Attacks kill U.S. soldier, 20 Iraqis

Several bombings and attacks by gunmen Wednesday killed 20 Iraqis and a U.S. soldier, officials said.

A suicide car bomber killed eight civilians and wounded 41 in an attack on a military convoy carrying a senior Iraqi commander in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi military said.

In the former Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold of Fallouja, west of Baghdad, a bomb exploded outside a bank, killing four policemen and a civilian and wounding 15, Iraqi police said. An initial blast occurred at 6:30 a.m., drawing police and onlookers to the site, then a second bomb detonated, causing the casualties, police said.

In Samarra, north of Baghdad, a bomb hit a U.S. convoy, killing one American soldier and wounding two, the U.S. military reported.

In Baghdad’s western Abu Ghraib neighborhood, a gunman entered a mosque late Wednesday and opened fire on worshipers, killing six and wounding eight, a police official said. Iraqi forces were searching for the gunman.

Assailants killed a policeman in a drive-by shooting in Mosul, where many insurgents are believed to have relocated after facing intense military pressure in Baghdad and other urban centers.

Police in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, said workers rebuilding a school had discovered 22 bodies, most of them under concrete in a playing field. Police said the remains were believed to have been buried more than a year ago.