Dozens of Iraqis Wounded, several Killed

Guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb in the Azamiya district of West Baghdad Wednesday, missing their target of a US military convoy but hitting an Iraqi bus instead. One passenger was killed and 21 were wounded. In Mosul, assailants killed three patrons in a movie theater and wounded 52 others when they tossed a grenade into the midst of the audience. The cinema was said to be showing a pornographic film, raising the question of whether this bombing was the work of Sunni Arab radicals who decry the debasing influence of Western culture on Iraq. In the village of al-Jizani near Baqubah, 41 miles northeast of Baghdad, US troops killed two Iraqis during a house to house search. In Khalidiyah near Fallujah, a US tank killed two boys and when shelled two houses after being hit by a roadside bomb. Baquba and Khalidiya have both witnessed numerous attacks on US troops. Altogether US troops killed nine Iraqis around Tikrit in the course of raids.

Also, guerrillas detonated a bomb outside the al-Aike Hotel in downtown Baghdad, killing a guard and knocking out the generator. NBC has its offices in that hotel.

I heard on US electronic media of an attack on US troops near the Syrian border late on Wednesday, but the print media are not reporting it yet.