Roadside Blast Kills Seven U.S. Troops in Baghdad
Jan. 6, 2004— -- Seven American soldiers in the Army's 1st Cavalry Division were killed after their routine patrol was the target of a roadside bomb attack in western Baghdad today.
The blast was so powerful that the soldiers' 35-ton Bradley Fighting Vehicle -- one of the most heavily armored vehicles in the U.S. arsenal -- flipped over, landing in a ditch adjacent to the road. None inside the Bradley survived.
Today's attack claims the largest number of troops in a convoy bombing since October, when a car bomb left nine Marines dead near Fallujah.
In a separate attack today, Col. Maruf al-Lami -- the Iraqi police chief in Sadr City -- was assassinated by insurgents in northeast Baghdad. It is the second high-level assassination this week.
The military is bracing for an expected three to five car bombs a day in Iraq from now until the scheduled election on Jan. 30, a senior U.S. military official told ABC News. Iraq's Election Day, the official said, may be "a day of fire."
Today, one of the top U.S. commanders in Iraq said he hopes to have all 18 provinces prepared for elections. But right now only 14 of the provinces are ready to hold elections.
"We're going to do everything possible to create that condition for them," Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, commanding general of Multi-National Corps-Iraq, told a news conference in Baghdad. "But we are fighting an enemy who cares less who he kills, when he kills and how he kills."
After insurgents assassinated Baghdad governor Ali al-Haidari on Tuesday, a senior official said today he considered al-Haidari and police chief al-Lami the two most important officials in Baghdad.
ABC News' Martha Raddatz filed this report for "World News Tonight."
