Bombings, Other Violence Claim at Least 30 Lives

Two car bombings and a battle between U.S.-led forces and militants in the capital’s sprawling Sadr City district on Wednesday claimed nearly 30 lives -- including that of a U.S. soldier -- and injured more than 150 Iraqis.

Two other U.S. soldiers died elsewhere. One was killed by a roadside bomb near Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, north of Baghdad. Another died in a military hospital of injuries sustained in an attack on U.S. troops in the northern city of Mosul, U.S. military officials said.

As many as 65 U.S. military personnel have been killed in Iraq this month, according to GlobalSecurity.org, which compiled the toll from U.S. Defense Department news releases.

The first car bomb Wednesday exploded about 10:30 a.m. in a busy commercial area of Baghdad, destroying several stores and littering the streets with bloodied bodies, shattered glass and debris.

The apparent target was a group of applicants to the Iraqi national guard who, a witness said, had gathered near a restaurant to complete paperwork to present at a nearby recruitment center. The center had been the target of an unsuccessful bombing attempt Tuesday.

The attack wrecked at least 13 vehicles and sent a black cloud of smoke swirling above the bustling neighborhood of Al Jamiya.

“I closed my eyes and found myself lying on the ground. That is all that I can remember,” said Abu Mehdi Haideri, a shop owner who suffered a head wound from shrapnel.

Some onlookers blamed the violence on the absence of American troops. “Yesterday [the Mahdi militia] targeted the recruitment center just behind the mosque and today they attack this civilian area,” said Hathim Mohammed Ali, 28. “Why? This is not fair that the Americans cannot offer protection for us.”

At the nearby Yarmouk Hospital, physician Ahmed Abdul Hussein said the attack had killed at least six people and injured 54. About 10 of the victims had life-threatening injuries, he said.

The second car bomb exploded about 4:30 p.m. near a checkpoint in Baghdad’s upscale Mansour district, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding four others. The blast destroyed three U.S. military vehicles and blew out shop windows.

Witnesses said the explosives were in a black car that crashed into the checkpoint, which apparently was set up to provide security for the weekly Baghdad City Council meeting nearby.

Mohammed Laby, a policeman guarding a bank at the intersection, said the blast threw him out of his chair.

“I don’t how they were able to reach this point where police and guards are all over the place, but it seems that they had it all planned to strike the Americans,” Laby said.

Nasser Jannaby, whose shop windows were shattered, said: “This proves the failure of the American troops in handling security, for they come every week at this time to close the road and protect the city council meeting. I also hold the Interior Ministry responsible. This is not a city, it’s a war zone.”

Late Tuesday and early Wednesday, U.S.-led forces searching for weapons in Sadr City were attacked by gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades, a U.S. military spokesman said. About 22 Iraqis were killed and 100 injured in the battle.

The clash began Tuesday night, when about 30 tanks and Bradley armored vehicles came under fire from suspected members of the Mahdi militia, which is loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr.

The U.S. troops returned heavy fire, and the battle continued well after daybreak. At one point, American aircraft raked a suspected Mahdi position with “limited precision fire,” according to a statement by the military.

Officials at Chawader Hospital, near the battleground, reported receiving 22 dead and treating 107 injured people. A Mahdi militia source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 10 members were killed in the fighting.

Ilham Badr, 40, a homemaker, said she went out in the street at 9:30 a.m. to see what was happening and was shot in the right hand and left leg.

Another homemaker, a 27-year-old, was hit in the neck by sniper fire when she looked out her door, a relative said. She died in the hospital.

Mortar shells fired by Mahdi fighters reportedly hit two civilian homes, injuring two men.

Ali Ghanem, 21, who identified himself as a Mahdi fighter, said: “We will keep fighting the occupiers until either we are victorious or we are martyrs, for the sake of Islam.”

But the neighborhood was far from unanimous in its support of the Mahdi fighters.

“They can’t face the huge power of the Americans, so why don’t they just stop fighting, so we can go to our jobs?” asked Abu Hanin, 40. “My children are terrified and they can’t sleep at night.”

Rear Adm. Greg Slavonic, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition, said American troops seized several crates of hand grenades, thousands of rounds of ammunition, 70 rocket-propelled grenades and some mortar rounds.

Army Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, said U.S. troops had ventured into Sadr City to clear out the insurgents so that the shattered neighborhood could be rebuilt.

“Our focus is improving the quality of life in eastern Baghdad by providing better water sources, electricity, sewage treatment and bulk trash removal,” Chiarelli said in a statement.

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Times staff writer Ashraf Khalil and special correspondents Caesar Ahmed, Hesham Gati and Ammar Fadhil in Baghdad contributed to this report.