At least 44 people were killed across Iraq on Thursday, mostly in Baghdad, amid a wave of bombings and shootings ahead of a ceremony to mark Iraq taking military command of its forces. The US military also announced the deaths of three of its servicemen on Thursday taking its total losses since the March 2003 invasion to 2,662, according to Pentagon figures.
A soldier was killed on Wednesday in the western city of Ramadi, while another died in the northern town of Hawija and a marine was killed in the Al-Anbar province. In the worst attack, a suicide attacker killed 12 policemen and wounded 39 people, when he detonated a bomb-laden car near a Baghdad police fuel depot, said interior ministry spokesman Brigadier General Abdul Karim Khalaf. "Eighteen vehicles were destroyed, of which 12 were civilian cars and the rest belonged to the police," he added.