Violence unabated as pullout bill advances

The English are having second thoughts about letting Prince Harry fight in Iraq.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Bombers struck an Iraqi army post northeast of Baghdad and civilian targets in the city as violence across Iraq killed at least 72 people Thursday, including the bullet-riddled bodies of 27 men dumped in the capital -- apparent victims of sectarian death squads.
Still, the top American military spokesman insisted the U.S. command felt "very comfortable" that it is making "steady progress" in restoring order in Baghdad.
"We are seeing those initial signs of progress being made," Maj. Gen. William C. Caldwell told Associated Press Radio.
The violence came as the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate adopted House-passed legislation calling for U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq by Oct. 1. President Bush pledged to veto the measure, and neither body passed the measure with enough votes to override a veto.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Oct. 1 was too soon for a withdrawal to start and criticized the Senate vote, saying it "sends wrong signals" to armed militants.
Prince Harry's dilemma
Meanwhile, England's Prince Harry says he wants to be an ordinary soldier, but his army career has left military chiefs with an extraordinary predicament.
Commanders are reportedly reconsidering their decision to allow the prince to fight in Iraq for fear his presence could endanger other soldiers, Harry's regiment, the Blues and Royals, is due to begin a six-month tour of duty in Iraq within weeks. Harry, a second lieutenant, is a tank commander trained to lead a 12-man team in four armored reconnaissance vehicles.
Over the weekend, newspapers reported threats by Iraqi insurgents to kill or kidnap the 22-year-old prince, including claims his photograph had been widely circulated among militants. Military chiefs accept that the third in line to the throne would be an attractive target for insurgents and that his presence could lead to a surge in attacks on British forces.
"It's good for morale of the other soldiers if Prince Harry goes to Iraq," said retired Maj. Charles Heyman, editor of "Armed Forces of the United Kingdom."
"And if we don't send Prince Harry, the insurgents and jihadis will say it is a moral victory for them -- that we're afraid to send the prince."
Iraqi soldiers killed
In Iraq, the deadliest attack Thursday occurred about 9 a.m. when a suicide car bomber killed 10 Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint in Khalis, a longtime flashpoint city about 50 miles northeast of Baghdad. Ten other soldiers and five civilians were wounded, police said.
The city is in Diyala province, which has seen some of Iraq's worst violence recently. Mostly Sunni Arab insurgents are thought to have fled to the area to escape the security crackdown in Baghdad that U.S. and Iraqi troops launched Feb. 14.
In the capital, a car bomb exploded near Baghdad University, killing eight civilians and wounding 19, including some students, police said.
Associated Press Television News footage showed an elderly woman screaming, "Oh, my son," as she sobbed beside twisted debris.
Ahmed Jassim, who works in a nearby hotel, said he rushed outside after hearing the explosion and helped carry the wounded to ambulances.
"The insurgents were surely targeting civilians because there was no military presence in the area," he said. "I saw small pieces of flesh and a small blood pool."
Other deaths
Four other civilians were killed and nine wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a market in central Baghdad, police said. The blast missed its intended target -- a passing police patrol.
In the city's sprawling Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Sadr City, U.S. troops killed three militants during a gunbattle, the military said. Later in the day, a funeral procession was held in the district for an Iraqi who residents said was killed in the fighting.
Two suicide bombers attacked an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
The blasts killed three security guards and wounded five, police said. Casualties could have been worse if guards had not opened fire on the two attackers, forcing them to detonate their explosives at least 50 yards from the office, police said.
The bombing in Zumar, a town 45 miles west of Mosul, capital of Ninevah province, was the second suicide attack this week aimed at the party in that area.
In other violence, four insurgents were killed as the U.S. targeted suspected al-Qaida in Iraq militants near Taji, a U.S. air base 12 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. command said.
It said two women and two children were also believed to have been killed during the fighting. "Unfortunately al-Qaida in Iraq continues to use women and children in their illegal activities," U.S. spokesman Christopher Garver said.
Two civilians were killed and 12 wounded when mortar shells exploded in the southern Baghdad district of Dora, police said. One civilian died and four were wounded when a car bomb exploded in the Baiyaa district of southwestern Baghdad.
At least 30 tortured bodies were found, including 27 who had been shot to death and left in different parts of Baghdad and three decapitated bodies found south of the capital.
In Tikrit, police said the wife and daughter of a Saddam Hussein cousin were found slain at their home. The wife of Hashim Hassan al-Majid had been shot and the daughter strangled, police Capt. Samir Mohammed said. Their names were not released.
Al-Majid's brother is Ali Hassan "Chemical Ali" al-Majid, one of the most notorious figures of Saddam's regime, who is on trial for his alleged role in gassing Kurds and other abuses during a crackdown on Kurds in the 1980s.
Hashim Hassan Al-Majid, who held various posts in Saddam's government, was arrested after the regime fell, Tajik residents said.
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