IRAQ Insurgents' bombs more deadly

Seven Americans lost their lives in the 'triangle of death.'
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Capping the bloodiest month for American troops since January, the U.S. military reported Monday that seven more U.S. service members were killed -- all victims of increasingly sophisticated bombs that have become the deadliest weapon in the insurgents' arsenal.
Bombs also claimed a toll Monday among civilians in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and the major metropolis of the Shiite-dominated south, which has witnessed less violence than Sunni areas. A large car bomb exploded along a bustling street packed with shops and restaurants as people were enjoying an evening out after the daily Ramadan fast. At least 20 were killed and about 40 wounded, police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said.
Military commanders have warned that Sunni insurgents will step up their attacks in the run-up to the Dec. 15 election, when Iraqis will choose their first full-term parliament since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.
To guard against such attacks, the military has raised the number of American troops in Iraq to 157,000 -- among the highest levels of the Iraq conflict.
More sophisticated
Most of the combat deaths and injuries in recent months have been a result of the increasing use by insurgents of sophisticated homemade bombs, responsible for the deaths of the seven Americans killed since Sunday. The military refers to those bombs as "improvised explosive devices," or IEDs.
On Friday, an IED killed Col. William W. Wood, 44, of Panama City, Fla., an infantry battalion commander. He was promoted posthumously, making him the highest-ranking soldier killed in action in the Iraq conflict, according to the Pentagon.
"We see an adversary that continues to develop some sophistication on very deadly and increasingly precise stand-off type weapons -- IEDs, in particular," Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said Monday.
Monday's deadliest attack against U.S. service members came in an area known as the "triangle of death." Four soldiers from the U.S. Army's Task Force Baghdad died when their patrol struck a roadside bomb in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad.
Two other soldiers from the Army's 29th Brigade Combat Team also were killed in a bombing Monday near Balad, 50 miles north of the capital. The U.S. military also reported that a Marine died the day before in a roadside bombing near Amiriyah, an insurgent hotspot 25 miles west of Baghdad.
Deadly month
The U.S. military death toll for October is now at least 92, the highest monthly total since January, when 106 American service members died -- more than 30 of them in a helicopter crash that was ruled an accident. Only during two other months since the war began has the U.S. military seen a higher toll: in November 2004, when 137 Americans died, and in April 2004, when 135 died.
The latest deaths brought to 2,025 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003. The number includes five military civilians.
Earlier Monday near the Syrian border, Marines backed by jets attacked insurgent targets in a cluster of towns and villages near the Syrian border. The raid was part of an ongoing operation in an area believed heavily infiltrated by Al-Qaida in Iraq and foreign fighters.
A Marine statement said U.S. aircraft fired precision weapons, destroying two safe houses believed used by Al-Qaida figures. The statement made no mention of casualties, but Associated Press Television News video from the scene showed residents wailing over the bodies of about six people, including at least three children.
At the local hospital, Dr. Ahmed al-Ani claimed 40 Iraqis, including 12 children, were killed in the attack.
In Baghdad on Monday, Iraq's prime minister agreed with the Iraqi president that Saddam's half brother deserves proper medical care while standing trial with the former dictator, but he did not say if he supported moving the defendant out of jail.
The chief prosecutor in Saddam's trial, meanwhile, said Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari does not have the legal power to order that Barazan Ibrahim be moved to a hospital for treatment of spinal cancer.
Prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi's comment came a day after President Jalal Talabani posted a letter on the Iraqi presidency's Web site urging the prime minister to "use his powers" to ensure Ibrahim is put in a hospital.
Ibrahim appealed last week to be released from detention so he could get better treatment.
He and seven other defendants, including Saddam, are on trial for the 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims in Dujail.
Ibrahim was Saddam's intelligence chief at the time of the Dujail massacre.
Separate trial
Also on Monday, a pretrial investigation opened at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, for a U.S. Army sergeant charged with killing two superior officers in Iraq, with a witness testifying that the defendant told him he wanted to kill one of the victims.
Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez, of Troy, N.Y., faces murder charges in the June 7 killing of Capt. Philip Esposito and Lt. Louis E. Allen in an explosion at Forward Operating Base Danger, near the central Iraqi city of Tikrit, some 80 miles north of Baghdad.
It is believed to be first case of an American soldier in Iraq accused of killing his superiors.
After nine witnesses testified, the hearing adjourned until today, when investigating officer Col. Patrick Reinert was to decide whether to recommend that a court-martial take place.