Eight marines were killed and nine others wounded
west of the capital on Saturday when a suicide car bomb rammed into
their convoy, military officials said, resulting in the deadliest day
for the American forces in half a year. [The Marines later reported a
ninth combat death on Saturday, The Associated Press reported, but did
not say whether it was in the car bombing or another action. Efforts to
contact the Marines for clarification were unsuccessful.] In the heart
of Baghdad, insurgents staged their first major assault on a news media
organization by detonating a car bomb outside the offices of a popular
Arab news network, killing at least 7 people and wounding 19 others,
police and hospital officials said. The marines were attacked near Abu
Ghraib, the prison 15 miles west of Baghdad used by the Americans to
hold detainees, said Capt. Bradley Gordon, a spokesman for the First
Marine Division. The military said in a terse statement that those
killed were conducting "increased security operations." Marines have
been battling an increasingly lethal insurgency in the rebellious Anbar
Province, which encompasses the parched lands of western Iraq; the
provincial capital, Ramadi; and the insurgent stronghold Falluja. [more]
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