Meanwhile, 11 soldiers were killed in separate attacks, the military said, raising the U.S. death toll to 151 since a wave of violence began April 1. At least 753 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.
Six U.S. service members were killed and another 30 were wounded in a mortar attack near the western city of Ramadi. [ouch!]
The city is about 60 miles west of Baghdad in Anbar province, which includes Fallujah. A military spokeswoman gave no further details and did not say whether the victims were Marines or Army soldiers, but most Americans stationed there are Marines.
Another U.S. soldier was killed and 10 were wounded in a bomb and small arms attack on a coalition base near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
Overnight, Shiite militiamen attacked a U.S. convoy with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades near the southern city of Amarah, 180 miles south of Baghdad. Two soldiers were killed, the military said. Through the night and into Sunday morning, Iraqis set fire to the long line of abandoned vehicles, jumping on the hoods and beating them with sticks.
An attack in northwest Baghdad killed two other soldiers and wounded two Iraqi security officers and another American, the military said.
U.S. troops also exchanged gunfire Sunday near Najaf with militiamen loyal to radical Shiite preacher Muqtada al-Sadr, who is charged in the murder of a rival cleric last year.
In the southern city of Basra, a mortar shell exploded late Sunday near the headquarters of the traffic police, killing one civilian, police Lt. Col. Ali Kadhim said. Minutes later, gunmen killed a policeman at a checkpoint, he said. It was unclear if the attacks were coordinated
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040503/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq&cid=540&ncid=716