Five Soldiers Die in Attack On U.S. Patrol In Baghdad

The gradual improvement in the city "brought us back from the brink of insanity," said Lt. Col. Steven Stover, a military spokesman responsible for Baghdad.

"I think things are tenuous," Stover said. "Violence is down . . . but it doesn't make every casualty any easier."

Overall, the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq is nearing 4,000.

In the hours after the bombing, U.S. and Iraqi soldiers cordoned off the neighborhood. Broken glass littered the intersection as Iraqi firefighters hosed down the bloody street.

An Iraqi soldier on guard at the scene said that the American soldiers were standing outside their vehicles for longer than usual -- he estimated an hour -- and that this gave the suicide bomber enough time to attack their exposed position.

"They were all together, and that's why this suicide bomber could kill five soldiers," said Majid Adil, an Iraqi army sergeant.

The U.S. military official in Baghdad said he did not know how long the soldiers were out of their vehicles. But he said their presence on the street has raised questions about the purpose of their mission.

"Everyone is pretty mystified what that many guys were doing dismounted in that area," the official said.

People who live and work in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood said they had grown accustomed to feeling almost safe there in recent months.

"But every time there's quiet and calm, we expect something will happen, and today it did," said Janan Raouf Dawoud, 59, who owns a supermarket near the site of the explosion.

About three hours after the Baghdad explosion, a car bomb blew up outside the largest hotel in Sulaymaniyah, a relatively peaceful Kurdish city in northern Iraq. The blast at the Sulaymaniyah Palace Hotel killed one person, wounded 29 and shattered windows, according to police and hospital officials.

Two other suicide bombings occurred Monday in Diyala province, north of Baghdad.

A woman detonated the explosives she was carrying inside the house of Thair Ghadhban al-Karkhi, the leader of one of the U.S.-backed armed groups that have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq. The bombing in the Kanaan region, east of the provincial capital of Baqubah, killed Karkhi and his 5-year-old niece, and injured three others, one of them critically, said Ali Hussein al-Karkhi, a cousin and aide to the slain leader.

Another suicide bombing took place near an Iraqi police patrol in the town of Muqdadiyah, killing two people and injuring 20, according to 1st Lt. Alaa al-Dulaimy, spokesman for the Diyala police.

Special correspondents Zaid Sabah in Baghdad and Dlovan Brwari in Irbil and staff researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington contributed to this report.