Two U.S. soldiers and two U.S. government employees were killed on Tuesday in a bomb explosion inside a building of the district council office of Sadr City in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Another U.S. soldier and three of the local council members were also injured by the bombing which struck at about 9:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), a military statement said.
The U.S. military blamed Shiite extremist militiamen for the attack, saying they were afraid of "progress and afraid of empowering the people."
"They killed four people today in one cowardly act to halt progress, but it will only harden the determination of this council, the citizens of Sadr City, the Iraqi Army, and Coalition Forces," said Lt. Col. John Digiambatista, operations officer with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division.
Earlier, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source told Xinhua that a suicide bomber blew up his explosive vest inside the building of the district council of Sadr City when U.S. soldiers were inside the building, killing two U.S. soldiers and four Iraqis.
Five U.S. soldiers and five Iraqi civilians were also wounded by the attack in the stronghold of Mahdi Army militia loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, the source said.
The U.S. soldiers were at the scene to supervise a council election to elect new members, he said.
The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to about 4,106, according to media count based on Pentagon figures.
Source:Xinhua
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