(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-06 17:07

BAGHDAD -- A car bomb killed at least 13 people Wednesday in a Shiite part of Baghdad, and the US command announced the deaths of eight more American soldiers - some victims of a weapon the American command believes comes from Iran.

A woman walks past a crater after a roadside exploded in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007. [AP]

At least 44 Iraqis were killed or found dead nationwide Wednesday, according to police reports. The toll marked an uptick in the daily carnage as President Bush prepares for a showdown in Congress over the future of the US mission.

The deadliest attack occurred when a roadside bomb exploded along a busy highway during the morning rush hour in the eastern Baghdad district of Baladiyat. A medic at a nearby hospital said 13 people died, but a police officer put the figure at 15.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information.

"We heard a big explosion and I saw many people get injured - I was one of them," a man who identified himself only as Amjed told Associated Press Television News from his hospital bed. His right shoulder was bandaged and left arm in a sling.

"We're poor people, we're already suffering enough from the hardships of life - and now this," he said. "I'm fed up with those who plant bombs and target people."

Three of the American soldiers were killed and two were wounded after their Humvee was hit Tuesday with an explosively formed penetrator, a type of bomb that the US alleges Iran has been supplying to Shiite militias. Iran denies the accusation.

Two other US soldiers were killed and another wounded in an eastern section of Baghdad on Wednesday during combat operations, the military said. Two other Americans were mortally wounded Wednesday in a blast in Salahuddin province north of the capital.

Another soldier was killed and two were wounded during fighting Tuesday in western Baghdad, the US command said.

The bloodshed in mostly Shiite eastern Baghdad occurred a week after the country's most powerful Shiite militia leader, cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, ordered his fighters to cease attacks for up to six months so he could restructure his Mahdi Army.

But US commanders say renegade elements within the Mahdi Army have disregarded al-Sadr's order and are continuing attacks on US and Iraqi forces. The US believes those groups are backed by the Iranians, a charge that the Islamic Republic denies.

Early Wednesday, US forces captured an Iraqi believed to be working with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps's elite Quds Force to supply Shiite militias with Iranian-made weapons, said Maj. Winfield Danielson III.

The suspect is also believed to have helped transport Iraqis to Iran for "terrorist training," Danielson said in an e-mail. The military said it is believed that he is "closely linked to individuals at the highest levels" of the Quds Force.

The violence occurred five days before US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Gen. David Petraeus report to Congress about progress since the United States sent nearly 30,000 more troops to Iraq.

Democrats are considering ways to force a drawdown of troops if Bush decides to keep forces in Iraq through spring as expected. A showdown between congressional Democrats and the White House seems all but assured.

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