Baghdad - A suicide bombing targeting a US patrol in the
northern Iraqi city of Mosul Tuesday left 15 people wounded, one day
after five US soldiers died in an ambush in the city, according to
security sources.
A suicide bomber driving a car hit a US patrol east of Mosul,
injuring 15 civilians, Gen Khalid Abdel-Sattar, the spokesman for
security operations in Nineveh province, told the Voices of Iraq VOI
news agency.
Reports on casualties among US soldiers were not immediately
available.
The bombing comes a day after insurgents in Mosul, 400 kilometres
north of Baghdad, ambushed a US convoy with a roadside bomb, then
sprayed survivors with machine-gun fire from a nearby mosque, killing
five US soldiers.
The attack, which is the second worst on US troops this month, is
another indication that the centre of Sunni Arab insurgency is
shifting to northern Iraq.
A US troop surge and a large-scale offensive against insurgents in
Baghdad and surrounding areas have reduced violence there and driven
fighters to flee into northern Iraq.
The Iraqi government is sending military reinforcements into Mosul
as part of a 'decisive battle' against militants.
In Baquba - another hotbed of Sunni insurgency - an Iraqi army
patrol found 20 bodies during raids across the city, Iraqi military
sources told VOI. Nine of the bodies were headless and others bore
signs of torture.
Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, is the capital of
Diyala province where US and Iraqi forces have been carrying out a
major offensive against the extremist Islamic State of Iraq group,
which is allied to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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