Iraqis Using Kidnap Victims As Bombers

An armored vehicle of U.S. soldiers drives past the site of a parked car bomb explosion in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday Sept. 21, 2006, which killed two people and injuring nine, police said. Elsewhere in the city six policemen were killed when their western Baghdad police station was hit with mortar and gunfire Thursday, while the U.S. military said an American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in the capital.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) (Hadi Mizban - AP)

More than a dozen apparent victims of death squads were found in the capital Thursday, many showing signs of torture.

A U.S. soldier was killed Thursday while operating in the restive Anbar province west of Baghdad, the military announced. Earlier in the day, the military said another American soldier was killed in northern Baghdad on Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded next to the vehicle in which he was traveling.

Despite the bloodshed, coalition forces moved ahead with plans to turn security responsibilities over to Iraqi troops by the end of 2007.

Italy formally handed over the reins of the relatively quiet Dhi Qar province in the south. It was the second of Iraq's 18 provinces to be turned over to local control, and paves the way for most of Italy's 1,600 troops to return home by the end of the year _ a campaign promise by new Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

The overall U.S. strategy calls for coalition forces to redeploy to larger bases and let Iraqis become responsible for their security in specific regions. The larger bases can act in a support or reserve role to Iraqi troops should they need help. No timeframe has been set for the eventual drawdown of troops from Iraq.

In the Baghdad bank robbery, an AP reporter saw about 15 armed men in three pickup trucks pull up outside a branch of the Rafidain Bank in the Karrada area, a downtown commercial neighborhood.

The well-organized robbery appeared to witnesses to be a regular salary pickup. Two or three of the men entered the bank, then five people exited with bags, accompanied by a man in civilian clothes who appeared to be carrying documents. They got back into their vehicles and drove off.

No shots were heard, but police 1st Lt. Mahmoud Khayyoun said a bank manager was injured and the assailants got away with an unknown amount of cash.

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Associated Press reporters Patrick Quinn, Qais al-Bashir, Muhieddin Rashad and Bushra Juni contributed to this report from Baghdad.