2 U.S. civilians, 2 GIs killed in Iraq blast

BAGHDAD - A bomb struck a district council building Tuesday in Baghdad's Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City, killing at least nine people, including four Americans — two soldiers and two government employees, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

U.S. troops captured a suspect who tested positive for explosive residue after fleeing the scene, the military said. It blamed Shiite extremists for the attack.

The explosion occurred a day after a suspected Sunni gunman opened fire on U.S. soldiers attending a municipal council meeting southeast of Baghdad, killing two of the troops and wounding three others. An interpreter was also killed in that attack.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Berlin for an international conference to help Palestinians, called Tuesday's attack a terrible reminder of the dangers Americans face as they work to help rebuild the country and "advancing our critical foreign policy goals."

The blast took place in the office of the council's deputy chief as Americans and Iraqi officials were gathered nearby about half an hour before a meeting to elect a new chairman, said Hassan Karim, Sadr City's top administrator.

Smoke fills corridors
Karim said he was sitting in his office, which is located at the same building and about 50 yards from the targeted office, when the bomb exploded. He said he ran out of his office and found the corridors engulfed in smoke.

He couldn't confirm the number of casualties, saying that several employees and visitors were inside the building.

"I only saw three council members on the ground who were wounded before the Americans ordered us to stay in another office fearing another explosion could take place," Karim told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

After that, he said, the U.S. troops started investigating the employees and the guards of the building. A witness said the Americans rounded up the guards in the immediate aftermath. U.S. troops sealed off the building and the area.

The district council office is in a southern section of Sadr City that is largely controlled by U.S. and Iraqi troops following weeks of fighting in the area amid a government crackdown against the militias.

Main target hit in leg
Deputy council chief Hassan Hussein Shammah, who was believed to be the attack's main target, was wounded in his leg.

"We were getting ready for the weekly meeting to discuss the services in the area. Suddenly a huge explosion took place," he told AP Television News from his hospital bed.

The U.S. military said one soldier was wounded in addition to the two soldier fatalities. U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo said the dead Americans included one State Department and one Defense Department employee.

In addition, an Italian of Iraqi origin who was working as an interpreter for the Americans was killed, according to the Italian Foreign Ministry.

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