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Iraq suicide bomb hits key bridge Thirty die in Iraq bomb attacks
(about 4 hours later)
A suicide lorry bomber has attacked a bridge north of Baghdad, sending cars plunging into the water and killing at least 10 people, Iraqi police said. At least 30 people have been killed in a series of suicide bomb attacks carried out by insurgents across Iraq.
Most of them died in a co-ordinated series of blasts apparently targeting a Kurdish religious minority in north-western Iraq.
Ten others were killed when a bridge in northern Baghdad was destroyed by a suicide blast.
Elsewhere, five US service personnel were killed when their helicopter came down near Falluja, west of Baghdad.
The US said it was still investigating the cause of the crash, but the CH-47 Chinook had been on a test flight after routine maintenance.
The US had already announced the deaths of four other soldiers in two separate incidents in Nineveh province and Baghdad.
Religious sect
The attacks on the Kurdish minority group came in a series of at least three blasts, involving at least one lorry laden with fuel.
All the explosions happened in areas which house the ancient Yazidi sect west of the city of Mosul, officials said.
Dozens of other people were hurt in the blasts, which destroyed or set fire to a number of buildings.
The attack on the Baghdad bridge, meanwhile, sent cars plunging into the water and killed at least 10 people, Iraqi police said.
The Thiraa Dijla bridge in Taji lies on the main road from Baghdad to Mosul.The Thiraa Dijla bridge in Taji lies on the main road from Baghdad to Mosul.
Earlier, US troops said they had killed four gunmen in Baghdad, but local officials said at least three of the dead were civilians. Fresh attacks
Separately, three Iraqi ministers whose party had been boycotting government meetings, attended the latest session. In another insurgent attack in the capital, some 50 gunmen in uniform were reported to have kidnapped a deputy oil minister and several other officials.
The move comes as politicians from some of Iraq's main political parties are holding informal talks ahead of a summit called this week by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki to try to resolve their differences. Reports said the men stormed an oil ministry compound in the capital in 17 official vehicles.
Also on Tuesday, the US military said four US soldiers had been killed in two separate attacks in Baghdad and the northern province of Nineveh on Monday. The US military also said on Tuesday that its troops had killed four gunmen in Baghdad's Sadr City. But local officials said three civilians died in the raid.
'Bridge collapses'
The suicide lorry bomber attacked the Thiraa Dijla bridge at noon, police said.
He detonated his payload after passing through an Iraqi army checkpoint near the bridge in Taji, about 20km (12 miles) north of Baghdad.
The explosion killed at least 10 people and sent a number of vehicles plunging in the canal, which links the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
The number of injured was not immediately known.
Reports say the bridge collapsed after the blast.
Government hopes
On the political front, the three minister from the mixed Sunni-Shia Iraqi National List of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi unexpectedly attended a government session.
They were among five ministers who last week began the boycott of Mr Maliki's government over what they said was its failure to end sectarian violence.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said he hoped Iraq's fractured government could be rebuilt, and key legislation agreed, after this week's summit.
Most Sunni Arabs have withdrawn from the administration of Mr Maliki, whose cabinet is now narrowly based on Shia Muslim religious parties and Kurdish groups.
Washington has expressed its frustration with the slow pace of political reform, a central goal of its recent military build-up was to give Iraqi politicians the space to make real progress.
'Civilian deaths'
The US military said on Tuesday that its troops had killed four gunmen in Baghdad's Sadr City. But local officials said three civilians died in the raid.
They said one of the victims was a young girl sleeping with her family on the roof.They said one of the victims was a young girl sleeping with her family on the roof.
Later in the morning, angry mourners marched through the area with flag-draped coffins. The US military denied killing any civilians in the raid.
"The Americans raided our house from the roof... and killed my brother and my five-year-old niece," Ali Khamis Eidan, a policeman, told Reuters news agency. Political move
The US military in Iraq denied killing any civilians in the raid. Separately, three Iraqi ministers from the mixed Sunni-Shia Iraqi National List of former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi unexpectedly attended a government session.
Sadr City, home to about a third of Baghdad's six million people, has been a focus of American raids in recent weeks. They were among five ministers who last week began the boycott of Nouri Maliki's government over what they said was its failure to end sectarian violence.
It is a stronghold in the capital of Shia militias largely loyal to cleric Moqtada Sadr. The move comes as politicians from some of Iraq's main political parties are holding informal talks ahead of a summit called this week by Mr Maliki to try to resolve their differences.