In brief: Bombings kill 17 Iraqis, 2 U.S. soldiers

BAGHDAD – At least 17 Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday in a wave of explosions, mostly in Baghdad, including a suicide bombing against police, security sources and the U.S. military said.

The U.S. military declined to provide details on the attack that killed the two soldiers.

On Sunday morning, a car bomb targeted a U.S. military convoy near Taji, the site of a major military installation north of Baghdad, but it caused no damage to the vehicles, according to an Iraqi security official. When police gathered at the site, a suicide bomber approached and blew himself up, killing 10 police and wounding another 16 people, the official said.

The wave of explosions included blasts during Baghdad’s morning rush hour, with six people killed, officials said. A car bomb in Amil killed a policeman on patrol and wounded three of his colleagues. Four civilians were killed and 15 wounded in four roadside explosions in the western Shiite neighborhood of Bayaa. A car bombing injured nine people in Sadr City, and a roadside bomb nearby killed a civilian.

The motorcade of a brigadier general with the Interior Ministry was hit by a bomb, killing one civilian and wounding three others. A second attack on the U.S. military was reported Sunday evening, with a security official saying a roadside bomb had struck a Humvee outside the neighborhood of Amiriya in west Baghdad.

Militants storm Afghan building

KABUL, Afghanistan – Taliban fighters wearing suicide bomb vests hidden under police uniforms attacked a government building Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, triggering an hours-long gunbattle and killing six people, officials said.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in Khost province. Guards opened fire on the attackers, but the men were able to occupy the upper floor of the building, provincial Police Chief Gen. Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai said. The attackers shot at Afghan security forces from their vantage point as a fire raged through the structure. AP Television News video showed U.S. soldiers surrounding an outer wall and shouting orders as Afghan troops rushed toward the building, which was engulfed in smoke.

Two of the attackers detonated their bomb vests during the fighting, with one bomber killing two Afghan soldiers. Security forces killed the other two attackers. Three police officers and a gardener working at the site were also killed, Ishaqzai said. Five police officers, one soldier and one civilian were wounded.

Elsewhere in the east, a NATO service member was killed Sunday in a bomb attack, the alliance said. NATO did not provide details.

Honduras’ ousted leader can return

CARTAGENA, Colombia – Ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya signed an accord with his successor Sunday that will permit Zelaya’s return to his homeland and the country’s re-entry into the Organization of American States.

Shaking hands with smiles, Zelaya and current President Porfirio Lobo sat down in this Caribbean port to sign an agreement.

The goal is to end the political crisis caused by the June 2009 coup that sent Zelaya into exile and caused the OAS to suspend Honduras as a member.