An explosion believed to have been targeting US troops struck a local council building yesterday in Baghdad’s Shiite Sadr City district, killing at least six Iraqi civilians and four Americans, police and witnesses said.
The US military confirmed a blast near the district advisory council building in Sadr City.
US officials confirmed that two US soldiers had died and that four Americans, including a civilian interpreter, were wounded.
Later, a US embassy official said that two US civilians were killed — a US State Department employee and an employee of the US Department of Defense.
Both were attached to the US mission in Baghdad.
The blast occurred shortly after 9am near the deputy council chief’s office as the Americans approached, police officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information.
Witnesses said US troops had cordoned off the area.
The explosion came a day after a gunman opened fire on US soldiers attending a municipal council meeting southeast of Baghdad, killing two of them and wounding four other Americans.
The assailant in Madain, also known as Salman Pak, about 25km south of Baghdad, was believed to be a former Sunni member of the municipal council. He died in a hail of gunfire after the attack.
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