Roadside bomb kills 7 Iraqi police

BAGHDAD—A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol Wednesday, killing at least seven officers in a Shiite area south of Baghdad that has seen fierce clashes between rival militia factions.
To the north, a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden truck struck a checkpoint manned by Kurdish forces in a volatile province where U.S. commanders have decided to begin the drawdown of American forces, marking a turning point in the mission.
The attack in a mountainous area near the Iranian border killed at least one Kurdish soldier and wounded more than 10 others, said Jabbar Yawir, a spokesman for the Kurdish forces. Yawir said the dead and wounded men were from a brigade that arrived last month as part of a U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown that began in February.
Several U.S. officials told The Associated Press that in December, the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division will not be replaced when it returns from Diyala to its home base at Fort Hood, Texas. Instead, soldiers from another brigade in Salahuddin province next door will expand into Diyala, thereby broadening its area of responsibility.
In this way, the number of Army ground combat brigades in Iraq will fall from 20 to 19, reflecting President Bush’s bid to begin reducing the military force and shifting its role from fighting the insurgency toward more support functions like training and advising Iraqi security forces.—Agencies