U.S. military: 14 U.S. soldiers killed over weekend

Story Highlights

• Suicide bomber targets Balad Ruz market, gunmen target Baquba market
• Several killed, dozens wounded in clashes in Diwaniya, Falluja, Sadr City
• Five killed in Iraqi army operation backed by U.S. helicopters, airstrike
• Fourteen U.S. troops killed over weekend, military says

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Fourteen U.S. soldiers were killed by bombs and small-arms fire in Iraq over the weekend, the U.S. military said Sunday, as factional violence continued to ravage soldiers and civilians alike.

A car bomb killed 10 people and wounded 27 at an outdoor market in Balad Ruz Sunday, according to a Diyala province security official.

The explosion came shortly after noon (4 a.m. ET) as the market, just east of Baquba, was packed with shoppers, police told The Associated Press.

In another market attack in Baquba, gunmen fatally shot two civilians, the Diyala official told CNN. Also near Baquba, gunmen set up a fake police checkpoint just west of the city Saturday evening and killed three Iraqi civilians and wounded five others, the official said.

The attacks came amid a weekend of violent clashes between coalition forces and insurgents in Diwaniya, Falluja and eastern Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.

At least 20 people were wounded Sunday in Diwaniya when fighting broke out between Iraqi security forces and members of the Mehdi Army, a Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, an Interior Ministry official said.

The battles came in the same area where Mehdi Army members reportedly killed six people -- three of them civilians -- in fighting two weeks ago.

The militia is said to be at the center of the Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence that has plagued the war-ravaged nation.

Diwaniya is about 100 miles south of Baghdad.

In overnight operations in the capital, U.S. warplanes bombed homes in Sadr City's Habibiya district, witnesses and an Interior Ministry official said.

Five people were killed and three more were wounded during the five-hour Iraqi army operation conducted with U.S. support, the Interior Ministry official said.

Witnesses reported hearing explosions in Sadr City as U.S. helicopters circled overhead. The U.S. military declined to comment during the clashes, saying it did not release statements on ongoing operations.

The operation began Saturday night and ended early Sunday morning, the Interior Ministry official said. The U.S. military could not be immediately reached for comment after the operation concluded.

In Falluja, U.S. and Iraqi forces destroyed a truck bomb factory after a two-hour gunbattle Saturday that killed seven members of al Qaeda in Iraq, some of whom were armed with explosive suicide vests, the military told AP. Eight suspected militants were detained for questioning.

The gunbattle erupted after Falluja police came under small-arms fire and spotted two men donning suicide vests fleeing the scene, the military said in a statement, according to AP. U.S. Marines joined the police in returning fire, killing both militants, AP reported.

The Marines, who were with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, then fatally shot five other suspects as they tried to escape. One of them was wearing a suicide vest that exploded, the military told AP.

After the gunbattle, the military told AP, U.S.-led forces found a compound housing bomb-making materials and two trucks rigged with suicide bombs. The military destroyed the trucks and materials in a controlled detonation.

14 U.S. soldiers killed

Of the 14 U.S. soldiers killed over the weekend, four died Sunday when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle northwest of Baghdad, the military said.

Another roadside bomb exploded inside the capital Sunday, killing one soldier and wounding three others and an Iraqi interpreter.

Another soldier was killed and two were wounded Sunday when a roadside bomb detonated in an eastern section of Baghdad, the military said.

On Saturday, one soldier was killed and eight others were wounded after a roadside bomb exploded as they patrolled a western section of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Also in western Baghdad, a Multi-National Division-Baghdad soldier was killed and two others were wounded in an explosion during combat operations Saturday.

Two Task Force Lightning soldiers died this weekend as a result of an explosion near their vehicle during combat operations in Diyala on Saturday, the military said.

In northern Iraq's Nineveh Province, two more Task Force Lightning Soldiers were killed Saturday when a bomb exploded during military operations.

Also on Saturday, a Task Force Marne soldier was killed while patrolling south of Baghdad, the military said.

A suicide bomber killed another Task Force Marne soldier Saturday while on patrol southwest of Baghdad.

"The patrol attempted to question two suspicious people near a mosque," the military said. "When soldiers approached the two men, one person detonated himself, killing one soldier."

With the deaths, 3,487 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war. Seven civilian contractors also have died.

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.

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