Blast in Baghdad kills one
Troops arrest over 100
Guerillas set off a roadside bomb in a crowded Baghdad shopping district yesterday as US military vehicles drove past, killing one Iraqi civilian and wounding several others.
The attack came as US-led forces launched raids across the country to mop up insurgents. Military spokesman Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said more than 100 suspected guerillas had been taken into custody since Monday.
The bombing in the bustling Karada district of central Baghdad, was the second attack on US troops in the area in three days. Two children and a US soldier were killed in a similar blast on Sunday.
"The pavement just blew up everywhere," said Abbas Aboud, a passing motorist who received minor wounds to his face.
The capital has been on tenterhooks because of fears of increased attacks around New Year. The US-led coalition has stepped up patrols and warned troops and staff to be vigilant.
The Karada bomb went off as hundreds of people were out on the streets - children going to school, workers going to their offices and shopkeepers opening up for business.
Witnesses said the bomb, most likely placed on the concrete divider of a main street, was apparently aimed at two US military vehicles passing by. Neither was badly damaged.
One Iraqi was killed on the spot.
In a search near the town of Samarra in the volatile 'Sunni triangle' north of Baghdad, soldiers found a cache of weapons along with "al Qaeda literature and an al Qaeda video", Major Josslyn Aberle of the 4th Infantry Division told reporters. The weapons haul, found behind a false wall in a shed, included bomb-making equipment, one bomb that had already been assembled, 43 grenade launchers and 25 AK-47 assault rifles.
US officers say they believe some foreign Muslim militants are co-operating with Iraqi guerillas to launch attacks. They say some 10 per cent of anti-coalition militants are foreigners.
The bodies of five Bulgarian and two Thai soldiers killed in coordinated suicide car bomb, mortar and machinegun attacks in the holy city of Kerbala at the weekend arrived home yesterday. Saturday's attacks also claimed the lives of 12 Iraqis and wounded scores.
In Sofia, hundreds of citizens, government officials and foreign mission heads paid their last respects to the slain Bulgarian soldiers as they lay in state.
"Today we are parting with the idea of the safe presence of the Bulgarian soldiers in Iraq. This is a war, a real war," Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said.