Will this carnage ever end?

Deadly Car Bomb Explodes Near Iraq School

By OMAR SINAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 24, 2005; 8:22 AM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A car bomb exploded Tuesday near a Baghdad junior high school for girls, killing six people, and seven American soldiers were killed in two days of bombings in and around Baghdad, the military said.

The American deaths raise the total to 12 reported since Monday. Those reports came as insurgents carried out a string of explosions, suicide attacks and drive-by shootings around the country that killed 49 Iraqis.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed Tuesday in central Baghdad when a car bomb exploded next to their convoy at about 1:30 p.m., said military spokesman Sgt. David Abrams.

The other four were killed Monday after they were attacked in Haswa, 30 miles south of Baghdad, the military said. The soldiers were assigned to the 155th Brigade Combat Team, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

The seven soldiers' identities were not released.

As of Tuesday, at least 1,641 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

In Alwiyah, residents called police about a suspicious-looking car parked opposite the Dijlah Junior High School for Girls. As bomb disposal experts approached the vehicle, it exploded and killed six bystanders, said police Capt. Husham Ismael.

Three civilians and one policeman also were injured. No students were believed to be among the casualties.