Woman bomber kills 32 in Iraq

A woman suicide bomber killed at least 32 people from a group of Shiite worshippers near an Iraqi mosque today.

The victims were gathered about half a mile from the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala, one of the holiest sites for Shiites.

Meanwhile today the US military death toll approached 4,000 with the loss of two soldiers whose Humvee hit a roadside bomb.

At least 3,990 members of the US military have now died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to figures compiled by the Associated Press.

In Baghdad vice president Dick Cheney vowed in meetings with Iraq’s prime minister that the US would maintain a long-term military presence in Iraq until al-Qaida is defeated there.

Explosions went off near the heavily fortified Green Zone shortly after Mr Cheney arrived.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he and the vice president discussed ongoing negotiations over a long-term security agreement between the two countries that would replace the UN mandate for foreign troops set to expire at the end of the year.

“This visit is very important. It is about the nature of the relations between the two countries, the future of those relations and the agreement in this respect,” the prime minister told reporters. “We also discussed the security in Iraq, the development of the economy and reconstruction and terrorism.”

At a news conference with US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, Mr Cheney said that given the nearly 4,000 US deaths and billions of dollars spent on the war, it is very important that “we not quit before the job is done.”

He credited reductions in violence to President Bush’s decision to deploy an additional 30,000 troops to the war zone. He said one of Mr Bush’s considerations in whether to draw back more than the 30,000 before he leaves office will be whether the US can continue on a track toward political reconciliation and stability in Iraq.