Blasts batter an island of relative calm in Iraq

Suicide bombers struck twice in Ramadi on Monday, killing more than a dozen people and undercutting U.S. efforts to portray the city as a bright spot in the fight against Al Qaeda-led insurgents.

In another setback to a U.S.-led security plan now in its third month, the bodies of 30 men were found strewn across Baghdad, apparent victims of sectarian death squads whose activities had appeared to ebb in the initial weeks of the sweep. They brought to 151 the number of unidentified corpses found in the Iraqi capital in the last seven days, compared with 125 the previous seven days and 105 the week before.

Since the Feb. 13 start of the security plan, which has put tens of thousands more U.S. and Iraqi troops on the streets, U.S. officials have sought to counter the continuous car bombs and mortar attacks with evidence of progress. The relative calm in Ramadi, a longtime stronghold of Sunni Arab insurgents linked to the Al Qaeda terrorist network, and the drop in death squad victims have been among the few positive indicators.

Since the plan began, Sunni sheiks in Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar province in western Iraq, have been vocal in their opposition to the insurgents they once harbored, angered by attacks on civilians. U.S. officials say this has enabled American forces to tame much of the once-seething city and recruit thousands of officers for the provincial police force.

But on Monday, two sedans loaded with explosives blew up about a mile from each other in Ramadi, shattering an outdoor market, a security checkpoint and whatever sense of security residents might have had.

The first blast occurred about 1 p.m. at the crowded checkpoint. The next one went off minutes later at the market.

“These will do nothing but increase hatred for Al Qaeda because they are targeting civilians,” said Sheik Abdul Sattar Rishawi, one of the local leaders who has turned against the insurgency.

In addition to killing civilians, the bombing damaged cars and shops, Rishawi said.

Last month, he and other Sunni tribal leaders in Al Anbar announced plans to form a political party to oppose insurgents.

Initial reports put the death toll from the two attacks at 25, but later reports said it could be as low as 13. It was unclear how many people died in each attack, but at least five were policemen at the checkpoint.

Police are frequent targets of insurgents, who view them as collaborators with the U.S.-backed government that the insurgency aims to derail.

On April 23, 26 people died in car bomb attacks in Ramadi. Unlike Monday’s market bombing, however, the April blasts clearly were aimed at police rather than civilians: One attack targeted a restaurant frequented by police officers and the other hit a police checkpoint.

A Ramadi police lieutenant, Khalil Adulaimi, said Monday’s bombings showed that Al Qaeda was grasping for control of Al Anbar’s Sunni population as its influence wanes.

Meanwhile, the Islamic State of Iraq, a coalition of insurgent groups loyal to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility Monday for a devastating bombing Sunday that killed six U.S. soldiers in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad. A Russian photographer traveling in the soldiers’ vehicle also was killed.

The U.S. military announced the death of an additional soldier in combat Sunday. That brought to 3,377 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to the website icasualties.org, which tallies war-related casualties.

The military also announced that a senior commander had been shot by a sniper last week while at the site of a controversial wall that U.S. soldiers began erecting around a volatile Sunni neighborhood in north Baghdad.

Col. B. D. Farris, commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, was treated and evacuated from Iraq after the incident Thursday. He was in stable condition, the military said in a statement.

Last month, Adhamiya residents and Iraqi politicians became incensed over military plans to virtually surround the neighborhood with towering concrete slabs to quell violence between its Sunni residents and those in surrounding Shiite Muslim neighborhoods.

The military has since explained that the wall was intended to be temporary. At a news conference Sunday, Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said plans had been altered to allow residents to more easily enter and leave Adhamiya.

Elsewhere in Iraq, more than a dozen people died Monday in mortar, bomb and gunfire attacks.

The worst incident occurred in the south Baghdad neighborhood of Bayaa, a mixed Sunni-Shiite district that lately has seen a rise in violence. At least five people died when mortar rounds slammed into a residential area there.

More than 40 people died in Bayaa on Sunday when a bomb went off in a market.

susman@latimes.com

Special correspondents in Baghdad and Ramadi contributed to this report.