93 Iraqis, 10 US Soldier Killed on June 21, 2007

The Iraq News Agency (INA) reported ten more Iraqis killed on June 21, 2007 than reported by AP below (two more in Sulaiman Bek and eight more in Diayala fighting).

- 18 people were killed and 76 were injured in Sulaiman Bek area in northern Iraq.

- 15 policemen were killed and injured in a suicide bomb attack on their headquarters in Mada'in, in southern Iraq.

- 30 Iraqi fighters and 7 US soldiers were killed in the first day of fighting in Diyala province.

The (US) Associated Press news agency (AP) reported that 83 Iraqis and 10 US soldiers were killed on June 21, 2007. Four US soldiers were killed yesterday and one the day before, with a total of 15 in the past three days. The AP reported the following news.

The U.S. military said 14 American troops have died in multiple attacks, including five killed Thursday in a single roadside bombing in Baghdad.

Elsewhere, a suicide truck bomber struck the Sulaiman Bek city hall in a predominantly Sunni area of northern Iraq, killing at least 16 people and wounding 67, an Iraqi commander said.

The latest U.S. deaths raised to at least 3,545 the number of American troops who have died since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The deadliest attack was a roadside bomb that struck a convoy in northeastern Baghdad on Thursday, killing five U.S. soldiers, three Iraqi civilians and one Iraqi interpreter, the military said.

A rocket-propelled grenade struck a vehicle in northern Baghdad about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, killing one soldier and wounding three others, another statement said.

On Wednesday, another powerful roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers and wounded another in western Baghdad, while two Marines died in fighting in Al-Anbar province, to the west of the capital.

Southwest of Baghdad, two soldiers were killed and four were wounded Tuesday when explosions struck near their vehicle, the military said, correcting an earlier statement that gave the date of the attack as Wednesday.

Counting a previously announced U.S. fatality that occurred Tuesday, the latest military statements meant that 15 troops were killed over a three-day period.

The explosion in Sulaiman Bek occurred about 10:30 a.m., and killed 16 people, Maj. Gen. Anwar Hama Amin said. The commander of the Iraqi army's 2nd Brigade said it was the latest in a series of strikes against government officials, whom the attackers accuse of collaborating with the U.S. and the Iraqi government.

Sulaiman Bek is about 100 miles north of the capital and just outside the border with Diyala province, where thousands of U.S. troops are engaged in an offensive against Iraqi fighters.

Amin said the target apparently was the mayor, who has lost five relatives in previous assassination attempts. The blast heavily damaged the city hall, along with several nearby houses and stores.

A U.S. airstrike aimed at a booby-trapped house in one of the centers of those offensives, the Diyala provincial capital of Ba'aqouba, missed its target and "accidentally hit" another structure, wounding 11 civilians on Wednesday, the military said, adding the incident was under investigation.

U.S. troops had cleared the area to destroy a house containing explosives believed placed by al-Qaida, but "the bomb missed its intended target and struck another structure," the military said. "Reports indicate that 11 civilians were injured."

The initial target was later destroyed by a Hellfire missile, producing a large secondary explosion, according to the statement.

The latest military report on the Diyala offensive said U.S.-led forces had killed 41 Iraqis, discovered five weapons caches and destroyed 25 bombs and five booby-trapped houses.

Violence persisted in Baghdad, with a series of mortars or rockets slammed into the U.S.-controlled Green Zone, which houses the U.S. and British embassies and major Iraqi government headquarters - raising fresh concerns about the thousands of Americans who live and work in the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad.

A huge plume of black smoke rose from the sprawling complex on the west bank of the Tigris River and helicopters buzzed overhead after about nine blasts occurred in quick succession around 10 a.m.

At least one mortar round struck a parking lot used by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his security detail, an official from his office said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

The U.S. Embassy confirmed rounds of indirect fire, the military term for rockets or mortars, but said it did not have information about casualties.

Elsewhere, sports officials gathered for a funeral for an Iraqi bodybuilding champion, Mahir Mohammed Ali, who was killed in the bombing of a mosque Tuesday in central Baghdad.

At least 21 people were killed or found dead in attacks nationwide, including the director of a branch office of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who was shot to death near the southern city of Hillah.

Associated Press writers Bushra Juhi and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report in Baghdad.

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