Suicide Bombings

Five U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi civilian were killed Monday in a suicide bombing while chatting with shopkeepers in central Baghdad, part of an uptick in high-profile attacks that has rattled the capital after months of diminished violence. Early today, the U.S. military announced that three more soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb Monday in Diyala province.

A suicide car bomber attacked international troops in southern Afghanistan, killing three NATO soldiers and four Afghans, officials said. Two Danish troops, a Czech special forces soldier and an Afghan interpreter were among those killed in the attack at a bazaar in Helmand province. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said four other soldiers were hurt. Danish Maj. Gen. Poul Kiaerskou said they were en route to a reconstruction project.

A suicide bomber killed 14 people at an opening ceremony for a marathon Sunday, including a government minister and a former Olympian. More than 90 others were wounded. Sri Lankan officials blamed the bombing on the Tamil Tigers, rebels who have fought since 1983 for an independent homeland for the ethnic minority Tamils, who believe they have been marginalized for decades by successive governments run by ethnic majority Sinhalese.

Bombs in two provincial capitals killed more than 50 Iraqi civilians Tuesday, underscoring the continuing threat posed by Sunni Muslim insurgents as they try to regain power in former strongholds. Coinciding with military efforts to curb the strength of Shiite Muslim militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq, the new attacks also portend the hurdles the Iraqi government may face as U.S. troop levels decrease through the summer.

At least 31 Iraqis were killed and 71 wounded in a double suicide bombing north of the capital Thursday, police and hospital officials said. The U.S. military, meanwhile, announced the death of a U.S. soldier in a car bombing in Baghdad. In the attack in Balad Ruz, a religiously mixed town in Diyala province, police said a woman with explosives hidden under her robes blew herself up in a market. As rescue workers arrived, a male suicide bomber struck, police said. The U.S.

A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up close to a convoy of foreign troops in Kabul, but instead wounded three civilians, officials said. The bomber in a white Toyota Corolla died in the blast in the Afghan capital's western outskirts shortly after a convoy carrying foreign troops passed, said a regional police chief, Zalmai Khan. No casualties were reported among those in the convoy. Separately, police clashed with a group of insurgents in the western province of Ghor, leaving six Taliban fighters dead, said provincial Police Chief Shah Jahan Noori.

A suicide bomber blew himself up next to a police convoy in southern Afghanistan, killing four civilians and wounding eight people, including five officers, an official said. The bomber was targeting the district police chief in Musa Qala in Helmand province, the provincial police chief said. In Zabol province, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. military vehicle, killing one coalition service member and a civilian. Their names were not released.

A suicide bomber killed 16 Iraqis on Thursday outside a police station in an area of northern Iraq contested by Kurds and Arabs. The bomber struck alongside police recruits in the town of Sinjar in Nineveh province. The dead included 14 recruits and two policemen, said Brig. Gen. Khalil Juboori of the provincial police. An injured policeman said the police had been warned Wednesday of a potential attack and had planned to cancel Thursday's recruitment drive.

Nearly 40 people were killed and about 100 injured Thursday in a suicide attack at a town meeting in Anbar province and a coordinated rocket attack and bombing in the northern city of Mosul. The dead included three U.S. Marines. The mayor and the tribal chief in the Anbar town of Karmah were killed along with the Marines and 16 other people when a bomber blew himself up during a meeting of sheiks and city leaders. Twenty people were injured.

The tactic echoed the unthinkable cruelty of the Iraqi war zone. The target was a crowded family restaurant. And the accused would-be attacker, who was wounded when his bomb went off prematurely in the restaurant bathroom, was a hulking 22-year-old who police say has mental problems.