Iraq Watch: August 1, 2006

Bombs Target Iraqi Security Forces

A massive roadside bomb detonated underneath a bus transporting Iraqi soldiers Tuesday in the town of Beiji, north of Baghdad. At least 24 people, including 20 soldiers, were reported killed in the blast.

The force of the explosion hurled passengers' belongings for yards and left the bus itself a burned-out hulk.

Elsewhere, a car bomb exploded Tuesday as an Iraqi police patrol passed by in Muqdadiyah killing at least seven and wounding eight.

Muqdadiyah is situated in the nations volatile Diyala Province. The Iranian-bordering province, located just northeast of Baghdad, is a microcosm of Iraq as a whole as it is home to a substantial number of Iraq's three main ethnic groups: Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, a suicide car bombing in the capital's Karradah district left at least 14 people dead. The blast killed 10 Iraqi soldiers and four civilians according to AFP.

Late Tuesday, a suicide car bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into an Iraqi military checkpoint in the northern city of Tal Afar killing at least three soldiers.

Also Tuesday multi-national forces operating in Iraq reported two causalities. An American soldier died "due to enemy action" in Iraq's western Anbar Province while a British soldier was killed by mortar fire in the southern city of Basra.