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Gunmen kill at least 40 in Iraq market attack

Top Oil Ministry official kidnapped in Baghdad

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A coordinated attack Monday in Mahmoudiya south of Baghdad killed at least 40 people and wounded dozens, and small-arms fire killed a U.S. soldier in the capital.

The incidents took place as Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence festers in and near Baghdad.

There were differing accounts of what took place in the attack, which was near the the city's al-Jazaer neighborhood around 9 a.m. (0600 GMT).

Iraq's Ministry of Defense said two car bombs exploded in the marketplace, followed by four mortar explosions, killing 40 people and wounding 70. The MOD also said three of the attackers have been arrested.

In details provided by the Interior Ministry and police, mortars rained down on the marketplace before gunmen dressed in black opened fire, killing 48 people and wounding 60 others.

A Multi-National Corps press release cited initial reports that said 40 citizens were killed and 90 were wounded in the incident. It said the "market area" was assaulted by "terrorists" near the Mohammed Al Amin Mosque.

"Reports from witnesses confirmed their findings, saying there had been a large number of terrorists throwing grenades in the market," said the statement. An explosive ordnance disposal team said the blasts had been caused by grenades.

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers responded to the blasts and took small-arms fire. The statement said Iraqi soldiers took small-arms fire southwest of the mosque during a cordon and search operation "for a suspicious vehicle."

Most of the victims were thought to be Shiites, The Associated Press reported.

Two "suspected terrorists" were detained after troops found them "in a nearby house with two rocket-propelled grenades, an AK-47 rifle and a bag containing an unknown number of grenades."

Mahmoudiya is in volatile northern Babil province, where bloody violence has raged throughout the insurgency in Iraq. A swath of the northern part of the province has been nicknamed the Triangle of Death because of the killings there.

A notorious incident occurred near Mahmoudiya last spring that involved U.S. forces and civilians.

Five Americans -- one now a former U.S. soldier and four still in the military -- are charged with the rape of a woman and the killing of her and her family in March when they were stationed in area. Another soldier was charged with failing to report the incident, but was not accused of participating.

Meanwhile, the killing of the U.S. soldier on Monday -- which occurred at 12:55 p.m. (0955 GMT) in western Baghdad -- brings the number of U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war to 2,548. The soldier was from Multi-National Division Baghdad.

Monday's attacks come a day after a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a cafe packed with Shiites in northern Iraq, killing at least 26 people and injuring 22 others, an Iraqi general said.

The cafe was in an outdoor market in Tuz Khormato, 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Baghdad.

Also Sunday, gunmen kidnapped a senior Oil Ministry official, Adel Kazzaz, just after he left a government building in eastern Baghdad, a ministry spokesman said.

On Saturday, the head of Iraq's Olympic Committee, Ahmad el Kijiye, was kidnapped along with at least 30 of his co-workers by gunmen dressed in army uniforms, Iraqi police said.

The kidnapping happened in a Shiite neighborhood of central Baghdad as they were leaving a meeting at a cultural center, police said. (Full story)

Six of those seized were later released, police said Sunday.

Other developments

A British soldier was killed and another was wounded during a raid in the southern province of Basra on Sunday, AP reported. The raid was launched to capture "those associated with terrorist activities," the British military said in a statement.

On Saturday, a roadside bomb on killed a U.S. soldier in Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. "A Multi-National Division - Baghdad service member died at approximately 11:25 a.m. today when the vehicle he was riding in struck a roadside bomb near Sadr City, an area in northeast Baghdad," the statement said.

Two mortars landed outside an Iraqi police administration building in northern Baghdad, killing five civilians and wounding 12 others on Saturday, police said. The building, in the Iraqi capital's Sadiya section, is where Iraqi police go to be paid and get their uniforms, police said. No police officers were hurt, police said.

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