21 Dead 16 Injured In Car Bombs 2 Us

21 Dead, 16 Injured in Car Bombs

2 US Soldiers announced Killed

Associated Press reports that 2 car bombs killed 11 and wounded dozens on Sunday in Iraq, and that heavy fighting broke out in the western Sunni city of Ramadi. The Iraqi newspaper al-Zaman put the death toll at nearly double this estimate.

Guerrillas detonated the two car bombs in Baghdad virtually at the same instant. They set off one in the vicinity of a police academy in east Baghdad or Sadr City. Ten dead bodies, including three cadets at the police academy and a femaile officer, were brought to Kindi hospital, along with 15 injured. Az-Zaman is reporting a total number of dead in the two incidents of 21.

They set the other off at a market as a US convoy went by. This bomb killed one US soldier and one Iraqi civilian, and one person was injured.

Az-Zaman reported heavy fighting on Haifa Street in the capital, between guerrillas and US troops.

Also in Baghdad, guerrillas assassinated an Iraqi intelligence officer on his way to work on Sunday monring.

Guerrillas mounted a rocket attack on Baghdad International Airport, and az-Zaman says that eyewitnesses reported that guerrillas took out a US military vehicle, killing three US troops, near the airport, as well. There was no confirmation of the report from US sources.

Monotheism and Holy War, the terrorist group originally based in Afghanistan, Jordan and Germany, but which now has Iraqi members, claimed credit for the two car bombings.

In al-Anbar province, guerrillas ambushed a Marine patrol near the town of Hit, but the Marines struck back, killing three and wounding 5.

In Ramadi, guerrillas launched a major attack with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns. Residents told AP by telephone that four enormous explosions had shaken the city Sunday evening.

The US military announced that a Marine had been killed on Saturday.

There was also fighting south of Baghdad, in and around Yusufiyah.

In Baghdad, members of the Sadr II Movement in Sadr City began turning over heavy weapons to the US in exchange for a cessation of hostilities and a promised $500 mn. in aid. After a 5-day weapons turn-in program, Iraqi national guards are said to be prepared to patrol neighborhoods in the slum.

Cole: The likelihood that the Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr will actually disarm seems to me low, though they may turn in some weapons. It is possible that they will avoid appearing in the streets armed to the teeth for a while, at least.

Prime Minister Allawi is also said to be negotiating for a return of central government control to the city of Fallujah.

Az-Zaman says that Washington has given the Department of Defense the green light to attack 30 Iraqi cities where guerrillas rule, beginning after the Nov. 2 US election.