A suicide truck bomber struck near the Baghdad home of an Iraq (web|news) i police general Wednesday, killing 16 people in the biggest such attack on the capital in months. Meanwhile, three U.S. soldiers were shot dead in northern Iraq, and the bodies of at least 23 Iraqis were discovered in a shallow grave and a sewer shaft at separate sites near Baghdad. Wednesday's suicide bombing was the deadliest such attack in Baghdad since early March. A year ago, car and truck bombs were part of the daily violence in Baghdad - with hundreds sometimes killed in a single, devastating blast - but they occur far less frequently now since a U.S. troop buildup.

The Iraqi general was not wounded, but at least 16 others died including a child, and more than 50 people were hurt, according to Iraqi police and hospital officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to media.

The Americans were killed when gunmen opened fire on them in the northern Iraqi village of Hawija, according to a brief military statement.

The area, once a hub for Sunni militants and disaffected allies of Saddam Hussein (news |bio), is thought to have been pacified in recent months. Last year it hosted one of the largest sign-on ceremonies for tribal sheiks partnering with U.S. forces to fight al-Qaida (web|news) in Iraq.

South of the capital, Iraqi villagers and soldiers unearthed at least 13 bodies from a shallow, dusty grave in farmland on the outskirts of Latifiyah, a mostly Sunni town that also has some Shiite residents. The bodies were first discovered Tuesday, but digging continued a day later.

Associated Press Television News footage showed Iraqi troops and civilians clawing through dusty soil with shovels. At least three severely decomposed bodies could be seen in side-by-side graves.

The U.S. military could not confirm the discovery, but said its soldiers, acting on a tip from a local citizen, found at least 10 decomposed bodies Tuesday in the sewer shaft of a building in east Baghdad.

Those victims appeared to have died more than two years ago, said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, with the Army's 4th Infantry Division. Iraqi police have taken over the investigation, he said.

Latifiyah, which lies about 20 miles south of Baghdad, was taken over by al-Qaida-linked militants a few years ago, and became a hotbed of Sunni militant activity before U.S. and Iraqi forces regained control late last year, said Iraqi Maj. Faisal Ali Hussein, who supervised that digging Tuesday.

Only now are villagers - feeling safer without the militants there - beginning to point out possible sites of mass graves in the area, he said.

Most of the bodies were too decomposed to identify and were reburied next to where they were discovered, said another Iraqi army officer at the scene who refused to give his name because of safety concerns.

Wednesday's U.S. deaths brought to at least 4,090 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it detained nine suspects and destroyed two "terrorist safe houses" Wednesday in raids targeting al-Qaida in Iraq across central and northern parts of the country.

One of the men had been wanted for alleged involvement in weapons distribution and car bombings in Baghdad, the military said in a statement.

Another suspect was responsible for organizing suicide bombings and helping foreign militants enter Iraq, the statement said.

Information from other detainees already in U.S. custody led American troops on Wednesday to two facilities that housed foreign militants west of Mosul, it said. The buildings were safely destroyed.

In a separate operation Wednesday, Iraqi police said they uncovered a large weapons cache near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Among the load were hundreds of explosive belts, three assembled car bombs and several different types of rockets, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. One suspect also was arrested in the raid.

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Associated Press Writer Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.

Written By SINAN SALAHEDDIN

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