Iraq Developments

Other developments in Iraq:

Shiite militants ambushed a U.S. patrol in Baghdad’s embattled Sadr City district Tuesday, and more than two dozen people were killed in the fighting, a U.S. military spokesman and Iraqi officials said. Six American soldiers were wounded.

Dhia Jodi Jaber, director general at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, was hit by a roadside bomb as he left his home Tuesday morning, the ministry’s spokesman, Abdullah al-Lami, said. Insurgents frequently target governmental officials and institutions in a bid to disrupt the government’s work.

In the southern city of Basra, where the government began its crackdown on Shiite militias March 25, Iraqi military commander Lt. Gen. Mohan al-Fireji announced the discovery of a huge weapons cache containing roadside bombs, mortar launchers and Iranian-made weapons.

The trial of Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein’s best-known lieutenants, opened Tuesday in Baghdad. Aziz is one of eight defendants facing charges in a case dating back to 1992 when the government executed 42 merchants for war-profiteering. Others include Saddam’s half brother and the dictator’s cousin known as “Chemical Ali,” who faces a pending death sentence in another case.

A female suicide bomber blew herself up at a bus stop near Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing one and wounding five people, police said.

The Iraqi defense ministry said Serbia had agreed to write off $3 billion in Iraq’s foreign debt. Serbia’s move comes after an international conference last week in Kuwait at which Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice unsuccessfully pressed Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to forgive Iraq’s debts as a sign of support for Iraq’s government.

Source: Associated Press