Bomb explodes in Green Zone

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A car bomb exploded inside the heavily protected Green Zone on Tuesday in an apparent attempt to kill Iraq's controversial speaker of Parliament.

About 2 p.m., a small bomb exploded in one of the armored cars in Mahmoud al-Mashhadani's motorcade as it approached the Convention Center, where Parliament meets, said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq. Al-Mashhadani was not in the car, and the driver survived, Garver said.

Bomb-sniffing dogs detected explosives in another vehicle, Garver said. Bomb specialists detonated that car, which set off blasts that caused a fire but injured no one.

Garver said he was not sure how the explosives made it so far into the Green Zone, which houses the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British embassies and thousands of foreign troops and private contractors.

Amid Iraq's deteriorating security situation, the government moved to stabilize relations with Syria. By signing the accord to restore diplomatic ties, ending nearly 25 years of enmity, Iraqi leaders said they hoped to stem the flow of foreign insurgents across their common border.

President Bush, meanwhile, said he will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Jordan next week after attending the NATO summit in Riga, Latvia. The Jordan talks will focus on "building security and stability in Iraq," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

Also Tuesday, U.S. and Iraqi forces raided Sadr City, Baghdad's vast Shiite slum, and captured seven members of the Mahdi Army, a militia loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. One of the men was believed to know the location of Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, 41, a U.S. soldier kidnapped a month ago, officials said.

Angry Shiites denounced the raid, and a lawmaker from the district stood outside the Imam Ali hospital, holding the body of a boy killed in the attack. Police said three Iraqis, including the boy, were killed and 15 wounded.

Marine held in son's death

FRESNO, Calif. — A Marine who was called back from a mission to Iraq to be with his ailing wife just before she died of childbirth complications was arrested on suspicion of murdering his infant son.

Authorities did not disclose a motive for the slaying, but the Marine, Robert Quiroz, 20, told a TV station in September that he felt overwhelmed as a single parent of two and struggled to accept his son.

"I didn't know how to feel about him. The same day he was born, my wife died," he told KMPH in Fresno.

Quiroz was jailed Monday. Investigators said his son died of beating injuries, but they would not elaborate.

After the infant's death Saturday, authorities took Quiroz's 18-month-old daughter into protective custody.

Police had started a child-abuse investigation in October after Quiroz's son was hospitalized for a broken arm. Child-welfare officials said they would investigate why the baby was returned to his father.

Compiled from The Washington Post, Reuters and The Associated Press