Bombings Kill 31 in Baghdad, Mosul

Suicide bombers struck today near a Baghdad police academy and in Mosul against a joint US-Iraqi patrol, together killing 31 people, Iraqi officials said. In Baghdad, a car bomb exploded outside the heavily fortified academy. Minutes later, a suicide attacker blew himself up as police rushed to respond to the blast. Sixteen people were killed and 45 were wounded, police said.

The attacker apparently was a teenage boy. In Mosul, a suicide attacker apparently targeting a US-Iraqi patrol in the western part of the city killed 15 people, officials said. It was a grim reminder of the dangers facing Iraqis as they try to take over their own security. Iraq’s parliament last week approved a security pact that would let Americans stay in Iraq for three more years to help maintain stability. (More Iraq stories.)