U.S. Soldier, 12 Iraqis Die in Violence Wave

At least a dozen Iraqis and a U.S. soldier were killed Thursday in a series of bombings, shootings and ambushes across Iraq, but stepped-up security apparently averted even worse bloodshed that had been feared on the holiest day of the year for Shiite Muslims.

On the peak day of the Ashura holiday last year, synchronized suicide bombs set off at crowded Shiite shrines in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala killed at least 181 people. The attacks were part of a campaign against Iraq’s Shiite majority by insurgents, many of them rival Sunni Muslims, aimed at inflaming sectarian conflict.

Thursday marked the culmination of the 40-day Ashura period, when mournful rites and solemn processions commemorate the death of Imam Hussein, a 7th century Shiite martyr who was the grandson of the prophet Muhammad.

In the city of Tuz Khurmatu, about 50 miles south of Kirkuk, Iraqi troops intercepted an explosives-packed car at a checkpoint set up to protect the crowded Husseniya mosque of the Imam Ali. Three soldiers and two civilians were killed and 12 other people were wounded when the driver set off the bomb.

“The attacker was driving a white Daewoo. He was trying to attack the ... mosque, and at that time nearly 2,000 worshipers were at the mosque,” said an Iraqi military official who asked not to be identified. “But when the attacker reached the checkpoint near the mosque, he was asked to step out of the car to be checked, and he exploded himself.”

To the south in Samarra, a recent hot spot for violence, authorities said they received a tip about a car bomber on the move. A joint patrol of Iraqi commandos and U.S. troops tracked down and surrounded the car, which collided with an American vehicle and exploded, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

The explosion in a public marketplace in the Thubbat neighborhood killed three civilians and the driver and injured 15 people, including nine children, said Lt. Qasim Mohammed of the Iraqi police. No U.S. soldiers were hurt, military officials said.

Earlier in the day, gunmen in Samarra attacked the Imam Ali police station near a shrine of the same name, but police officers reacted quickly, killing one attacker and capturing two, Capt. Hatam Nusayif said.

Elsewhere, a civilian died in a mortar attack on an Iraqi military base, and three civilians died in cross-fire between U.S. troops and gunmen outside the town of Qaim near the Syrian border.

Although violence and common crime continue to plague large sections of the country, Iraqi and U.S. officials said the level of bloodshed Thursday suggested that security had improved at least modestly.

Terrorist attacks and killings of U.S. soldiers have declined since the Iraqi national election Jan. 30, officials say. One reason has been the increasing aggressiveness and effectiveness of Iraqi security forces, said Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, a deputy interior minister.

“The number of terrorist acts are declining,” Kamal said in an interview Thursday. “There are several factors. We have built up the security forces. The potential of the security forces has increased. And there is cooperation from the citizens.”

A U.S. soldier with Task Force Liberty was killed in action Thursday afternoon near Hajiwah in central Iraq, U.S. officials said. They gave no further details. Iraqi officials said the death was caused by a land mine.

The U.S. military also reported two more troop deaths that occurred Wednesday. In the first attack, a gunman killed a U.S. soldier on patrol in eastern Baghdad and escaped into a crowd, officials said. Five suspects were detained in the ensuing roundup.

In the other attack, insurgents killed a soldier and wounded five others when they opened fire on a military checkpoint in Mosul, U.S. officials said. The names of the soldiers were withheld pending notification of their families.

In January, 107 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq, according to Pentagon statistics. The monthly total dropped to 58 in February and to 35 in March.

Meanwhile, Iraqi television Thursday reported an allegation that a U.S. military helicopter in the area of Qaim opened fire on an Iraqi wedding party, killing the bride. The event turned into an on-the-spot funeral ceremony in which participants cursed the Americans, according to the television report.

U.S. military officials questioned the report. “Right now, we’ve checked with operations folks in the area and haven’t found any indication that this has happened,” said Staff Sgt. Don Dees, a U.S. Army spokesman.

It was difficult Thursday evening to determine what happened in the remote border area. Weddings in Iraq traditionally take place on Thursdays and often involve caravans firing automatic weapons into the air, causing potentially fatal misunderstandings with U.S. troops.

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Special correspondents Zaydan Khalaf in Samarra and Ali Windawi in Kirkuk contributed to this report.