A car bomb blast south of Baghdad left more than 23 people dead on Wednesday, while four U.S. soldiers died in Ramadi, two in a helicopter crash and two in a roadside bomb attack, the Associated Press news agency reported.
The car explosion in an open area market in Mussayyib, 40 miles south of Baghdad, appeared to target shoppers just before breaking their daily fast during Ramadan, police said.
More than 46 people were wounded in the blast, which heavily damaged an area with an outdoor market, a restaurant, a mosque and a bus station, said police Capt. Muthana Khalid.
The market was especially crowded today because it is the last day of Ramadan as Muslims were preparing for the three-day Eid-ul-Fitr holiday.
"The insurgents wanted to cause as many casualties as possible," Capt. Khalid said, adding that all the victims appeared to be civilians.
The mainly Shia town of Musayyib has witnessed several attacks, including one in July when a human bomber blew up a fuel truck, killing 98 people and injuring 75 others.
Also Wednesday, 11 Iraqis were killed and 23 injured by a car bomb explosion, three roadside bombs and seven drive-by shootings. Most of the violence took place in the capital, according to AP.
U.S. military deaths
Meanwhile, the U.S. command said an AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopter crashed at about 8:10 a.m. near Ramadi, killing the two soldiers abroad.
The army said the cause of the crash was being investigated, but AP quoted an Iraqi witness as saying that rebels "fired at the helicopter and shot it down."
A U.S. warplane dropped two 500-pound bombs on what the military said was a suspected rebel command centre near the site where the Cobra crashed. There were no reports of casualties.
The U.S. command also said that a Marine and a sailor died in Ramadi on Tuesday when their car was struck by a roadside bomb.
The four U.S. deaths brought the number of soldiers killed in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 invasion to 2,032, according to an AP count.
At least 93 American service members were killed in Iraq in October, making it the fourth-deadliest month for the U.S. army. Many were killed by homemade bombs that the Pentagon said are becoming the most powerful weapon against the army.
Fighting
Iraqi officials said fierce fighting erupted between American ground forces and rebels in Ramadi on Tuesday night.
Police Capt. Nassir al-Alousi said that the rebels attacked U.S. patrols with guns, rockets and roadside bombs.
Video footage from the scene Wednesday showed a burning civilian car and what appeared to be a damaged U.S. Humvee.
A number of Iraqis gathered at the site, and one man, carrying the remnants of a destroyed U.S. M-16 rifle in the air, said the clashes had caused American casualties.
In another development, U.S. ground and air forces launched new attacks Wednesday near the Syrian border, killing a rebel leader and stopping a rebel cell planting roadside bombs near the town of Husaybah, the military said.
In Baghdad, Iraqi officials said that a raid on October 27 in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, killed four rebels, including a key al-Qaeda leader.