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Thirteen die in Baghdad blasts

Three bombs killed 13 Iraqis in Baghdad yesterday, and the US military announced the deaths of three US soldiers.

Iraqi forces backed by US troops captured an al-Qaeda in Iraq terror cell leader south of Baghdad, the US military said yesterday. The suspect, who was detained on Tuesday, is believed responsible for kidnapping two US soldiers from a checkpoint in June, the military said in a statement. The soldiers were later found tortured and murdered.

Two bombs exploded shortly after 10am opposite a park in the South Gate area, killing nine civilians and wounding 43, a police officer said on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. South Gate is often crowded with commuters and shoppers.

A bomb planted under a car killed two civilians and wounded eight others near al-Shaab stadium in eastern Baghdad, police said.

Another blast targeted a police patrol in western Baghdad but missed, killing two civilians instead, police said. Four others were wounded and taken to Yarmouk Hospital.

The US military said three US soldiers died in roadside bombs on Wednesday. Two soldiers were killed when a bomb exploded near their foot patrol southwest of Baghdad, and one died in a bombing in an eastern section of the Iraqi capital.

With 98 American troops dead so far this month, December is the second-deadliest month of this year for US military personnel. A total of 105 troops died in October.

"This has been a difficult month for coalition forces," Major General William Caldwell, a spokesman for US forces in Iraq, said on Wednesday.

"And the month is not over yet," Caldwell said. "Our deepest condolences to those families and friends who've lost someone near and dear to them."

At least 2,986 members of the US military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.

Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush huddled with top advisers at his Texas ranch yesterday to hash out options for a new Iraq strategy that he wants to unveil next month to a US public weary of the war.

Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley were to attend the session.

Among the options Bush has been considering is a short-term troop "surge" aimed at containing rampant violence.

Democrats say results of November elections in which they took control of Congress from the Republican Party reflected public discontent with the Iraq war and desire for change.

Senator Joseph Biden, the Delaware Democrat who will be the next chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has expressed opposition to a troop increase.

"I hope that Senator Biden would wait to hear what the president has to say before announcing what he's opposed to," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.

"President Bush will talk soon to our troops, to the American people and to the Iraqi people about the new way forward in Iraq that will lead to a democratic and unified country that can sustain, govern, and defend itself," he said.
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