U.S. soldier, 4 Iraqis killed in suicide blast
The attack, in the town of Tarmiya, is the most deadly of the day's incidents across the nation. U.S., Iraqi negotiators continue working on pact laying out the future for American troops in Iraq.
BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber detonated her explosives today in eastern Iraq amid U.S. and Iraqi troops who were investigating an earlier attack. The blast killed at least one American soldier and four Iraqis.
It was the worst attack among a smattering that occurred across Iraq, including one at a crowded bus depot in Baghdad that left four people dead.
The attacks came as U.S. and Iraqi negotiators tried to finalize details of an accord laying out the future for American troops in Iraq. The pact is needed because the United Nations mandate guiding the U.S. presence in Iraq expires at the end of the year.
In comments on Iraq's Al Hurra television, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the pact "is about to be finished" and probably would be presented to Iraq's parliament when lawmakers return from their summer break early next month.
Zebari said Iraq was pressing for a clear timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops, but he did not mention dates. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said he hopes American combat troops can be gone by the end of 2010, leaving behind only advisors and support troops.
Today's attacks showed the challenges still facing American forces in Iraq, who number about 140,000, and the Iraqi security forces who ultimately will have the task of protecting the country.
Police in the town of Tarmiya said the attack there was two-pronged. First, a bomb was detonated inside a house belonging to a member of the Awakening, the movement comprised of civilians working alongside U.S. and Iraqi forces to secure their communities. When U.S. and Iraqi security forces responded to the attack, a woman wearing an explosive vest rushed toward them and blew herself up.
Maj. Tahmir Dulaimi of the Tarmiya police said at least 10 people died. A U.S. military statement said one of the dead was an American soldier, and that two other U.S. troops were wounded. It said at least four Iraqis were killed.
At least 4,137 American troops have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003, according to the independent website icasualties.org.
In Baghdad, four people died when a bomb went off at a bus station in eastern Baghdad, and two people died when a blast targeted a convoy of police and military vehicles carrying cash to a downtown bank. The money was not taken or damaged, police said.
In Khanaqin, a city near the Iranian border about 90 miles northeast of Baghdad, two people died when a pickup truck hiding explosives beneath livestock exploded.
tina.susman@latimes.com
Special correspondents in Baghdad and Baqubah contributed to this report.
