Sat Mar 13, 2004 10:19 AM ET
By Luke Baker
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers newly arrived in Iraq and seriously wounded several others as they were patrolling Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Saturday.
An explosion in Baghdad, meanwhile, killed an Iraqi shopkeeper related to a member of the country's U.S.-appointed Governing Council.
The Tikrit blast raised to 385 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in action since the war to overthrow Saddam was launched almost a year ago, as guerrillas continue to take their toll of occupation forces even though Saddam's rule is long gone.
Those killed were from the 1st Infantry Division and had only recently arrived in the country to replace the 4th Infantry Division, leaving Iraq after nearly a year's service.
Two other U.S. soldiers died in a similar attack west of Baghdad on Thursday.
In Baghdad, a suspected parcel bomb blew up inside a shop in a busy commercial district, killing the owner of the clothing and accessories store and injuring at least three others, local police and witnesses said.
The storekeeper was a brother-in-law of Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a Shi'ite Muslim member of the Governing Council, and aides to Jaafari said they believed the attack was politically motivated.
"It is in essence a political assassination, they targeted him with a bomb," said one aide, Adnan al-Assadi.
The deaths came four days after two U.S. civilians working for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority were killed by Iraqi police in a development that suggests insurgents may have infiltrated the U.S.-trained police force.
The Americans, on secondment from the Department of Defense, were killed along with their Iraqi translator as they traveled south of Baghdad -- the first time since the war began that U.S. civilians working for the administration had been killed.
A senior coalition official said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation had assigned a team to investigate the killings of the two, named as Fern Holland, 33, a lawyer, and Robert Zangas, 44, a press officer.
IRAQI POLICE INFILTRATED?
The U.S. military said six people had been detained in connection with the incident and said it believed most of them were legitimate members of the Iraqi police force.
U.S. forces have been hiring and training Iraqis for the police for several months in the hope they will eventually be able to take over responsibility for security.
There are now about 70,000 police on duty countrywide, most of them new recruits, but many of them once members of Saddam's security forces.
Amid evidence that hundreds of foreigners have crossed Iraq's long and porous borders to join the fight against the U.S.-led occupation, U.S. officials in Iraq said on Saturday they would unveil tougher border security measures.
Foreigners are believed to have been behind several recent devastating bombings, including attacks in Baghdad and Kerbala earlier this month that killed 181 people.
The plans will include a reduction in the number of official entry points along the nearly 900-mile Iranian border to three from 10. (Additional reporting by Fiona O'Brien and Ghaith Abdul-Ahad)
Too bad we don't qualify for tougher border security.