Two Car Bombs Kill 41 Iraqis, Wound 138

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A sport-utility vehicle packed with artillery shells blew up Thursday in a crowd of people waiting to volunteer for the Iraqi military, killing at least 35 and wounding 138. Another car bomb north of the capital killed six members of the Iraqi security forces.

The explosion in Baghdad, the deadliest attack since a bombing outside another recruiting center in February, was part of a surge of attacks on U.S. coalition forces and their Iraqi allies ahead of the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30.

The blast scattered bodies and debris across a four-lane highway outside Baghdad's Muthanna airport, which is used as a base by both the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and the U.S. military. The explosion could be heard for several miles and sent a cloud of smoke over the city.

No American or Iraqi troops were injured, U.S. Army Col. Mike Murray said. Most of the victims appeared to be poor Iraqis hoping to join the security forces because job opportunities here are limited.

Another car bomb exploded Thursday afternoon in a village near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, killing six members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and wounding four others, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division said. There were no further details.

The ICDC is Iraq's main internal security force, created by the U.S. administrators to battle the country's insurgency.

Dead bodies and rescuers make up the scene outside the army recruitment centre in Baghdad, following a car bomb.(AFP/Ahmed Fadaam)

A U.S. Army soldier arrests an Iraqi man who was yelling abuse at troops, who had arrived on the scene after a car bomb explosion outside a recruiting center in Baghdad, June 17, 2004. U.S. troops will remain in Iraq (news - web sites) as long as necessary until Iraqi forces can handle security on their own, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said during a visit to northern Iraq. Photo by Ceerwan Aziz/Reuters

Iraqi troops carry the body of a man blown across the street by the impact of a car bomb explosion, outside a recruiting center in Baghdad, June 17, 2004. A suicide car bomber killed 35 people and wounded 119 at an Iraqi military base on Thursday, as guerrillas intensified a bloody campaign to sabotage plans for U.S.-led occupation to give way to Iraqi rule on June 30. REUTERS/Ali Jasim

An Iraqi Army soldier reacts after a car bomb explosion outside a recruiting center in Baghdad, June 17, 2004. A car bomb blast killed at least 25 people and wounded 50 outside an Iraqi paramilitary defense force base in Baghdad on Thursday, an Iraqi officer at the scene said. REUTERS/Ali Jasim

Iraqi police carry away unexploded ordinance from the scene of a bomb blast in central Baghdad, Iraq Thursday June 17, 2004. A car slammed into a crowd of volunteers outside a civil defense recruiting center and exploded, killing at least 21 people and wounding at least 69, police said. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Iraqi soldiers rush to remove the dead from the scene of an explosion in central Baghdad, Iraq Thursday June 17, 2004. At least 21 people were killed and 69 wounded by a car bomb outside a recruiting station for Iraqi security forces, police said.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Iraqis struggle to pry open the doors of a damaged car to remove the dead from the scene of an explosion in central Baghdad, Iraq Thursday June 17, 2004. At least 21 people were killed and 69 wounded by a car bomb outside a recruiting station for Iraqi security forces, police said.(AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Yes it is. I have not ran across a story for this yet, but here are the pictures.

A U.S. Army soldier from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry arrives on the scene after a rocket-propelled grenade struck a truck on a highway in Abu Ghraib, on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, June 17, 2004. The driver fled his truck and was picked up by the driver of another truck. (AP Photo/Jim MacMilan)

Residents of the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Iraq, come out of their homes to survey the damage of several burned cars left in a street after clashes between US troops and Iraqi militants loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr Thursday June 17, 2004. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Armed Iraqis with their faces covered are seen at the entrance to a narrow street in the northern town of Baquba, some 55 kms northeast of Baghdad.(AFP/Ali Yussef)

U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry secure the scene after a rocket-propelled grenade struck a truck on a highway in Abu Ghraib, on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, June 17, 2004. The driver fled his truck and was picked up by the driver of another truck. (AP Photo/Jim MacMilan)

Well maybe here is something that had something to do with what is in the above pictures.

British soldiers clash with al-Sadr supporters

17/06/2004 - 12:06:12

British soldiers clashed with Shiite fighters loyal to rebel cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in south-eastern Iraq today after they arrested one of the militia’s leaders.

No one was hurt in the hour long gun battle, a British military spokesman said.

Three British military vehicles were fired upon with small arms fire and a rocket propelled grenade in two separate attacks in the city of Amarah, 180 miles south-east of Baghdad, a British military spokesman said.

None of the vehicles was damaged, he said.

The attacks happened after British forces detained militia leader, Ahmed Hachi. A British military spokesman said three people were arrested just after midnight. He did not identify them.

According to the witnesses, the fighting lasted about an hour and a shop was burned.

The trouble began the day after al-Sadr took steps to honour an agreement meant to end fighting with US forces in the holy cities of Nafaj and Kufa, ordering fighters who did not live in those twin cities to return home.

Many of the fighters who rushed to Najaf from Baghdad, Nasiriyah and other cities had already left after a truce brokered by Shiite politicians and clerics to end nearly eight weeks of fighting around some of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines.

The announcement was significant, however, because it indicated al-Sadr is taking steps toward defusing tensions in Shiite areas and co-operating with the interim government and Shiite clerical hierarchy.

Al-Sadr launched his uprising in April after US occupation authorities closed his newspaper, arrested a key aide and announced a warrant for his arrest in connection with the April 2003 murder of a moderate cleric.

The United States had vowed to “capture or kill” al-Sadr, but President George Bush said today he would leave it to the new interim Iraqi government to deal with the radical cleric.

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