Updated at 10:36 p.m. EDT, Apr. 28, 2011
At least 39 Iraqis were killed and 51 more were wounded across the country. Seventeen of the dead, however, were from a recently discovered mass grave. A U.S. soldier was also killed.
U.S. Major General Bernard Champoux, who is a division commander, confirmed that less than 20,000 employees will continue to work at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, and more Iraqi workers will be hired, after the Dec. 31 withdrawal of troops deadline. Those employees include security officials and diplomats. In Diyala province, meanwhile, a Kurdistan Alliance official has asked U.S. troops remain there. The province is still one of the deadliest in Iraq, and parts of it are contested due to a large number of Kurdish residents.
A suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a Shi’ite mosque in Balad Ruz, killing 10 worshippers. As many as 30 other men were also wounded. Security and hospital authorities, however, gave conflicting figures on those injured.
Near Hawija in Shahria, a bomb killed six people including the police chief and wounded 12 others.
In Baghdad, an air force brigadier general was shot dead in Ghazaliya. A truck driver was killed in Doura when a sticky bomb exploded on his vehicle. Four people were wounded during a blast in the east. One person was killed and three others were wounded in a bombing in Zayouna.
A blast at a checkpoint in Mosul left two soldiers dead and two more wounded.
Authorities reburied 17 bodies found in a mass grave near Aziziya last week. The grave was dated to the height of sectarian violence three or four years ago.
The Iraqi army began war games in Basra province.
Thirteen suspects were detained in Diyala province.
