Car bomb at Green Zone entrance kills 7

[Robbien]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - (KRT) - A suicide bomber killed seven people at an entrance to Baghdad's Green Zone on Monday, striking on the one-year anniversary of the capture of Saddam Hussein with a bloody reminder of the insurgency's endurance.

The morning rush hour blast occurred at a busy checkpoint leading to the fortified enclave where the U.S. Embassy and interim Iraqi government are located, sending a huge plume of thick black smoke spiraling over the Baghdad skyline.

There were no American soldiers nearby, witnesses said, but Iraqi police were there, and they have been relentlessly targeted in recent weeks by insurgents intent on undermining efforts to rebuild Iraq's security forces. However, as is the case with many of the insurgent attacks in Iraq, it appeared all the victims, including the 19 injuries, were civilians, according to officials at Baghdad's Yarmuk hospital.

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In a sign that the problems in Fallujah are not over yet, U.S. warplanes pounded targets there for a second day Monday, according to a journalist with the Agence France Presse news agency who is embedded with Marines in the town. Clashes have persisted there, making the city unsafe for civilians to return and for workers to deliver aid.

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