A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol Wednesday, killing at least seven officers in a Shiite area south of Baghdad that has seen fierce clashes between rival militia factions, according to AP. To the north, a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck struck a checkpoint manned by Kurdish forces in a volatile province where U.S. commanders have decided to begin the drawdown of American forces, marking a turning point in the mission. The attack in a mountainous area near the Iranian border killed at least one Kurdish soldier and wounded more than 10 others, said Jabbar Yawir, a spokesman for the Kurdish forces. Yawir said the dead and wounded men were from a brigade that arrived last month as part of a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown that began in February.
