BAGHDAD, Iraq — In a surge of unrest around Baghdad, three U.S. soldiers were killed by roadside bombs, an explosion rocked the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and thousands of angry Shiites protested what they said was the U.S. detention of a prominent mosque preacher.
Also Tuesday, the Turkish Parliament voted overwhelmingly to give the government permission to send Turkish peacekeepers to Iraq, but members of Iraq’s interim council opposed the move.
One soldier attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was killed and another wounded in a bombing late Monday just west of Baghdad.
About an hour later, another roadside bombing killed two soldiers attached to the 82nd Airborne Division and their Iraqi translator. Two other soldiers were wounded in the bombing in al-Haswah.
The ministry blast occurred Tuesday morning as scores of former Iraqi intelligence officers protested for back pay.
A coalition spokesman said one of the protesters either threw a grenade into the ministry complex or fired a rocket-propelled grenade. No casualties or major damage were reported.
In the Baya’a neighborhood of southwest Baghdad, up to 3,000 Shiite Muslims rallied to demand the release of Shiite Muslim cleric Muayad Karzraji, whom fellow sheiks said had been detained, handcuffed and taken to an unknown location a day earlier by U.S. troops.
In Washington, White House press secretary Scott McClellan applauded the 358-183 Turkish vote granting permission to send troops to Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed his appreciation to Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul in a telephone conversation, saying that the United States would be working with Turkey and Iraq on putting it into effect, a senior U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.
The United States has been pressing Turkey for months to send what would be the first major Muslim contingent of peacekeepers, a deployment that would enhance the credibility of the American-led force in Iraq by demonstrating Muslim support.
But members of Iraq’s U.S.-appointed Governing Council immediately signaled opposition to the deployment. The council, however, stopped short of issuing a formal resolution opposing the deployment.
The council is likely to defer to the United States on issues involving security.
Turkey fears that Kurds living in an autonomous area of northern Iraq could declare independence, which might provoke Turkish Kurdish rebels.
Turkish officials have emphasized that any deployment would aim at ending instability in Iraq, chaos that Turks fear could spread in the region.
Washington agreed to lend Turkey $8.5 billion to support its economy, but has made clear that the loan hinges on Turkey’s "cooperation in Iraq."
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