U.S. Presses Attack on al-Qaida in Iraq

Iraqis view the damaged Khillani mosque, a main Shiite mosque in central Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, June 19, 2007. A truck bomb struck a Shiite mosque Tuesday in central Baghdad, killing 75 people and wounding more than 200, even as about 10,000 U.S. soldiers northeast of the capital used heavily armored Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles to battle their way into an al-Qaida sanctuary. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) (Hadi Mizban - AP)

The military has reported using mortars, artillery, helicopters and fighter jets in support of ground forces in Baqouba and elsewhere.

In a renewed blow to stability Wednesday, suspected Shiite militants blew up three Sunni mosques south of Baghdad, causing heavy damage but no casualties. The bombings were apparently revenge strikes for a suicide truck bombing a day before that badly damaged an important Shiite mosque in the heart of the capital. At least 87 died in that attack.

Police said suspected Shiite militiamen detonated a bomb inside a Sunni mosque in Haswa, 30 miles south of Baghdad, at about 1 a.m. About six hours later, militants struck again at mosque near Hillah, 60 miles south of the capital. A third Sunni mosque was attacked and damaged in an explosion in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad; that mosque was first attacked last week.

Police officials who reported the bombings spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.

The attackers near Hillah also targeted the imam's house near the mosque, but the cleric fled when he saw them coming, according to the police.

The Sunni mosque bombings appeared to be retribution for Tuesday's suicide truck bombing against the Shiite Khulani mosque in central Baghdad _ the deadliest single attack in Iraq in two months.

At a joint briefing with a U.S. military spokesman, Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi, of the Iraqi army, said the truck was carrying about 50 cooking gas cylinders and about 1,100 pounds of TNT.

Al-Moussawi said the truck bomb was prepared in the nearby Sheik Omar industrial zone and that the Iraqis had no checkpoints on roads between there and the mosque.

Police initially said the bomb was hidden in a truck piled high with electric fans and air conditioners.

Nationwide, police and morgue officials said 60 people died in sectarian-related violence, 32 of them bodies found in Baghdad. Most showed signs of torture.

The U.S. military spokesman, Rear Adm. Mark Fox, acknowledged "an increasing pattern of attacks" against Baghdad's Green Zone, a day after a mortar barrage against the heavily fortified area sent soldiers and contractors scrambling for cover.

Fox declined to provide details on the number of attacks against the Green Zone, also known as the International Zone, which houses the U.S. and British embassies as well as Iraqi government buildings on the west bank of the Tigris River.