IRAQ: A bomb killed 10 people, including two US government employees and two US soldiers, at a council meeting in the Baghdad stronghold of Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday.
Police said six Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded in the attack at a local council building in southern Sadr City.
The US military blamed renegade Shia militias called "special groups" for the bombing. "Special groups" is jargon for rogue elements of Mr Sadr's al-Mahdi army militia that the military says are equipped, trained and funded by Iran. Tehran denies the charges.
US forces also blamed a special group cell for a truck bomb that killed 63 people in a Shia neighbourhood of Baghdad a week ago.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said the deaths of the American civilians, one from the US state department and the other from the department of defence, were "a terrible reminder of the dangers that our colleagues face daily in advancing our critical foreign policy goals".
The US military said a suspect who had tested positive for explosives residue had been caught trying to flee the scene.
Lieut Col Steven Stover, a US military spokesman, said the target was believed to be a high-ranking council member. It was unclear if that person survived.
Lieut Col Stover said the rogue Shia militant groups were unhappy that the council member was working with US forces.
Mahmud al-Zamili, a member of Sadr City's council, said the blast occurred inside the office of the deputy head of the council.
Police said the deputy was among the wounded.
The US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, told US lawmakers in April that the "special groups" were the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq. - (Reuters)