Blasts, other violence kill at least 37 Iraqis

At least 37 Iraqis were killed in bomb blasts and other attacks in two days of violence, including a car bomb that exploded near the Polish Embassy. Two U.S. service members also were killed in separate incidents, authorities said.

Two car bombs targeting a mosque and the home of the police chief killed 14 people and wounded 30 today in the northern town of Baiji, Reuters news service reported. The police chief was wounded in the attack, which killed four of his guards, the news service reported.

The U.S. military announced the deaths of a Marine killed in combat Monday in Anbar province and a soldier killed Friday near Baiji. At least 3,817 U.S. personnel have been killed since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, according to the website icasualties.org, which tracks military deaths.

The U.S. command says violence in Iraq has dropped overall since President Bush ordered the deployment of nearly 30,000 additional troops this year. But officers concede there has been a recent increase in attacks by Sunni insurgents timed to coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In a separate matter causing strain in U.S. and Iraqi relations, the Associated Press reported that Iraqi authorities have asked the U.S. government to hand over the Blackwater USA security guards involved in a shooting last month to face possible trial in an Iraqi court.

Iraqi officials also want the U.S. government to pay $8 million per victim to the families of the 17 people they say were killed when the private security firm’s guards opened fire at a busy intersection Sept. 16, and to sever all ties with the company within six months. Blackwater says its guards were ambushed while protecting a U.S. Embassy convoy, but Iraqi officials concluded they fired without provocation.

The demands are contained in an Iraqi government report obtained by AP, one of several probes into an incident that has raised questions about the use of largely unregulated contractors to protect U.S. officials.

Aides to Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said they were not aware of the demands reported by AP.

In the most deadly of Monday’s attacks, a suicide truck bomber killed 13 people and injured 26 in an assault on the Dijla police station near Samarra, a mostly Sunni city about 60 miles north of Baghdad. The blast ripped through stores and cars, and most of the casualties were civilians, police said.

In Baghdad, four explosions shook the Polish Embassy in the city’s upscale Karada neighborhood, the acting Polish ambassador, Waldemar Figaj, told Reuters news agency. He described the first blast as “very, very powerful,” but said it caused no damage. “I don’t believe we were targeted. We just felt the impact,” he said.

An official at the Iraqi Interior Ministry said a car bomb exploded on a nearby street. The U.S. military said its aircraft dropped a series of bombs into an area of dense palm groves along Dora’s fringes that has been used to ambush and shell U.S. and Iraqi forces. No casualties were reported, the military said in a statement.

Polish Ambassador Edward Pietrzyk was injured in an attack Wednesday that killed one of his bodyguards. Poland is a staunch supporter of U.S. forces in Iraq and has vowed to maintain its 900-strong presence in the south. But the country plans to move its diplomatic mission inside the fortified Green Zone for safety.

Also Monday, U.S.-led forces killed five gunmen and detained three suspects during a raid targeting Shiite militants said to be involved in kidnappings and bombings using sophisticated armor-piercing rounds, the military said. Iraqi police said the raid happened in Baghdad’s Sadr City.

Police in Baghdad also announced that they had recovered seven bodies with gunshot wounds.

alexandra.zavis@latimes.com

Times staff writer Saif Hameed contributed to this report.