8 US soldiers die in Iraq, 7 from roadside attacks

BAGHDAD -- Eight American soldiers died yesterday in Iraq, including seven killed in roadside bombings, the US military said, bringing to 30 the number of US service members whose deaths were announced in the past six days.

The number of American troops killed in Iraq so far this month, an average of about 3.5 fatalities per day. Sixty of the deaths were caused by roadside bombs, the leading killer of US troops here.

US military officials say powerful roadside bombings are occurring more frequently as more American troops are deployed on the streets of Iraq, particularly in the capital. US officials say many of the materials used in the bombs and much of the know-how for building them are being imported from neighboring Iran.

In the deadliest event yesterday, four US soldiers were killed in northwest Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle during combat operations, according to a military statement. An Iraqi interpreter was wounded in the attack.

Two soldiers were killed in eastern Baghdad when their unit was hit by a roadside bomb and then came under small-arms fire, the military said. A US airman was killed in a roadside bomb attack on his vehicle in Tikrit, about 90 miles north of Baghdad.

A US soldier died in Baghdad of noncombat causes, the military said.

The British Defense Ministry announced that a British soldier died of wounds sustained in a roadside bombing Friday near the southern port city of Basra, bringing to 153 the number of British troops killed in the war.

Elsewhere, at least 12 people were killed and 14 wounded yesterday in a drive-by shooting, a sniper attack, a roadside bombing, and other violence, according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official who was not allowed to be quoted by name. In addition, 12 bodies, all bearing gunshot wounds and signs of torture, were found in Baghdad, he said.

At least 3,555 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The military has staged a series of counterattacks this week on roadside bomb factories and insurgent strongholds where stockpiles of explosives have been uncovered.

US forces using tips from Iraqi informants raided a safe house before dawn yesterday and detained three militants suspected of ties to Iran, the military said. The operation in Sadr City, Baghdad's main Shi'ite enclave, was the latest in a series of raids on targets where militiamen are believed to have ties to Iran.

The United States contends that Iran is arming Shi'ite militias and some Sunni insurgents with explosives, including armor-penetrating bombs, which have killed hundreds of US troops in recent months.

Amid yesterday's violence, two Sunni political blocs threatened to boycott the 275-seat parliament, demanding reinstatement of Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni. The Shi'ite-dominated Legislature wants him to step down and has named his Shi'ite deputy, Khaled al-Attiya, as a temporary replacement.

Many legislators viewed Mashhandani's erratic behavior as unbecoming and a hindrance to parliament's ability to pass key benchmark legislation as demanded by Washington.

Kurds in northern Iraq, meanwhile, prepared for today's announcement of a verdict against deposed Iraq president Saddam Hussein's cousin, known as Chemical Ali, and other defendants who could face the death penalty for the 1980s crackdown against the ethnic minority.

Many said they were looking forward to closure, expecting the stiffest penalty against the cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, former head of the Ba'ath Party's Northern Bureau Command.

He is accused of ordering the use of chemical weapons against Kurds in the late 1980s scorched-earth campaign. Hussein feared the Kurds were siding with Iran during the eight-year war between Baghdad and Tehran.

"Finally, the past hard days are gone. I am ready to start over without this burden on my chest," said Lokman Abdul-Qader, a 40-year-old resident of Halabja who lost six relatives in a chemical attack and says he has suffered from acute asthma attacks since he inhaled the gas that was used.

Majid has denied he was responsible for the Halabja attack and others. The prosecution says 180,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the operation.

The defendants who face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity have contended that they were acting on orders during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Hussein was a defendant in the case but was executed on Dec. 30 after his conviction for the killing of 148 Shi'ite Muslims in Dujail after a 1982 attempt on his life.

The case -- called Anfal after the code name for the campaign to crush the Kurdish rebellion -- does not include the deaths of an estimated 5,600 people in a 1988 chemical weapons attack in Halabja .

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.