Iraqi suicide bomber strikes Shiite cafe, killing 26; top official kidnapped

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A suicide bomber detonated explosives Sunday inside a cafe packed with Shiites in northern Iraq, killing 26 people and injuring 22, an Iraqi general said. Gunmen seized a top Oil Ministry official, the second major kidnapping in as many days.

The U.S. military said an American soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in south Baghdad. No further details were released.

The suicide attack occurred about 8:30 p.m. in the outdoor market in Tuz Khormato, a mostly Turkomen city 130 miles north of Baghdad, Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin said.

The powerful blast collapsed the ceiling of the one-story cafe, burying many of the victims, witnesses said. Hours afterward, rescuers were still sifting through the debris looking for the dead or injured. Authorities used mosque loudspeakers to appeal for blood donations.

The motive for the attack was unclear.

In Baghdad, gunmen seized Adel Kazzaz, director of the North Oil Co., shortly after he left the Oil Ministry in eastern Baghdad, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said. They beat his bodyguards and whisked him away, Jihad said.

The high-profile kidnapping came one day after gunmen abducted the head of Iraq's National Olympic Committee and 30 other people.

Also in Baghdad, U.S. military officials fear that religious hurdles in exhuming the body of a teenager could complicate the prosecution of American soldiers accused of raping and murdering the girl -- and create a political nightmare for the U.S. mission here.

Given the seriousness of the allegations, U.S. officials believe a vigorous prosecution is essential and punishment should be severe if the five U.S. soldiers and one former soldier are convicted.

Anything short of that would be seen by Iraqis as a cover-up and could shatter remaining support for the U.S. presence here.

Five soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division are accused of raping and murdering Abeer al-Janabi near the town of Mahmoudiya on March 12. A sixth soldier is accused of failing to report the crime.

There was no word on the other hostages, including the Olympic National Committee chairman, Ahmed al-Hijiya.

A British military statement said the British soldier was mortally wounded during a raid to arrest terror suspects in a northern Basra neighborhood. British spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge said the operation involved a significant number of troops as well as helicopters and armored personnel carriers, and that two suspects were detained. He gave no further information.

In Basra, however, police officials said British troops had arrested Sajid Badir, leader of the Shiite-based Mahdi Army in the city. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation by the militia group, which wields considerable power and has infiltrated the police.

Last May, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a state of emergency in Basra, the country's second-largest city and a major oil-producing center, vowing to wield an "iron fist" to end militia rule there.

Al-Maliki, a Shiite, is under strong pressure to disband the militias, including the Mahdi Army which is run by radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The militias are accused of fanning the flames of sectarian violence.

Also Sunday:

-- Gunmen swooped down on the detention wing of the main hospital in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, and freed 13 prisoners under treatment there, police said. Four policemen were killed in the assault and three prisoners were later recaptured.

Baqouba is the capital of Diyala province, where Sunni-Shiite tensions run high and where Sunni insurgents are active. No details were given about the prisoners.

-- In Baghdad, a bomb hidden in a trash bag exploded in the Karradah district, killing four people and wounding 21 others, police said. One person was killed and two were wounded when a bomb exploded near a police patrol in north Baghdad.

-- Two people were killed and five were wounded in a gunbattle between police and militants in another north Baghdad neighborhood, police said.

-- A suicide bomber attacked a joint U.S.-Iraqi patrol in the northern city of Mosul, killing three civilians and wounding six others, police said.

-- Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying three guards of the Baghdad mobile telephone company, killing one, according to police.

-- In the northern city of Kirkuk, two barbers were killed in a drive-by shooting, police said. Drive-by shootings killed one person in Mosul and another in Muqdadiyah, northeast of the capital.