Bombings have targeted two US army patrols in the southern Iraqi province of Diwaniya as violence surges in the country once again.
Bombings have targeted two US army patrols in the southern Iraqi province of Diwaniya as violence surges in the country once again.
An explosive device detonated in the early hours of Saturday near the main road between the city of Diwaniya and the shrine city of Najaf, ripping into a US army vehicle on the road, the Aswat al-Iraq news agency quoted a police official as saying.
Another bombing targeted a US army patrol in the al-Kheil area, in central Diwaniya, on Friday night, the police source added.
There were no reports on the number of casualties in the two bomb attacks.
Following the blasts, police and ambulance sirens could be heard throughout the city as US helicopters flew low overhead, witnesses said.
In a statement issued on Friday, the commander of the US armed forces in Babil province acknowledged an escalation in the US forces' activity near the US bases in Babil, Diwaniya, and Wasit provinces.
The US commander said the measures were taken to protect the bases and local Iraqi citizens from militant attacks and were in line with the security treaty signed by Iraq and the United States.
Meanwhile, the governor of the southern province of Maysan, Ali Dawai, said on Friday that a special parliamentary committee has been formed to investigate the shelling of two areas in the provincial capital al-Amarah by US forces.
Dawai said the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces has been asked to take the measures necessary to prevent the repetition of such violations of the Iraq-US security pact.
On Monday and Tuesday, US warplanes pounded the al-Ufiya and Abu-Rumma areas in the center of al-Amarah, claiming that armed groups were using the sites to launch rockets at the nearby Buteira military airport, north of al-Amarah.
The US announced an end to its combat mission in Iraq at the end of August 2010, but left behind about 47,000 troops, ostensibly to advise and train Iraqi security forces -- a mandate they have gone beyond on a number of occasions.
An explosive device detonated in the early hours of Saturday near the main road between the city of Diwaniya and the shrine city of Najaf, ripping into a US army vehicle on the road, the Aswat al-Iraq news agency quoted a police official as saying.
Another bombing targeted a US army patrol in the al-Kheil area, in central Diwaniya, on Friday night, the police source added.
There were no reports on the number of casualties in the two bomb attacks.
Following the blasts, police and ambulance sirens could be heard throughout the city as US helicopters flew low overhead, witnesses said.
In a statement issued on Friday, the commander of the US armed forces in Babil province acknowledged an escalation in the US forces' activity near the US bases in Babil, Diwaniya, and Wasit provinces.
The US commander said the measures were taken to protect the bases and local Iraqi citizens from militant attacks and were in line with the security treaty signed by Iraq and the United States.
Meanwhile, the governor of the southern province of Maysan, Ali Dawai, said on Friday that a special parliamentary committee has been formed to investigate the shelling of two areas in the provincial capital al-Amarah by US forces.
Dawai said the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces has been asked to take the measures necessary to prevent the repetition of such violations of the Iraq-US security pact.
On Monday and Tuesday, US warplanes pounded the al-Ufiya and Abu-Rumma areas in the center of al-Amarah, claiming that armed groups were using the sites to launch rockets at the nearby Buteira military airport, north of al-Amarah.
The US announced an end to its combat mission in Iraq at the end of August 2010, but left behind about 47,000 troops, ostensibly to advise and train Iraqi security forces -- a mandate they have gone beyond on a number of occasions.
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