At least 11 American troops have been killed in Iraq in the past 48 hours, the U.S. military said on Thursday. In the single worst incident, five troops, three Iraqi civilians and an Iraqi interpreter died on Thursday when a roadside bomb went off near their vehicle in a northeastern district of the capital, the U.S. military said.
Four troop died when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb in western Baghdad on Wednesday, the military said, according to Reuters.
In western Anbar province, two Marines were killed in combat on Wednesday, the military added.
A suicide truck bomber struck a mayor's office in northern Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 40, an Iraqi commander said. The blast, which occurred about 10:30 a.m. in the town of Sulaiman Bek, caused part of the government building to collapse and destroyed at least four vehicles at the site, said Brig. Gen. Anwar Hamah, commander of the Iraqi army's 2nd Brigade.
According to the AP, Hamah said at least 12 people died and 70 were injured.
Earlier, a series of mortars or rockets slammed into the U.S.-controlled Green Zone on Thursday, and an official said at least one round hit a parking lot used by the Iraqi prime minister and his security detail. The barrage reported a day after the U.S. military acknowledged "an increasing pattern of attacks" against the complex on the west bank of the Tigris River despite a security crackdown now in its fifth month.
