Roadside bombs killed eight US troops in separate attacks Sunday in Diyala province and Baghdad, and a car bomb claimed 30 more lives in a wholesale food market in a part of the Iraqi capital.
In all, at least 95 Iraqis died or found dead nationwide Sunday, police reported. They included 12 policemen in Samarra, among them the city's police chief, who died when gunmen launched a suicide car bombing and other attacks on police headquarters.
The deadliest attack against American soldiers occurred in Diyala, where six U.S. troops and a European journalist died when a massive bomb destroyed their vehicle, the U.S. military said. Two U.S. soldiers were injured, the military said.
Two other American soldiers were killed Sunday in separate bombings in Baghdad.
According to the AP, the US military Sunday also reported three other deaths - two Marines in an explosion Saturday in Anbar province and a soldier who died Sunday in a non-combat incident in northern Iraq.
The market bombing occurred about noon in the Baiyaa district of western Baghdad, shattering vehicles, ripping roofs off nearby buildings and collapsing storefronts. Police said about 80 people were injured in addition to the 30 dead.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but most of the shops in the market were believed owned by Shiites.
The attacks in Samarra, a city 60 miles north of Baghdad, started when a suicide car bomber struck the police headquarters. Following the explosion, dozens of gunmen opened fire on the building and at least one police checkpoint, witnesses said.
The police chief, Col. Jalil Nahi Hassoun, and 11 other policemen were killed, officials said.
