Three separate attacks in Baghdad killed six American troops, and at least 13 Iraqi civilians died when a roadside bomb went off Wednesday next to buses used by morning commuters, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
Three American troops died and two were injured by a roadside bomb in east Baghdad, the U.S. command said. A U.S. statement, cited by the AP, said the blast occurred Wednesday in east Baghdad.
Two soldiers were killed and another wounded in an eastern section of Baghdad on Wednesday during combat operations, the military said. Another soldier died and two were injured during combat Tuesday in the west of the capital, the U.S. command said.
The roadside bomb that killed the 13 civilians also wounded at least 25 when it rocked an eastern Baghdad Shiite neighborhood, police and hospital officials said. The bombing reported just before 8 a.m. in Baladiyat.
Another roadside bomb ripped through a crowded bus station in Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City, killing one person and wounding at least 11, a medic said Wednesday. The bomb exploded near Al-Hamza square as buses were picking up commuters to ferry them to work, an interior ministry official said.
A medic at the Sadr Hospital in Sadr City said one body had been brought to the facility while 11 wounded people were admitted.
Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush said Wednesday he saw enough progress in Iraq that he may soon be able to declare a partial US troop cut. Standing next to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Bush vowed to "hang in there" while Iraq builds itself up.
"If conditions still improve, security conditions still improve, the way they have been improving," the American leader said in Sydney, "we may be able to provide the same security with fewer troops."
