Portable Planet

Authorities in Iraq say a suicide truck bomber blew himself up on a bridge over the Tigris River in Baghdad Thursday, killing at least six people and partially destroying the structure.

Police say the attack took place on the Al-Sarafiyah Bridge during the morning rush hour and that the death toll could rise. They say the blast sent several cars toppling into the river.

The Tigris River cuts Baghdad in half and there are a number of bridges connecting the two sides of the city.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military says Iranian agents are continuing to train Iraqi insurgents in sophisticated bomb-making techniques, despite U.S. requests to stop the practice.

The chief military spokesman in Iraq, Major General William Caldwell, said Wednesday that high-powered Explosively Formed Projectiles are being manufactured in Iran and smuggled into Iraq.

The projectiles are capable of piercing heavy armor.

The military spokesman said Iraqi insurgents have been trained in Iran within the past month on how to assemble and use the devices.

Also Wednesday, radical Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement has threatened to pull out of the Iraqi government to press its demand for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal.

Sadr’s political movement said the government is ignoring what it calls the will of the people in refusing to support a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

The U.S. military in Iraq also said Wednesday that two more American soldiers died in combat in Baghdad.

Source: VOA