Rebels use "new methods" in fatal Diyala bombings

BAGHDAD — An al-Qaida-linked group claimed Tuesday that it used "new methods" in staging a double suicide bombing with dump trucks that blasted a paratrooper outpost in Diyala province, killing nine U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and wounding 20.

The attack came in a region that has seen violence escalate since U.S. and Iraqi troops launched the security crackdown in Baghdad.

The first truck hit outlying concrete barriers surrounding the outpost at Sadah and exploded after soldiers opened fire. A second truck rammed into the wrecked vehicle, dragging it and other rubble before it exploded 30 yards from the building housing the post's troops, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, U.S. military spokesman in north Iraq.

All the casualties were in the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team.

The deaths made April the deadliest month of the year for the U.S. military. It also was the single deadliest attack on U.S. ground forces since Dec. 1, 2005, when 10 Marines were killed by a bomb near Fallujah.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni extremists that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, said it was behind the suicide attack. Its account on the Internet was similar to that of the U.S. military but claimed it used new techniques.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, said the style of the attack fit the pattern of al-Qaida and added that an investigation was under way. When asked about the "new methods" claimed by the group, he said the military was on heightened alert for dump trucks because they had been used in several recent attacks.