Two car bombs exploded outside the Iraqi Interior Ministry on Thursday, killing at least two policemen. Police Maj. Jabar Hassan told The AP the bombers followed a police convoy entering the Interior Ministry. Security forces opened fire and disabled the vehicles before they could arrive at a main checkpoint.
Another car bomb targeting a police convoy exploded in Baqouba, northeast of the capital, killing one Iraqi policeman and a civilian, the U.S. military said. Six police and 10 other civilians were also wounded.
Meanwhile, the number of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign rose to over 1,500 on Thursday after three Americans killed, The Associated Press reported. The military said two U.S. troops died Wednesday in Baghdad of injuries suffered when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle. Another soldier was killed the same day in Babil province, part of an area known as the "Triangle of Death" because of the frequency of insurgent attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
On the political front, talks aimed at forging a coalition government reached a deadlock Wednesday over Kurdish demands for more land and concerns that the dominant Shiite alliance seeks to establish an Islamic state, delaying the planned first meeting of Iraq's new parliament. Shiite and Kurdish leaders failed to reach agreement after two days of negotiations in the northern city of Irbil.
