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...At least nine U.S. service members were killed in combat and by bombs across Iraq on Tuesday and six were wounded, the U.S. military said Wednesday. During May, 81 U.S. military personnel have died, bringing the total since the war began to 3,432, including seven civilian employees of the Defense Department.

BAGHDAD — Seven American soldiers and a translator were killed in separate attacks in Baghdad and a city south of the capital, the U.S. military said today. Six of the Americans and the translator died Saturday in a bombing in western Baghdad, the military said. The soldiers were from the Multinational Division-Baghdad. A soldier from the 13th Sustainment Command was killed and two were wounded when a blast struck their vehicle Saturday near Diwaniyah, a mostly Shiite city 80 miles south of Baghdad, the command said.

Five U.S. troops were killed in attacks in Baghdad and surrounding areas on Monday, while another soldier died of non-combat related causes, the U.S. military said. Two U.S. soldiers on a foot patrol southeast of Baghdad were killed when they came under attack from gunfire, the military said. A third soldier, from the Multi-National Division-Baghdad, was killed when his patrol in northern Baghdad was hit by a bomb, the military said. Four others were wounded in that attack, the military said. In a third attack, an airman was killed and three others wounded when a bomb went off in southern...

BAGHDAD — A majority of Iraq’s parliament has signed a proposed bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels. The bill would create a timeline for a gradual departure, much like what some Democratic lawmakers in the United States have demanded, and would require the Iraqi government to secure parliament’s approval before any further extensions of the U.N. mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, which expires at the end of this year. “We haven’t asked for the immediate withdrawal of multinational forces; we asked that we should build our...

The U.S. and Iran will hold rare meetings within the next few weeks in Baghdad to discuss the insurgency in Iraq, officials from the two nations said Sunday. The talks, to be conducted between the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad and Iranian officials, would be the highest-level negotiations acknowledged between the two countries in recent years. The announcement suggested a new willingness on the part of the Bush administration to reach out to a longtime foe.

BAGHDAD — A string of heavy losses from powerful roadside bombs has raised new questions about the vulnerability of the Stryker, the Army's troop-carrying vehicle hailed by supporters as the key to a leaner, more mobile force. Since the Strykers went into action in violent Diyala province north of Baghdad two months ago, losses of the vehicles have been rising steadily, U.S. officials said. A single infantry company in Diyala lost five Strykers this month in less than a week, according to soldiers familiar with the losses, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release...

BAGHDAD — An Al Qaeda front group that claims it has captured American soldiers warned the United States on Monday to stop searching for them and suggested it attacked the U.S. convoy as revenge for the rape and murder of a local teenager last year. The U.S. military also said for the first time it believes the three missing soldiers were abducted by Al Qaeda-linked militants after an attack that included three roadside bombs. "What you are doing in searching for your soldiers will lead to nothing but exhaustion and headaches. Your soldiers are in our hands. If you want...

BAGHDAD -- An al Qaeda front group said yesterday it had captured American soldiers in a deadly attack the day before, as thousands of U.S. troops searched insurgent areas south of Baghdad for their three missing comrades. The statement was issued on one of the deadliest days in the country in recent weeks, with at least 126 persons killed or found dead -- including two American soldiers who died in separate bombings. A suicide truck bomb tore through the offices of a Kurdish political party in northern Iraq, killing 50 persons, and a car bombing in a crowded Baghdad market...

BAGHDAD — Seven U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter came under attack Saturday morning in a Sunni insurgent stronghold south of Baghdad, leaving five dead and three missing, the military said.

ALARM - Three reported American soldiers missing, supposed removed in Iraq FALLOUJAH (Iraq) - Three American soldiers were reported missing Saturday and could be removed by insurrectionists close to the town of Falloujah, in the west of Baghdad, one learned near soldiers taking part in their research.

A sharp increase in mortar attacks on the Green Zone - the one-time oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital - has prompted the U.S. Embassy to issue a strict new order telling all employees to wear flak vests and helmets while in unprotected buildings or whenever they are outside. The order has created a siege mentality among U.S. staff inside the Green Zone following a recent suicide attack on parliament. It has also led to new fears about long-term safety in the place where the U.S. government is building a massive and expensive new embassy. The situation marks a...

Iraq's Christian community is close to extinction as thousands are forced to flee their traditional strongholds in Baghdad. Iraq's Christian community is close to extinction as thousands are forced to flee Baghddad Islamic extremists have increasingly targeted Iraqi Chrisitans demanding they convert An exodus of Christians is under way in the southern district of Dora after groups affiliated to al-Qa'eda issued a threat of "convert or be killed". Most have fled to Kurdish northern Iraq, where the village of Ankawa has grown into an overcrowded "city of Christ", while others leave for Syria or Jordan. Priests claim that half Baghdad's...

A large truck bomb exploded Wednesday outside the Interior Ministry in the Kurdish city of Irbil, causing dozens of casualties, security officials said. Kurdish television showed footage of a building that had been almost completely destroyed. Rubble lay in piles and long metal beams were twisted. Rescue workers reached into the wreckage to pull out one of the victims of the blast. Windows were blown out down the street and wreckage was scattered nearly 100 yards away.

BAGHDAD — A car bomb ripped through a wholesale food market in western Baghdad on Sunday, flattening cars and shops and killing at least 30 people in the deadliest of a wave of attacks across Iraq that left at least 54 people dead. The attack against the market in Baghdad came amid an 11-week-old crackdown by U.S.-led forces intended to bring stability to the capital. Another car bomb struck the police headquarters in Samarra, a volatile city in the Sunni heartland 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing four police — including the police chief — and a bystander, police said....

12 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Iraq Attacks Email this Story May 6, 2:47 PM (ET) By RAVI NESSMAN (AP) Residents gather at the scene of a car bomb blast in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, May 6, 2007. A car... Full Image BAGHDAD (AP) - A roadside explosion outside the Iraqi capital on Sunday killed six American soldiers and a journalist, the military said, among 12 U.S. deaths reported on a day when two car bombs killed at least 44 Iraqis at a Baghdad market and a police headquarters. A car bomb in the capital, where U.S.-led forces are in the midst...

BAGHDAD, May 6 -- Eight American soldiers were killed in roadside bomb attacks Sunday, one of the highest single-day death tolls this year. They were among 12 U.S. service members whose deaths were announced on a day when car bombs killed scores of Iraqis across the country, threatening to deepen sectarian tensions. A senior U.S. commander said Sunday that the military was bracing for a rise in the casualty rate in the coming months, as an ongoing security offensive attempts to tame the devastating violence and stabilize Baghdad. "All of us believe that in the next 90 days, you'll probably...

BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded Saturday in the Shiite holy city of Karbala as the streets were packed with people heading for evening prayers, killing at least 58 and wounding scores near some of the country's most sacred shrines. Separately, the U.S. military announced the deaths of nine American troops, including three killed Saturday in a single roadside bombing outside Baghdad. With black smoke clogging the skies above Karbala, angry crowds hurled stones at police and later stormed the provincial governor's house, accusing authorities of failing to protect them from the unrelenting bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents. It...

Excerpt - BAGHDAD, April 29 (Reuters) - About two dozen loud explosions shook southern Baghdad on Sunday, Reuters reporters heard. The blasts, several seconds apart, sounded like artillery. The U.S. military could not immediately confirm the cause of the blasts. U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Garver said the military sometimes fired artillery in support of operations. ~ snip ~

BAGHDAD - Nine U.S. soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded Monday in a suicide car bombing against a patrol base northeast of Baghdad, the military said. An Iraqi civilian was also wounded in the attack on Task Force Lightning soldiers in Diyala province, a volatile area that has been the site of fierce fighting involving U.S. and Iraqi troops, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias. Of the 20 wounded, 15 soldiers were treated and returned to duty while five others and the Iraqi were evacuated to a medical facility for further care, the military said. Identities were not released pending...

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2007 – Yesterday’s assassination of Fallujah, Iraq, City Council Chairman Sheikh Sami Abdul-Amir al-Jumaili was a reprehensible and cowardly act, Multinational Force Iraq officials said in a statement today. The councilman was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting outside his house in the city. “This was an attack on democracy by individuals who oppose the concept of government that is representative of and responsible to the people of Iraq,” officials said in the statement. “Multinational Force Iraq sends its sincerest condolences to the loved ones and colleagues of Sheikh Sami al-Jumaili and the citizens he...