News From Iraq

Iraq fuel pipeline blast kills 15

NEAR DIWANIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - At least 15 people were killed in an explosion in central Iraq late on Monday while people were collecting petrol from pools formed around a breach in a disused fuel pipeline, witnesses said on Tuesday.

A Reuters reporter at the rural site near Diwaniya, 180 km (110 miles) south of Baghdad, counted 15 charred bodies. A hospital official said there were also a further four bodies in Diwaniya's morgue. A police source said more than 50 were killed in total, although that figure could not be confirmed.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion at 11 p.m. (1900 GMT), when a large group of people had gathered to scoop petrol at the site, officials said.

The blast did not appear connected to the violence in Diwaniya on Monday, when at least 20 Iraqi soldiers were killed in street fighting with Shi'ite militiamen, some of the bloodiest clashes among rival powers in Shi'ite southern Iraq.

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2 American Soldier Killed in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Two U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, one in fighting
in the restive Anbar province and the second from injuries sustained
in a Humvee accident, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

A soldier assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Sunday after being
wounded in fighting in Anbar, the U.S. command said in a statement.
Anbar province is a Sunni Arab insurgent stronghold that has seen some
of the worst fighting since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The military earlier reported that eight other soldiers also died Sunday
in and around Baghdad, making it one of the deadliest days for the
military in recent months.

A Nebraska National Guardsman with the 1st Squadron, 167th Cavalry
at Camp Anaconda, 50 miles north of Baghdad, died Monday of injuries
he suffered in a Humvee accident on Aug. 21, a separate statement said.


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Police find 10 bodies in Baghdad school yard

BAGHDAD - Iraqi police on Tuesday found the bodies of 10 men, handcuffed and blindfolded, dumped in the yard of a school in western Baghdad.

The discovery of the bodies, many bearing signs of torture, has become a typical feature of bloodshed gripping Iraq.