The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/11/08 Section: News

Media Credit: NABIL AL-JURANI Men carry the coffin of Dr. Khalid Nasir al Miyahi, a neurologist, who was kidnapped Sunday and later on killed, during his funeral in Basra, Iraq, Monday, March 10, 2008. Dr. al Miyahi was the only neurologist in Basra.

US soldiers killed in suicide bombing in Baghdad
By ANNA JOHNSON
Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - A suicide bomber killed five U.S. soldiers as they chatted with shop owners while on a foot patrol in central Baghdad on Monday, the deadliest attack on American forces in the heavily fortified capital in more than eight months.

The bombing, just four days after nearly simultaneous blasts killed scores of people in a vibrant Shiite commercial district, again showed the insurgents' ability to strike inside a capital secured by hundreds of security checkpoints, U.S.-funded neighborhood watch groups and hundreds of miles of blast walls that surround buildings and cordon off districts.

The military insists that recent attacks do not point to a growing trend in violence, and continues to tout the security gains achieved over the past year.

At any rate, the push over the past six months to place U.S. bases inside neighborhoods and get soldiers out of their armored vehicles increases the Americans' vulnerability to attacks. While the face-to-face contact from foot patrols builds goodwill, it also gives suicide bombers, who often slip past security vehicle checkpoints by walking, better access to striking soldiers.

On Monday, the soldiers were walking in a shopping district of the predominantly Sunni Mansour neighborhood when a man in his 30s detonated his explosives about 30 feet away, said a police officer who witnessed the attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media.

Four of the soldiers died at the scene, and the fifth died later from wounds, the military said. Three other American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were also wounded in the attack, which military spokesman Maj. Mark Cheadle said was "was reported to us as a suicide bomber."

Iraqi police said two civilians were also killed.

It was the deadliest attack against the U.S. military since Jan. 28, when five soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul.

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