U.S. Soldier and Marine Killed in Iraq Blasts

The U.S. military announced Sunday the deaths of two service members -- a Marine killed by an explosion during combat a day earlier in the western town of Haditha and a soldier killed by a homemade bomb near the central city of Baiji.

Two car bombings in the northern city of Mosul killed one Iraqi civilian and wounded several others, according to the military.

Details also were released of a U.S. investigation confirming that a Bulgarian soldier was killed last month by friendly fire during a clash with American soldiers. The investigation found that Gurdi Gurdev was fatally wounded March 4 in southern Iraq when U.S. and Bulgarian forces “fired on each other in response to what each believed to be a hostile act from a legitimate military target,” according to a statement released by the U.S. military.

An Internet statement purportedly from Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for an insurgent attack Saturday on the Abu Ghraib prison on the western outskirts of Baghdad. One insurgent died in the 40-minute firefight; 44 U.S. troops and 13 prisoners were wounded.

The claim could not be independently verified. It was unclear whether the attack, using car bombs, guns and rocket-propelled grenades, was aimed at freeing prisoners. None escaped.

Abu Ghraib was at the center of an abuse scandal last year that erupted after photographs became public that showed U.S. soldiers humiliating and otherwise mistreating naked Iraqi inmates.