> At least 42 killed in attacks across Iraq
> Though protected by the U.S., Green Zone hit by heavy fire
>
>
> By RYAN LENZ
> Associated Press
>
> BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber penetrated tight security to strike an Iraqi
> military base on Sunday in the deadliest of a series of attacks that killed
> at least 42 people across Iraq. In Baghdad, the U.S.-protected Green Zone
> came under heavy fire by rockets or mortar rounds.
>
> Seven people also were killed and 14 wounded in a suicide car bombing in the
> Shiite area of Shula in the capital.
>
> The attacks underscored the fragility of Iraq's security, despite a decline
> in violence over the past year. They also came as the U.S. military death
> toll in Iraq nears 4,000.
>
> Weekend raids across Iraq resulted in 17 insurgents killed and 30 detained,
> the U.S. military said. The deadliest was an operation Sunday targeting a
> suspected suicide bombing network east of Baqouba that killed 12 armed men,
> the military said.
>
> Iraqi police reported a dozen civilians killed in an airstrike in the same
> area. But the military said those killed in the raid were insurgents,
> including six who had shaved their bodies apparently in preparation for
> suicide operations.
>
> In the northwestern city of Mosul, Iraqi security forces opened fire on the
> suicide bomber as he drove toward a military base but were unable to foil
> the attack because the truck's windshield had been made bulletproof. An
> Iraqi army officer who described the attack spoke on condition of anonymity
> because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
>
> The attacker blasted past an armored vehicle to reach the courtyard of the
> military headquarters, the officer said.
>
> Police said at least 13 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 42 people wounded -
> 30 soldiers and 12 civilians - in the attack. Mosul, 225 miles northwest of
> Baghdad, has been described by the U.S. as the last urban stronghold of the
> Sunni-led al-Qaida in Iraq.
>
> The U.S. military in northern Iraq gave a slightly lower toll of 12 Iraqi
> soldiers killed and 35 wounded.
>
> Shiite extremists were suspected to be behind the barrages against the Green
> Zone, which houses the U.S. and British embassies and the Iraqi government
> headquarters.
>
> About 10 detonations were heard starting shortly before 6 a.m in the
> sprawling area in central Baghdad. Several other mortars or rockets slammed
> into the area throughout the day.
>
> The U.S. public address system in the Green Zone warned people to "duck and
> cover" and to stay away from windows after the attacks.
>
> No casualties were reported inside the Green Zone, a frequent target of
> rocket and mortar attacks, located on the west bank of the Tigris River. But
> at least one Iraqi civilian was killed and four wounded outside the area by
> rounds that fell short, police said.
>
> No group claimed responsibility, but it appeared the rounds were fired from
> areas of eastern Baghdad where the biggest Shiite militia, the Mahdi Army of
> radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, operates.
>
> A mortar barrage also targeted a U.S. base in the Shiite city of Hillah,
> about 60 miles south of Baghdad, Iraqi police said. The American military
> did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the attack.
>
> A cease-fire called by al-Sadr, along with an increase in U.S. troop levels
> and a move by American-backed Sunni fighters to turn against their former
> al-Qaida in Iraq allies, have been credited with sharply reducing violence
> in Baghdad and surrounding areas.
>
> But there are fears that the cease-fire may unravel after a series of
> clashes between U.S.-Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen in Baghdad, Kut and
> other areas south of the capital.
>
> In other violence Sunday, a mortar attack killed eight, including two women
> and two children, in southeastern Baghdad, police said.
>
> Gunmen opened fire on passengers waiting for buses in a predominantly Shiite
> area in southeastern Baghdad, killing at least seven men and wounding 16
> other people, including women and children.
>
> A police commander was shot to death along with his driver in Balad Ruz, 45
> miles northeast of Baghdad.
>
> A roadside bomb near the northern city of Tuz Khormato killed four Iraqi
> soldiers, including an officer.
>
> The violence was reported by police officials who declined to be identified
> because they weren't allowed to release the information.
>
> On Saturday, U.S. officials said three American soldiers were killed in a
> roadside bombing that also killed two Iraqi civilians northwest of Baghdad.
> The latest deaths brought to 3,996 the number of U.S. service members and
> Pentagon civilians who have died since the war began on March 20, 2003,
> according to the Associated Press.
>
> http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/5641607.html
>
> Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin, Bushra Juhi and Qassim
> Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report
>
>