At Least 50 Killed in Baghdad Suicide Bomb Attack

01 August 2007 (By VOA News) -- Iraqi police say at least 50 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a fuel tanker near a gas station in western Baghdad.

The attack also wounded 60 people Wednesday in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood. Earlier, a car bomb blast in central Baghdad killed at least 17 people and wounded more than 30 others.

In political developments, Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc has announced its withdrawal from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition government, saying he has failed to meet the bloc's demands.

Rafaa al-Issawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi Accordance Front, said the bloc's six cabinet ministers would submit their resignations today.

Last week, the bloc gave the prime minister a list of demands, including dealing with Shi'ite militias and reforming the conduct of raids and arrests.

The Accordance Front has been boycotting Cabinet meetings since June to protest legal proceedings against Culture Minister Asad al-Hashimi, who is accused of arranging to have another politician killed.

In another development, the U.S. military said three American soldiers were killed and six others wounded when their patrol was hit by a sophisticated armor-piercing bomb in eastern Baghdad Tuesday. U.S. officials have accused Iran of supplying such weapons to insurgents in Iraq. A fourth U.S. soldier was killed Tuesday by small arms fire in Baghdad.

In Washington, U.S. government auditors say the United States has provided $19.2 billion to train and equip Iraqi security forces, but the U.S. military is unable to fully determine what equipment Iraqis have received.

(Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters)

Source: VOANews.com

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