Iraq suicide bomber kills at least 73

BAGHDAD, Iraq – At least 73 people were killed and 162 wounded early today when a suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a group of construction workers in north Baghdad, police said.

The blast occurred at 6:30 a.m. near a crowd of day laborers who had assembled before going to work at nearby construction sites, said police Maj. Musa Abdel Kerim. He said the bomber drove his car into the gathering before detonating the explosive.

Lt. Col. Moayad Zubair said 73 people died in the blast and 162 were injured. The number of fatalities was expected to rise because some of the wounded were unlikely to survive, Zubair said.

Also today, gunmen wearing military uniforms surrounded Taaji, a village 10 miles north of Baghdad, and executed 17 men, police said. The gunmen looted the village before fleeing, police said

On Tuesday, U.S. forces widened their operations against insurgents in northern Iraq, launching an attack on the Euphrates river stronghold of Haditha only days after evicting militants from Tal Afar.

Residents also reported American airstrikes in the same region near Qaim. The U.S. military did not confirm the airstrike.

In the south, a roadside bomb killed four people near Basra. Iraqi police said the dead were four American contract workers, but U.S. officials were unable to confirm the victims’ nationalities.

A U.S. Army commander said Tuesday that extremist fighters battling for control of Tal Afar in northern Iraq had committed atrocities against civilians.

“The enemy here did just the most horrible things you can imagine – in one case murdering a child, placing a booby trap within the child’s body and waiting for the parent to come recover the body of their child and exploding it to kill the parents,” said Col. H.R. McMaster, commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

Associated Press

Iraqi army soldiers take cover in a drainage ditch after shooting broke out at a grain silo in Tal Afar, Iraq, on Tuesday.