Rebels killed four United States marines and at least six Iraqis died in attacks on Tuesday amid a tight security clampdown ahead of the major Shi’ite Muslim ceremony of Ashura, a favourite target of Sunni insurgents.
The marines were killed in the two separate rebel strikes in the restive western province of al-Anbar, the US military said.
Three of the soldiers died in a roadside bomb attack near the town of Hit on Monday, while the fourth succumbed to his wounds from a similar bombing on Sunday elsewhere in the province.
The latest fatalities bring the total US military death toll in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 2 255, according to Pentagon figures on Monday.
According to the website Iraq Body Count, between 28 293 and 31 900 civilians have been killed.
In other rebel violence, three Iraqis were killed as they were gathered in central Baghdad on Tuesday to buy cassettes and CDs depicting the religious ceremony of Ashura.
Two roadside bombs went off within minutes, killing the three and wounding five policemen who had arrived at the scene to investigate the first explosion, police said.
In a separate attack, two civilians died when their car hit a roadside bomb on the southern outskirts of Baghdad.
Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday shot Sheikh Kamal Shakur, head of the city council of Fallujah, a Sunni Arab town in al-Anbar, and he later died of his wounds in hospital, Dr Hatem al-Dulaimi said.
Shakur, who had good relations with the marines, played a key role in US efforts to engage with the people of Fallujah, a former bastion of the insurgency until a November 2004 assault by the US military.
All of Fallujah’s leaders have faced death threats due to their contacts with US forces.
As head of the city council, Shakur used to meet every Tuesday with the Americans, although he pointed out in an interview last December that he was no friend of the United States.
Coordination was the best way to speed up a US pull-out, he explained.
Meanwhile, security around the southern holy city of Karbala remained tight on Tuesday as tens of thousands of pilgrims continued to arrive ahead of the holiest commemoration on the Shi’ite calendar.
Over one million pilgrims are eventually expected to throng the streets of Karbala for the mourning ceremony on Thursday at the climax of Ashura which marks the martyrdom of Hussein, the Shi’ites’ third Imam.
An 8 000-strong security force has encircled the city and set up checkpoints to prevent a repeat of the attacks which have brought bloodshed to previous Ashura celebrations.
In 2004, 170 people were killed in attacks in Baghdad and Karbala and another 44 died in 2005.
A security net has been thrown around the city to “protect it from any terrorist action that might target the visitors during their religious observances”, said Karbala police chief General Razeq Abd Ali al-Tayi.
He added that the US-led coalition forces would provide air support but would have no role on the ground in order to spare the sensitivities of the Muslim pilgrims.
Since Friday, all vehicles have been phased out from the streets of Karbala, culminating in an outright ban on Monday that prevented cars, trucks, bicycles and even carts from moving through the streets.
But police have also warned pilgrims not to “fall for the rumours of terrorists”, to avoid a repeat of a stampede in Baghdad during a Shi’ite festival in August 2005 that killed more than 1 000 people. – AFP