2 Americans among 22 killed in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two suicide car bombers plowed into a foreign security company convoy in the heart of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 22 people -- including two Americans -- in an attack that left a busy traffic circle strewn with burning vehicles, mutilated bodies and bloodied school children.

On Sunday, gunmen assassinated a senior transport ministry official in Baghdad, police said.

Zobaa Yassin was shot dead in his car along with his driver, police said. Yassin was one of the leading civil servants in the ministry.

Nearly 300 people have been killed in insurgent violence since Iraq's democratically elected government was sworn in 10 days ago.

Cabinet nearly complete
After months of delays, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari and parliament filled six vacancies in the Cabinet of Iraq’s new government on Sunday, including four politicians from the country’s disaffected Sunni minority.

In a vote in parliament, 112 of the 155 legislators present approved al-Jaafari’s nominations, including that of Saadoun al-Duleimi as defense minister. The former army lieutenant colonel left Iraq in 1984 and lived in exile in Saudi Arabia until the fall of Saddam in April 2003. He is reputed to be a moderate, but with family ties to the restive Anbar province, the heart of the Sunni-driven insurgency.

Suicide car bombs strike Tahrir Square
The U.S. military said Saturday's suicide attackers crashed their explosives-packed cars into a three-vehicle convoy in Tahrir Square, known for its shops and a large statue of Iraqi soldiers breaking through chains to freedom.

FREE VIDEO New attacks rock Iraq May 7: Nearly 300 people are dead in attacks by al-Qaida and foreign terrorists in the nine days since the swearing-in of the new Iraqi government. NBC’s James Hattori reports. Nightly News

At least 22 people were killed, including the two Americans, who were employees of the company that owned the targeted SUVs, the U.S. Embassy said without identifying the company. Three other American civilians were injured in the attack, the embassy said. It was investigating whether other foreign nationals were injured.

Hospital officials said at least 36 Iraqis were wounded in the blasts, which damaged shops and a school, set fire to cars and left several mutilated bodies lying in the streets.

Rescue workers lifted injured school girls onto stretchers, including one with bandages wrapped around her neck and blood streaming down her legs. Firefighters fought the blaze, which sent thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

Iman Norman rushed to al-Kindi Hospital to be with her 12-year-old daughter, Lana, one of several school girls who were injured in a minibus. Iman said the students climbed out of the bus' windows in their bloodied uniforms after the bomb damaged its doors. Lana's injury wasn't serious, but one student lost an eye, Norman said.

Elsewhere, A U.S. Marine was killed by a bomb in Karmah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement. As of Friday, at least 1,592 members of the U.S. military had died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

U.S. and Iraqi forces have hit back at insurgents with a series of major raids across the country in recent months.

An April 26 raid netted a suspect described by the U.S. military as a key associate of Iraq's most wanted militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Ghassan Muhammad Amin Husayn al-Rawi had helped al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida in Iraq group arrange meetings and move foreign insurgents into the country, the U.S. command said in a statement.

On Friday night, Iraqi soldiers fought suspected insurgents in Tal Afar, 93 miles east of the Syrian border, said Iraqi police Brig. Gen. Mohammed Abdul Qadir. He provided no details, but said 25 militants were killed in the clashes. Witnesses claimed Iraqi soldiers also suffered casualties, but Qadir could not confirm that.

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