(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-10-17 21:48

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol, 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 US 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 wounding more than 10 others, a spokesman for the Kurdish forces said.

The spokesman, Jabbar Yawir, said the dead and wounded men were part of a brigade that arrived in the region last month as part of a US-Iraqi security crackdown that began in February.

Several US 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 American military force and shifting its role away from fighting the insurgency toward more support functions like training and advising Iraqi security forces.

Iraqi forces are frequently targeted by extremists on both sides of the sectarian divide trying to deal a blow to US-led efforts to enable the national troops to take over security so American forces can go home.

Police officials in Diyala province, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said two Kurdish soldiers had been killed and 12 wounded in the 8:30 a.m. attack near Jalula, 80 miles northeast of Baghdad.

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