Mortar Kills 8 at Baghdad Soccer Field

Iraqis inspect bodies of victims in Baqouba, 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2006. At least four civilians were killed in drive by shootings in different parts of Baqouba. (AP Photo/Mohammed Adnan) (Mohammed Adnan - AP)

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A pair of mortar rounds slammed into a soccer field while young men were playing a game in a Shiite district of Baghdad on Wednesday as more than 60 people were killed in attacks nationwide.

U.S. forces also said they killed 14 suspected insurgents, detained 48 and rescued a kidnapped Iraqi policeman in a pair of raids outside Baghdad that began Tuesday.

No American casualties were reported in those actions. But the military said separately that a Marine died Wednesday from fighting in the volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad and a U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday in combat around the northern city of Kirkuk.

The deaths raised the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq this month to 21. October was the fourth deadliest month for U.S. forces since the war started _ with 105 service members killed.

The American deaths and persistent violence in Iraq were among the key issues that helped Democrats to seize control of the House of Representatives from Republicans in Tuesday's midterm elections.

But the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he did not expect U.S. Iraq policy to change dramatically, despite the election upset. "Americans are prepared to continue to support Iraq as Iraqis take the needed steps," he said in videotaped remarks.

The mortar rounds struck the soccer field in Sadr City as an afternoon game was in progress between young men from the sprawling slum that is home to about 2.5 million people, police Capt. Mohammed Ismail said. At least eight people were killed and 20 wounded, including players and bystanders, he said.

Dozens of people have been killed in recent days in mortar attacks by rival Sunni and Shiite groups on residential areas in Baghdad.

Two mortar rounds also struck an area in northern Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least one person, police Lt. Mohammed Khayoun said.

Authorities had originally called Tuesday's attack on a coffee shop in another Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad a mortar attack, but Lt. Ali Muhssin said Wednesday that it was a suicide bombing. He also raised the death toll in that attack from 14 to 21, with another 25 wounded.

South of the capital, a bomb planted in a minivan exploded in an open-air market in Mahmoudiyah, killing at least six people and wounding 28, policeman Haider Satar said.

Another 16 people were killed in a string of shootings and bombings in Diyala province north of the capital, while a car bomb in western Baghdad killed three people and wounded three, Lt. Mutaz Salaheddin said.