Violence across Iraq kills more than a dozen people

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A series of attacks across Iraq killed more than a dozen people, including three U.S. soldiers, authorities said Thursday. The killings came despite assurances from U.S. officials that progress was being made to improve security in the capital.

At least 13 Iraqis, including civilians, soldiers and police, were killed in bombings and shootings, becoming the latest casualties in the country's ongoing sectarian and political violence.

One soldier was killed on Thursday afternoon in the capital when his patrol was attacked by gunmen, the U.S. military command said in a statement.

Another American soldier died Thursday when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad, the military said. The identities of both soldiers were withheld pending notification of their families.

And another soldier was killed south of Baghdad on Wednesday during a raid to capture "foreign terrorists," the U.S. command said, adding that "two terrorists were also killed during the firefight."

"The unit was conducting operations to rid Iraq of foreign terrorists known to be operating in the area," the command said in a statement, giving no further details.

The latest deaths raised to at least 2,615 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes seven military civilians. At least 2,078 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

Meanwhile, two car bombs in separate areas of Baghdad killed four civilians and wounded nine people, including two policemen, police said. A bomb concealed by trash wounded four day laborers.

Northeast of the capital, a bomb in a minivan killed three policemen and wounded a driver in the city of Baqouba, while a roadside bomb on the city's outskirts killed three Iraqi soldiers, authorities said. Shootings in Baghdad and Mosul left three people dead.

Political and sectarian violence across Iraq spiked after the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite mosque in the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad. The bloodshed claimed 3,500 lives last month, making July the deadliest month since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 and stoking fears of a civil war.

Sunni Arab insurgents have been regularly attacking U.S. and Iraqi troops, mostly in the Baghdad area and in the province of Anbar to its west.