Violence continues to rock Iraqi cities

BAGHDAD, Iraq – Blood continued to flow in cities across Iraq on Thursday as three car bombs killed at least 14 Iraqis here and in Kirkuk, three U.S. soldiers were slain by explosives and three high-ranking Iraqi security officials were assassinated on their way to work.

The deadliest incident took place outside a crowded Baghdad marketplace, where a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near families perusing shops or enjoying a late breakfast in popular restaurants lining the street. Twelve people were killed and more than 50 more Iraqis were wounded in the al-Jadeeda neighborhood attack.

In Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, two car bombs exploded, one killing two people at a police station, according to the Associated Press. Two others were wounded, police said, when a bomb apparently targeting a U.S. patrol exploded near an Iraqi army checkpoint.

Police declared a state of emergency in the province, announcing a curfew to keep people at home between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

In the past two weeks, more than 400 Iraqis have been killed in insurgent attacks – the vast majority civilians. At least 60 people were killed on Wednesday in a series of suicide attacks.

Insurgents also continued to target U.S. troops with improvised explosive devices.While on patrol in Samarra, a troubled Sunni Arab city 60 miles northwest of Baghdad, two soldiers were injured when their vehicle struck explosives Thursday. Both were evacuated to a medical facility where one of them later died from his wounds, the U.S. military said.

Near Musayib south of the capital, a U.S. soldier died when his vehicle hit a bomb. And a third soldier died after his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in eastern Baghdad.

On Wednesday, five Marines participating in an offensive against insurgent strongholds near the Syrian border were killed when their amphibious vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, according to Marine officials in western Iraq.

Since the operation began Sunday, seven marines have been killed and 25 wounded.

“I’ve seen gangsters with gunshots and everything,” Lance Cpl. Ruben Cervantez of Fresno, Calif., a medic who had been riding in the doomed vehicle only a few minutes before it struck the bomb, said Thursday. “Back home, I work on them and then it’s like, ‘whatever.’ Here, all these people are my friends. It’s a different story.”

American troops have sought to prevent roadside bombs through a variety of means, including jamming devices, but they largely have been unsuccessful.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, three Iraqi security officials were shot to death in short succession, police and government officials said.

Since the Shiite-dominated government was named on April 28, insurgents have escalated their attacks to about 75 daily, almost double compared to six weeks ago, according to the U.S. military.