U.S. soldiers, employees killed in blast

BAGHDAD – Two American soldiers and three U.S. government employees were killed when a bomb exploded Tuesday in a local council building in a Shiite Muslim district of the capital, officials said.

The attack in Sadr City, the second aimed at a political meeting in two days, struck a blow at U.S. efforts to promote good governance, improve services and court allies after weeks of fighting in the Baghdad bastion of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The U.S. military blamed breakaway factions of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia.

The explosion occurred hours before a vote to replace the Sadr City District Advisory Council chairman, Abdul Hassan Jbara. Jbara, who is accused by colleagues of having ties to militias, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The bomb was planted outside the office of his deputy and would-be successor, Hassan Shamma, said Iraqi police and council members who were there.

Two of the slain civilians were Americans. They included Steven Farley, a U.S. State Department employee from Guthrie, Okla., and a U.S. Department of Defense employee whose identity was not released immediately.