2 U.S. Soldiers Among 51 People Slain in Iraqi Violence

BAGHDAD — At least 51 people, including two U.S. soldiers and five Sunnis leaving a mosque, were killed Friday in attacks around Iraq.

The soldiers died in combat in Al Anbar province, the U.S. military said in a statement. It said the men, assigned to the 2/28th Brigade Combat Team, were killed Thursday.

The deaths raised to at least 2,320 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died since the war began in March 2003.

The mosque attack took place in Khalis, north of Baghdad, Iraq’s military reported. In addition to the worshipers killed, at least 15 were wounded, it said.

Baghdad police said they found 25 more bodies blindfolded, shot and dumped throughout the capital. Sectarian killings among Shiite and Sunni Muslims have become increasingly common in the city since the Feb. 22 bombing of a key Shiite shrine in Samarra.

The rest of the victims died in a variety of attacks, which included drive-by slayings of three policemen in west Baghdad and three power station workers headed to their jobs in Taji, just north of the capital, police said.

In south Baghdad, gunmen killed four pastry shop employees, officers said.

Meanwhile, former hostage Norman Kember, 74, flew out of Baghdad on a British transport plane Friday, according to the Christian Peacemaker Teams, a day after he and two Canadian men were rescued by U.S., British and Canadian forces.

The two Canadians were to leave this weekend. Friday was Harmeet Singh Sooden’s 33rd birthday, and he and James Loney, 41, celebrated with a white cake decorated with a pink Canadian maple leaf.

The three men were kidnapped Nov. 26 along with an American colleague, Tom Fox, 54. Fox’s body was found this month, shot and dumped in west Baghdad.

Amid Friday’s violence, Iraq’s president issued a highly optimistic report on progress among politicians trying to hammer out a new unity government.

Jalal Talabani said the government could be in place for parliamentary approval by the end of the month, though he acknowledged that “I am usually a very optimistic person.”

He spoke to reporters after a fifth round of talks among the country’s polarized political factions.

A less optimistic Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari has said a Cabinet list could be ready by the end of April.

Separately, the Iraqi mission to the United Nations said the country had signed two deals for a metering system to track oil and gas flows, a step that could help get its economy back on track and reduce oil smuggling.

Iraq’s economy has been severely weakened by oil smuggling to neighboring countries. Some experts think oil smuggling may be funding Iraq’s insurgency.