Iraq last month. More than 3,200 US soldiers have been killed since the US-led invasion in March 2003.