Iraq suicide blast kills 68
Day of violence claims at least 115 lives
cnn.com
July 28 2004
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqi forces, insurgents, civilians and three
U.S. service members lost their lives in violence Wednesday, with at
least 68 killed in a Baquba suicide bombing and 42 dead in fighting in
south-central Iraq.
Also, an Iraqi was killed in a blast near a Baghdad police station and
an enemy combatant died in fighting in Ramadi.
At the same time, several hostages remain under the gun of Iraqi
militants, and authorities are working to free them.
Police said the bomber drove a Toyota mini-bus into a marketplace near a
police station, where would-be recruits were lined up outside, and
detonated the explosives. Among those killed were 21 passengers on a bus
driving by.
The Baquba suicide blast was so intense it shattered glass in nearby
cafes, ripped facades off buildings and set fire to other vehicles,
video from the scene showed.
Meanwhile, three U.S. soldiers died Wednesday in two separate attacks.
Two U.S. service members died of wounds received in fighting in Ramadi,
the U.S. military said. The two were wounded along with eight U.S.
service members when U.S. military camps came under fire. An "enemy
combatant" also was killed in the fighting in the Sunni Triangle town,
the military said.
In Baghdad, an improvised explosive device killed a U.S. soldier serving
with Task Force Baghdad, the Coalition Press Information Center said.
Three other soldiers and a civilian were wounded in the attack.
The deaths bring the number of U.S. troop fatalities to 912 in the war
in Iraq. Of those, 677 deaths were combat-related and 235 were
non-combat incidents, according to the U.S. military.
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