A suicide car bomber killed 13 people Monday next to the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad housing the interim government and U.S. embassy, and seven U.S. Marines died in combat in western Iraq. The Marines were killed Sunday in separate incidents in Anbar province, a vast region in western Iraq comprising the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, the military said on Monday. The fighting was the deadliest for U.S. forces since eight Marines were killed by a car bomb outside Fallujah on Oct. 30. In Baghdad, a vehicle waiting in line to enter the Green Zone at its western Harthiyah gate exploded as it drove toward the checkpoint, Iraqi police said.
