As US forces engaged in heavy fighting in the Mahdi Army's Sadr City today, bombings in Baghdad and Diyala province took the lives of as many as 45 Iraqis and one US soldier, the AP reports. The Diyala bombing, in Balad Ruz, was carried out by two suicide bombers—one of them a woman—during a wedding celebration.
Iraqi officials reported 35 dead and 65 wounded after the wedding bombing. The attacks come after al-Qaeda announced a one-month offensive against US forces and collaborating Sunni tribesmen April 19. In addition to the bombing deaths, US officials claim to have killed 18 Shiite militants in Sadr City and six al-Qaeda members in the northern city of Mosul. (More al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia stories.)