DON GONYEA, host:
This is MORNING EDITION.
DON GONYEA, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Don Gonyea.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
Iraq today was swept by another wave of deadly attacks. At least 40 people have been killed. That includes 20 soldiers whose bus was blown up by a roadside bomb. The military bus reportedly was part of a convoy being escorted by US troops. And in a town north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded in front of a hospital, killing at least seven people.
The bloodletting continues to surge in political and sectarian violence that has prompted the Pentagon to order 3,700 more US troops into Baghdad.
GONYEA: Today's attacks come a day after gunmen, appearing to be Iraqi police, stormed buildings in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood, and kidnapped dozens of Iraqis. This is the second time in two weeks that gunmen dressed in military fatigues have abducted people in the Karata neighborhood. Iraqi officials say police have had nothing to do with it.
The US military and Iraqi officials today announced the arrest of a number of suspected terrorists. Some, they say, are high-level members of al-Qaida in Iraq. It was impossible to independently verify the claims. Detainees who are eventually convicted will find themselves confined in one of the many prisons across Iraq. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.