Suicide bombers kill 9 U.S. soldiers

Nine U.S. paratroopers were killed Monday when a pair of suicide bombers attacked a small U.S. patrol base in Diyala province, the U.S. military said. It was the deadliest attack on U.S. ground forces in Iraq since December 2005.
U.S. military officials said initial reports indicate insurgents used two 30-ton dump trucks full of explosives to attack what they call a combat outpost. The massive blast resulted in the northern and western walls of the compound collapsing. Remains of several troops were recovered from the rubble.
An additional 20 U.S. soldiers were wounded in the attack.
The direct assault is a departure from the usual tactics of the insurgents, who in the past have been more inclined to use hit-and-run sniper attacks, or launch mortars from a distance.
The Islamic State of Iraq, the insurgent umbrella group that includes al Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack in a posting on an Islamist Web site.
The same insurgent group claimed responsibility for the suicide attack at Iraq's parliament complex two weeks ago.
The insurgents said that the U.S. confirmation of the Diyala attack "is a rare confession by the Americans about an operation against their soldiers" and that "God guided the soldiers of ISI to a new method of explosion."
The Diyala region is emerging as a major battleground in the Iraq war, along with Baghdad and Anbar province, with insurgents shifting their operations into the area.
The Diyala attack has jolted the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where all the dead and wounded soldiers are based, according to the U.S. military.
A Fort Bragg spokesman, Maj. Tom Earnhardt, said the Diyala attack is "the worst incident we've had in the whole global war on terrorism."
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