Blast claims 2 boys
BAGHDAD, Iraq — A bomb exploded outside a Baghdad home early today, killing a woman and two of her young sons. North of the capital, a car bomb targeted a convoy carrying a Samarra city council member's son, killing a security guard and a driver.
The latest violence came after the U.S. military reported the deadliest day in almost three months for American service members in the Iraq war. Ten U.S. troops died, five of them Marines killed in a vehicle accident in a remote, rain-soaked area west of Baghdad.
Three more Americans — two Marines and a sailor — were still missing after the truck overturned near Asad air base.
Meanwhile, another prominent Shiite politician expressed faltering support for Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who is seeking a second term and is at the center of a stalemate in negotiations over the new government.
"In my belief, there is no way left (for al-Jaafari), considering that other parliamentary blocs are still closing doors ... and the constitutional choices in Dr. al-Jaafari's hands do not enable him to win the legal quorum to receive a new mandate as prime minister," Shiite legislator Jalaladin al-Saghir told Lebanese television Tuesday.
Sunni and Kurdish politicians have called for the Shiite bloc to replace al-Jaafari as its nominee. Last weekend, two prominent Shiite politicians also joined calls for him to step aside.
Adnan al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab politician, today said the Iraqi Accordance Front was still insisting on a different nominee and hoped to hear back from the main Shiite bloc in a few days.
Rising tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims have led to a marked increase in Iraqi civilian deaths. At least 1,038 civilians died last month in war-related violence, according to an Associated Press count.
The AP count showed at least 375 Iraqi civilians killed in December, 608 in January and 741 in February. Most of the increase appeared to be a result of a sharp rise in the number of civilians found dead throughout Baghdad — the apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings.
Today's bombing in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of New Baghdad hit shortly after 7 a.m., killing the woman and two boys, ages 9 and 12. A third son, 13, was wounded, as were two brothers of a different family living in the same home, police said.
The car bomb exploded in Samarra as the 19-year-old son of a city council member left home in a convoy. A security guard and a driver were killed, and three guards were wounded, police said.
In southern Iraq, gunmen killed a policeman and wounded another as the two were driving in the city of Basra, police said.
Police discovered three corpses, apparent victims of the sectarian violence gripping Iraq. Two were found near a highway in western Baghdad's mostly Sunni neighborhood of Khadra, both handcuffed and showing signs of torture. The other, also handcuffed, was found floating in a small river south of the capital.
U.S. casualties had appeared to be on the decline, with last month the least deadly month for American troops since February 2004. But 14 troops have already died in the first three days of April — nearly half the number who died in all of March.
Ten troops died on Sunday, according to U.S. military and Department of Defense reports released Monday.
Five died in the vehicle accident when their truck overturned near Asad air base in Anbar province. Four others — three Marines and a sailor — were killed by "hostile fire" in the same province, the military said. No further details were released.
The 10th, Army Pfc. Jeremy W. Ehle of Richmond, Va., was killed when his patrol came under fire near Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad. Ehle, who arrived in Iraq last month, was part of the Army's 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division stationed in Friedberg, Germany.
