Car bomb kills 15 people north of Baghdad; US soldier killed in roadside bombing

Car bomb kills 15 in village north of Baghdad

BAGHDAD — A car bomb outside a Shiite mosque in a village north of Baghdad killed 15 people Wednesday, the third deadly attack in the region in as many days, while a U.S. soldier was killed in a separate bombing in the same province, Iraqi officials and the U.S. military said.

The blast in a shopping area in the village of Abu Sayda also left 21 wounded, Ghalib al-Karkhi, a police spokesman in Diyala province said. Diyala was once an insurgent stronghold, and the three consecutive days of violence there underscores the fragile nature of Iraq’s security as insurgents persist in trying re-ignite sectarian bloodshed.

A hospital official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media confirmed the casualty figures.

The U.S. soldier, who was not identified pending notification of next of kin, was killed by an roadside bomb that struck the American’s vehicle while traveling through Diyala, the U.S. military said in a statement. The military said the soldier was treated at the scene before being evacuated to a U.S. military hospital in Balad.

Shiite mosques like the one hit Wednesday in Abu Sayda have been a favorite target of Sunni insurgents who view Shiites as nonbelievers and have vowed to destroy the Shiite-dominated government that came to power in Iraq following the ouster of Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-led regime.

The car bombing was the third attack in and around Baqouba, a former insurgent stronghold about 35 miles (60 kilometers) north of Baghdad, since Monday.

On Tuesday, a car bomb near a roadside restaurant just north of Baghdad killed one person and wounded seven Iranian pilgrims heading to the holy city of Karbala. A day earlier, a car bomb exploded near a restaurant in Baqouba, killing six people.

The repeated bombings come as Iraq is in its fifth month without a government. Many Iraqis worry that insurgents are trying to use the period of political instability to bring about more violence.