3 Marines killed in bomb attacks in Iraq
BAGHDAD -- Three U.S. Marines were killed in a pair of attacks in western Anbar province and the southern port of Basra, the military announced today, while a car bomb claimed the lives of an Iraqi soldier and two civilians in western Baghdad near a well-known restaurant.
The deaths came amid an upswing in bloodshed that began last month when the Iraqi government ordered an offensive in the southern city of Basra. The assault sparked ongoing fighting with Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. Sunni radicals have also carried out a series of large-scale bombings this month.
Iraqi officials have warned of greater violence in the months ahead.
Two of the Marines died when a suicide car bomb sped into a checkpoint today near Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province, according to a U.S. military statement. Two other Marines, two Iraqi police officers and 24 civilians were wounded in the attack. Iraqi police said the attack was carried out with a truck bomb.
Ramadi, once a bastion of Al Qaeda in Iraq along with most of Anbar, has become calm in the last year as tribes have battled militants and teamed up with their onetime enemies, the Americans. But there are indications that Al Qaeda in Iraq is regrouping. Last week 13 people were killed in Ramadi when a bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up near policemen eating lunch.
The third Marine died Monday when a roadside bomb exploded in Basra, the U.S. Marines announced. The military reported Monday that a bomb had struck an American military vehicle and caused casualties, but provided no other information. Another Marine was wounded in the attack.
U.S. and British forces are backing Iraqi troops who have secured the city, which had fallen under the control of various militia groups. However, the campaign has turned into a fight mainly against Sadr's Mahdi Army.
Before the latest deaths, icasualties.org,. a website tracking military fatalities, put the number of U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq since March 2003 at 4,041.
In Baghdad, a car bomb raced into an Iraqi army checkpoint today in western Baghdad's Mansour district by the popular Saa restaurant. One Iraqi soldier and two civilians were killed and 20 others were wounded in the attack, police said. Al Qaeda in Iraq supporters are thought to live in the area.
ned.parker@latimes.com
Times staff writers Said Rifai and Raheem Salman contributed to this report
