Car Bombs Rock Baghdad; U.S. Soldiers
Killed in Separate Incidents

(AFPS) Several car bombs have rocked Baghdad, Iraq, and elsewhere another car bomb killed a U.S. soldier.

Multiple car bombs in and around Baghdad killed at least 24 Iraqis and wounded at least another 80, according to news sources. Reports say that the wounded were mostly police and military patrols.

"While there has been an overall downward trend in attacks since elections, terrorists have still proven they can execute or surge their capability to conduct limited attacks," a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said in a statement.

Coalition officials see the string of attacks "as another desperate attempt by the terrorists to discredit the newly formed Iraqi government," the spokesman noted.

"The attacks, mostly directed against innocent Iraqi civilians, perpetuate the terrorists’ failing attempts to drive a wedge between the Iraqi people and their right to choose their own destiny," the spokesman added.

Also, a separate car-bomb attack killed a U.S. Army soldier from the 1st Corps Support Command. Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack, which occurred miles north of Taji.

The three soldiers were evacuated to the theater hospital at Logistics Support Area Anaconda, where one died. The other two soldiers are being treated at the hospital.

The previous evening, an improvised explosive device detonation near Hawija killed one U.S. soldier from Task Force Liberty and wounded four others. The wounded soldiers were evacuated to a coalition medical facility and are in stable condition.

The names of the soldiers killed and wounded are being withheld pending notification of their families.

Elsewhere in Iraq, coalition forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), detained six suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq on April 28.

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity following an attack on their patrol in southern Mosul. The soldiers also identified a weapons cache while conducting search operation in the same area. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity after they stopped the individuals’ vehicle in southern Mosul. The soldiers also detained another individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. The suspects are in custody, and no injuries to coalition force were reported.

(Source: MFINR and other news sources.)