Blasts Kills 3 U.S. Soldiers, 9 Iraqis

MOSUL, Iraq - A bomb-laden car plowed through a razor wire fence and exploded outside a police station in the north of the country Saturday, killing nine Iraqis and injuring 45, including policemen there to pick up their pay.

In a separate incident, three U.S. soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division were killed Saturday in a roadside bombing near the northern oil center of Kirkuk. Their deaths brought to 522 the number of American service members who have died since the Iraq war began March 20.

It was unclear if the attack on the police station in Mosul was a suicide bombing or the driver fled before the explosion. U.S. officials have said recent vehicle bombings and suicide attacks in Iraq bear the mark of al-Qaida.

The fatal attacks were part of a series of violent incidents Saturday on the eve of the four-day Eid al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice. The feast, a major Muslim holiday, commemorates the Quran's account of God allowing the patriarch Abraham to sacrifice a sheep instead of his son Ismail. The Old Testament account says another son, Isaac, was spared.

Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy chief of staff for operations, told reporters Friday that coalition forces were prepared to deal with any surge in violence during a coming holiday. The start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan last year was accompanied by a sharp escalation in insurgent attacks.

Late Saturday, a series of strong explosions could be heard in the center of Baghdad over a period of about two hours. It was unclear what caused the blasts, some of which were accompanied by bursts of automatic weapons fire.

A U.S. military spokesman, Capt. Dave Malakoff, said one of the blasts occurred in Baladiyat of eastern Baghdad, a Palestinian neighborhood. Malakoff had no further details, but a Palestinian resident, who refused to give his name, said rocket-propelled grenades were fired at an apartment house, causing "many" injuries.

The report could not be independently confirmed.

Repeated attacks by insurgents on police, politicians and other Iraqis who work with the U.S.-led coalition have been increasing in an apparent attempt to undermine support for the U.S. occupation authority and frighten the population into avoiding contact with the foreign administration.

Policeman Bassil Shehab, who suffered extensive facial burns and shrapnel injuries in the Mosul bombing, called the attack a "criminal act to kill innocent people. They have no religion, and no faith," he said of the attackers. "Nothing will stop me from going back to work even if something worse happens."

Also Saturday, a bomb exploded under the car of police Col. Adnan Radeef al-Ani in front of his house in Baghdad, slightly injuring five children in the street. Al-Ani told The Associated Press the bomb apparently was triggered by a timer but no one was in the vehicle when it exploded.

In the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a remote-controlled bomb hit a car belonging to a Danish relief organization Danchurchaid on Saturday, wounding two aid workers and several Iraqis, according to the Danish group and military officials said.

A number of humanitarian groups withdrew their international staff after deadly bombings against the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations in Baghdad last year.

Witnesses the attack on the police station in Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad, said what appeared to be a suicide attacker drove through a security barricade in front of the police station before blowing up his vehicle. Iraqi officials confirmed a car bomb but were unsure if the driver detonated the explosive from inside or parked and fled.