A roadside bomb attack killed 13 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad suburb today and three separate attacks has resulted in the deaths of six US soldiers.
At least 25 civilians were injured when the roadside bomb was detonated at around 8am in the eastern Baghdad Shia neighborhood of Baladiyat, police and hospital officials said.
The blast came on the fringes of Sadr City, the neighborhood dominated by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who ordered a six-month suspension of operations by his Mahdi Army militia last week after clashes in the holy city of Karbala between Mahdi Army forces and a rival Shia militia.
US officials believe mainstream Mahdi forces have generally stuck by the order but breakaway factions of the militia are continuing attacks.
Elsewhere in the Iraqi capital, three US soldiers were killed and two were wounded after their Humvee was hit with an explosively formed penetrator, a type of bomb that the US alleges Iran has been supplying to Shia militias. Iran denies the accusation.
In a separate attack, two US soldiers were killed and another wounded in an eastern section of Baghdad during combat operations, the US military confirmed.
Another soldier was killed and two were wounded during combat yesterday in the west of the capital, the US command said.
In the north, a suicide truck bomb exploded at a police checkpoint in Mosul, killing one policeman and wounding 26 people, including 24 civilians, police Brig. Saeed Ahmed al-Jubouri said.