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By: VOA News | Published on 03/10/08    

WASHINGTON D.C. (VOA) - A car bomb set off in the northern Iraqi provincial capital of Sulaimaniya has wounded up to 30 people on what has been a violent day across Iraq.

Sulaimaniya's governor, Dana Ahmed Majid says a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-packed car outside a large hotel frequented by officials, killing at least one person.

Such attacks have been rare in the relatively stable Kurdish north.

Hours earlier in Baghdad, the U.S. military reported that five U.S. soldiers on foot patrol were killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack. Coalition officials say three other U.S. soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were wounded.

In Muqdadiya, northeast of Baghdad, two people were killed and more than 20 others were wounded when another suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed vest.

And a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside the home of a local tribal leader, Sheikh Ghadban al-Karkhi in Diyala province, killing him and three others.

In related news, the commander of coalition forces in western Iraq says he expects al-Qaida in Iraq fighters to try to return to the region as they are pushed out of other parts of the country, and possibly to try to launch large-scale attacks.

Still, Major General John Kelly says his forces and Iraqi units are ready.

The general also said he believes it would be difficult for al-Qaida to establish a bomb-making factory, or to bring in a lot of explosives from elsewhere. But he said intelligence reports indicate there is reason for concern.

Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.

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