Car bombs killed nine Iraqis Wednesday north of Baghdad. One of the explosions went off in Mosul. According to the AP, police said explosives hidden in a parked car killed a civilian and injured seven others.
The American military also announced the deaths of two soldiers, killed a day earlier in a "complex attack" involving a roadside bomb and small arms fire. Two others were hurt in the attack in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad, the military said.
The deadliest attack Wednesday was in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, where a suicide car bomber targeted a bus station and killed five civilians, police said. At least 20 others were hurt.
In Kirkuk, a parked car bomb killed three Kurdish troops in a convoy guarding a police chief traveling from Sulaimaniyah to the east, said police Brig. Anwar Qadir. At least 12 others were injured in the explosion, he said.
Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq. "Secretary Gates is here to see for himself the considerable progress that has made since his last visit nearly three months ago," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.
A US defence official travelling with Gates said the secretary was set to urge the Iraqi leaders to quickly pass key legislation aimed at boosting reconciliation efforts while violence is falling. "They'll talk about the large negotiations that are going to take place next year to negotiate a bilateral strategic framework between our two countries ... going from Chapter 7 UN mission to a more normalised security relationship between our countries," the official told AFP.
