Reporting from Baghdad and Mosul, Iraq — A suicide truck bomber attacked a police headquarters Friday in the tense northern city of Mosul, killing five U.S. soldiers in the deadliest strike against American forces in Iraq in 13 months.
The bomber got around several concrete barriers and detonated his truck loaded with explosives at the entrance to the local headquarters of Iraq's national police.
A U.S. military convoy passing at the time provided the bomber with a "target of opportunity," said U.S. Army spokesman Maj. Derrick Cheng. In addition to the U.S. troops, three Iraqis were killed: a soldier, a policeman and a civilian. Sixty people were injured, police said.
On a surprise visit to Baghdad this week, President Obama touted security gains in Iraq. He said it was time for Iraqs to take full control of their country, in keeping with plans to pull U.S. combat troops out of cities by June 30 and for all combat brigades to leave the country by August 2010.
However, Baghdad residents have been rattled by a recent increase in violence, raising concerns that the capital could slip back into chaos. On the day before Obama arrived, six car bombings in Baghdad claimed the lives of 36 people.
Mosul and surrounding areas have not seen even relative peace, and U.S. troops are increasingly called on there to try to prevent outbreaks of violence. On any day, Mosul is rocked by bombings against its civilian population. Also on Friday, a Sunni Arab politician who had lost a local election in January was assassinated on the street.
The explosion at the compound sent glass flying, destroyed five armored vehicles and charred two other U.S. vehicles, Iraqi security sources said.
"We heard a loud explosion that shook the neighborhood and we heard the sound of breaking glass," said Bassam Younis, 47, who owns a grocery store in the area.
Many of the wounded Iraqis were civilians who lived in neighboring houses. Security forces sealed off the area and helicopters roared overhead, while smoke filled the sky. Two people were arrested, the U.S. military and Iraqi security officials said.
It was the second truck bomb attack in two weeks against a national police base in Mosul. Eight people were killed March 31 when a suicide bomber entered a different base. His forged papers said he was carrying construction supplies.
