A U.S. soldier and at least six Iraqis died in Baghdad and north of the Iraqi capital Saturday in a wave of roadside bombings, officials said. Elsewhere, an Iraqi police major was assassinated by gunmen in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
According to the AP, the U.S. military stated a roadside bomb hit an American vehicle at about 8 a.m. in eastern Baghdad, killing a soldier. The attack took place near the Shaab soccer stadium.
Shortly later, a roadside bomb went off on an eastern Baghdad highway and killed two Iraqi policemen guarding an oil tanker, Lt. Bilal Ali Majid said. Three other police were injured.
Another bomb detonated at 8:45 a.m. as a police patrol passed by in eastern Baghdad's Ghadir area, killing three Iraqi civilians and injuring four driving in two cars, Lt. Ali Abbas said.
One bystander died and five wounded when a bomb planted on a road exploded in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.
Iraqi police said a U.S. patrol killed three men trying to plant roadside bombs in Baghdad's troubled southern suburb of Dora. One man was shot dead while trying to place a bomb on the side of a road, while two accomplices died when soldiers fired at their car, which contained more bombs that exploded, said Lt. Maitham Abdul-Razzaq.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Iraqi security personnel, assisted by U.S. personnel, searched Saturday for a German-owned plane feared crashed in northern Iraq.
German officials were notified Thursday that the plane, carrying five Germans and one Iraqi, had gone missing en route to Kirkuk from Azerbaijan's capital, Baku.
Authorities were also searching for two foreign workers who were believed kidnapped in the southern city of Basra. The British military confirmed Saturday that two were Macedonians who worked for a cleaning company. A ransom has been demanded for their release.
