Officials: 31 killed in clashes across Iraq
Al-Arabiya producer dies covering street fighting in Baghdad
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 CNN's Diana Muriel reports on a series of violent incidents in Baghdad. (September 12)
 CNN's Jim Bittermann looks at strained U.S. relations in Europe in the wake of the war in Iraq.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Clashes across Iraq, including a suicide bombing at the Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, left at least 31 people dead Sunday and scores of others wounded, according to Iraqi and U.S. military officials.
A car bomber died early Sunday when his vehicle detonated in front of the prison, according to Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a spokesman for detainee operations.
U.S. forces fired at the vehicle after it attempted to crash through the compound's gate, and it exploded, Johnson said.
At the same time, the troops received small-arms fire. Additional explosives were found in the vehicle after the explosion, Johnson said.
The driver of the vehicle was the only casualty, Johnson said.
Also, during a U.S. military sweep of the neighborhood surrounding the prison, five civilians were wounded, according to Iraqi police Col. Mohammad of the Abu Ghraib police station.
In another attack Sunday, three Polish soldiers were killed and three others were wounded near Mashru, about 19 miles northeast of Hilla in south-central Iraq, according to a spokesman for the multinational forces.
The soldiers were part of a convoy carrying an explosives ordnance disposal team, the spokesman said.
The wounded soldiers were taken to a military hospital in Karbala.
Ramadi fighting
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad, battles have flared sporadically throughout the day, an independent journalist there told CNN.
There were two differing casualty reports Sunday from the mostly Sunni Muslim city.
According to Iraq's Ministry of Health, clashes between U.S. Marines and insurgent fighters left at least three Iraqis dead and another 26 wounded.
But the director of a hospital said his facility received 10 dead and 40 wounded. The U.S. military said it was checking the reports.
Other fighting Sunday -- about 20 miles northeast of Hilla -- left three Iraqi national guard troops dead, three others wounded and another missing, according to a multinational forces statement. The soldiers were hit by an exploding car bomb and a detonated roadside bomb, the statement said.
In western Baghdad, a car bomb targeted a vehicle carrying several police officers, killing two of them and wounding four others, according to an Iraqi police officer.
Killed in the attack were Col. Alaa Adeen Bashir, director of a police station in western Baghdad, and 1st Lt. Maher Mohammed Abbass, the police officer said.
Also in western Baghdad, a police patrol commander was killed and two other police officers were wounded in a drive-by shooting, according to Ministry of Interior spokesman Col. Adnan Abdul Rahman.
In a separate incident, a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle near a Green Zone checkpoint early Sunday in central Baghdad, killing only the driver, according to U.S. Army Maj. Phil Smith of the 1st Cavalry Division. There were no other casualties, Smith said.
In the southern part of the capital, four Iraqis were killed early Sunday when two rockets landed on two houses, according to an Iraqi police officer from Dura station.
The dead include a 7-year-old child, an Iraqi police officer and a member of Iraq's Facility Protection Services, the officer said.
Intense firefight
On Baghdad's Haifa Street, a two-and-a-half-hour firefight between insurgents and Iraqi security forces -- backed by U.S. military -- left 13 people dead and 55 others wounded, according to Ministry of Health officials.
Residents said most of the casualties in the gunfight occurred after a crowd gathered around a burning U.S. military vehicle was fired on by a helicopter. The U.S. military said the crowd was made up of insurgents and looters.
Two journalists were among the casualties.
Mazen al-Tumaizi -- a Palestinian television producer with the Arabic-language satellite network Al-Arabiya -- was killed by shrapnel, the station said
Nihad Ya'qub, an executive director with the network, said al-Tumaizi was preparing a report from the scene, with the burning Bradley fighting vehicle in the background, when the helicopter fired on the troop transport. He said a few drops of blood hit the lens of the camera as al-Tumaizi dropped to the ground and cried, "My head, my head ... I'm dying."
An Iraqi cameraman working for Reuters was also wounded, a spokesperson for the agency said.
According to the U.S. military version of the incident, the Bradley en route to help a patrol on Haifa Street was hit by a car bomb.
Four U.S. soldiers were wounded, said Smith, the U.S. military spokesman. As the Bradley crew was being evacuated, the U.S. forces came under small-arms fire and attack from grenades and Molotov cocktails.
Smith said the helicopter fired on the vehicle to prevent it from falling into insurgents' hands. The Iraqis around it were "not innocent civilians," he added.
Several witnesses disputed the U.S. military's account, saying the crowd gathered around the burning vehicle, chanting "God is great," throwing stones at the vehicle and hitting it with metal pipes, but were not firing toward the U.S. forces or looting the vehicle.
Other developments:
A statement released Sunday purportedly from a previously unknown Iraqi group said two Italian hostages will be killed unless Italy begins withdrawing its forces from Iraq. (Full story)Four Iraqis were killed Saturday in separate incidents, and the wife and three children of an Iraqi national guard officer were kidnapped. (Full story)A U.S. Army intelligence soldier was sentenced Saturday after pleading guilty to charges connected to his role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. Army Spec. Armin Cruz was the first military intelligence soldier charged in the case. He was sentenced to eight months confinement, demoted and given a bad conduct discharge. (Full story)Iraqi interim President Ghazi al-Yawar is visiting Italy, the latest stop in his European trip, to meet with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other Italian officials. The Italian government provides one of the larger contingents in the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq: about 2,700 troops.
