A suicide car bomber struck a police patrol west of Baghdad Sunday and killed eight people, most of them civilians standing in line outside a post office to collect the monthly stipend for the country's poorest, police officials said.
The blast comes just a day after explosions tore through a market in the south killing 43 people. Violence across Iraq has spiked in the past month as the U.S. moves ahead with a major drawdown of its troops set to be completed by the end of the month.
A suicide bomber struck a convoy of Afghan and NATO-led forces Thursday in northern Afghanistan, killing seven policemen and wounding several people, including civilians, the interior ministry said.
Largely active in the south and east, the Taliban have stepped up attacks in recent months in some areas of the north,
regarded until recently as relatively safe.
The bomber drove his car, laden with explosives, into a joint convoy of Afghan police and foreign forces in Imam Saheb district of northern Kunduz province, close to the border with Tajikistan, the interior ministry said.
U.S. nears key step in European defense shield against ...
By Craig Whitlock
The U.S. military is on the verge of activating a partial missile shield over southern Europe, part of an intensifying global effort to build defenses against Iranian missiles amid a deepening impasse over the country's nuclear ambitions.
Pentagon officials said they are nearing a deal to establish a key radar ground station, probably in Turkey or Bulgaria. Installation of the high-powered X-band radar would enable the first phase of the shield to become operational next year.
At the same time, the U.S. military is working with Israel and allies in the Persian Gulf to build and upgrade their missile defense capabilities. The United States installed a radar ground station in Israel in 2008 and is looking to place another in an Arab country in the gulf region. The radars would provide a critical early warning of any launches from Iran, improving the odds of shooting down a missile.
Special Report - 08/09/10
