Iraq Blast Kills 6 in Oil-Rich Basra

Bomb reportedly hit civilian bus after missing U.S. Army patrol

An Iraqi policeman stands guard near a destroyed bus at the site of a bombing in Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, on Sunday, March 6, 2011. (Photo credit: Nabil al-Jurani / AP)

By Nabil al-Jurani

March 6, 2011

BASRA, Iraq — A roadside bomb killed six people and wounded 12 Sunday morning in the oil-rich city of Basra in southern Iraq, local officials said.

A police officer in Basra and a morgue official confirmed the death toll from the blast in the city’s Maqal area, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Another police officer said the bomb hit a bus after it missed a passing U.S. army patrol. …

The U.S. troops are not intended to have a combat role, but they still come under attack on an almost daily basis. …

Full story

——

Related reports on this site

Iraqi firefighters extinguish a fire in a destroyed building after a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011. (Photo credit: Emad Matti / AP)

Another War Like Iraq ‘Nuts’ (Feb. 26, 2011)

Iraq: Slaughter in Samarra (Feb. 12, 2011)

Iraq Violence Persists (Feb. 9, 2011)

Insurgents Coming Back in Iraq (Dec. 5, 2010)

Iraq Civilian Deaths at 2-Year High (Aug. 1, 2010)

Quarter Million Dead, Wounded in Iraq (Oct. 14, 2009)

Sustained Iraqi Insurgency (Aug. 12, 2009)

Deadly June for Iraqis (July 5, 2009)

Iraq: May Deadliest in 8 Months (May 29, 2009)

Iraq Exit Will Be Long and Hard (March 7, 2009)

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 6, 2010

Iraq Election Preview

Iraqi Shiite Muslims shout slogans in support of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr during prayers in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood on Friday, March 5, 2010. A militia tied to al-Sadr has resurfaced and is threatening Sunnis. (Photo credit: Joseph Eid / AFP — Getty Images)

One year ago today, I reported that former Mahdi Army militia members, emboldened by the prospect of an Iraq free of the U.S. military and by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s decision to join a Shiite-led alliance expected to become the single largest bloc in the Iraqi parliament after the 2010 election, were reemerging ahead of the national elections.

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Two Years Ago — March 6, 2009

Iraq Update

A policeman inspects the wreckage of a vehicle used in a car bomb attack in Hamza, 80 miles south of Baghdad, on Thursday, March 5, 2009. (Photo credit: Reuters)

Two years ago today, on March 6, 2009, I reported that a car bomb exploded in a livestock market in Iraq’s southern Babil province, killing 12 people, wounding 40, and shattering a peace that had held in the area for some time, while insurgents attacked a main U.S.-Iraqi base in the northern city of Mosul, killing one American soldier and striking directly at the Iraqi command center for an offensive against the militants.