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U.S. Army soldiers walk through the wreckage of the second suicide car bomb in three days, which exploded In front of the Turkish Embassy In Baghdad, Iraq, on Oct. 14. Two people, Including the driver, were reported killed, and several bystanders and passengers on a bus following the car were also injured. PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS BY CHARLES J. HANLEY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD, IRAQ -Suicide car bombers struck in Baghdad for the third time in a week Tuesday, this time outside the Turkish Embassy in yet another blow against those who would help the U.S. occupa tion. Witnesses said the driver and a bystander were killed, and hospi ^ tals said at least 13 were wounded. ^ “This is the act of those who want to turn Iraq into a terror par adise,” said Turkish Ambassador Osman Paksut, whose govern ment has offered peacekeeping troops to reinforce the U.S. mili tary presence here, a move strong ly opposed by Iraqis. Just who is behind the bomb ings remained a mystery, al though Iraqis converging on the scene Tuesday began chanting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans. Mucn ot tne blast was absorbed by concrete barriers outside the embassy, U.S. officials said. The bomber might have caught U.S. troops if he had struck last week end, when they were deployed out side the mission in northwest Baghdad, apparently because of a threat. “About three days ago, we re ceived indications that there might be increased danger on the Turkish Embassy,” said Col. Peter Mansoor of the U.S. 1st Armored Division. “We revved up security measures based on those indications.” He said the FBI and Iraqi police were investigating. Similar in vestigations of seven other vehi cle bombings, killing more than 140 people across Iraq beginning in August, have made no known breakthroughs. In the southern city of Karbala, gunmen of rival Shiite Muslim fac », tions clashed and witnesses €aid several people were killed or in jured. It appeared to be part of a power struggle between forces of the firebrand cleric Muqtada al Sadr and followers of religious leaders who take a more moderate stand toward the U.S. occupation. Farther south, at his headquar ters in Najaf, al-Sadr demanded the Americans set a timetable for withdrawal. “Whoever cooperates with the occupation forces is not a Shiite. Indeed, they are not Muslims,” he said. Pentagon officials said tne u .t>. military is concerned about al Sadr but is uncertain whether he poses a significant threat. The of ficials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they remain com mitted to disarming militias but declined to say whether they ^ planned to confront his followers. ™ In other developments Tuesday: ♦ A spokeswoman for the U.S. 4th Infantry Division, Maj. Josslyn Aberle, said the military did not have any reports that Saddam was hiding in his hometown of Tikrit. This countered a statement Monday by a 4th ID officer that the deposed president was recently in the area. ♦ In central Iraq’s Sunni Muslim heartland, 100 people gathered at the main mosque in Fjdlujah to demand release of a cleric arrested Monday by U.S. troops. Sheik Jamal Shaker Nazzal is an outspoken opponent of the American occupation. ♦ The U.S. commerce secretary, Don Evans, delivered an upbeat message at a Baghdad news con ference, saying, “We need to con tinue to focus on moving the en tire country and region toward a more secure, hopeful and pros perous country and region.” He said he had seen “endless suc cesses” in Iraq, citing restoration of electrical power and reopening of schools and hospitals. Tuesday’s attack was the third car bombing since Thursday, when a driver detonated his vehi cle in a police station courtyard in Baghdad, killing himself and nine others. On Sunday, a suicide bombing killed eight near the Baghdad Hotel, home to U.S. and Iraqi officials. The string of attacks began in August with bombings at the Jordanian Embassy and the U.N. headquarters. All the targets have been institutions perceived as co operating with the U.S. occupation. The Turkish Embassy blast happened at about 2:45 p.m. as traf fic streamed by the compound in the quiet, middle-class Waziriyah district. “I was in a building across the street. I rushed over and saw that a car had exploded in front of the embassy,” said Ahmed Hashim, 30, a graduate' student at Mustansiryah University. He said the suicide driver’s dismembered body was blown down the avenue, and a second person was also dead at the scene. “I know that because I helped carry him into the ambulance.” Hashim said. This was not imme diately confirmed by U.S. or Iraqi authorities, but a painting con tractor at the scene, Salah Khadhim, also said he saw a pass er-by killed. Mansoor, the American colonel, reported only the driver killed and two embassy workers injured. But officials at two hospi tals said they received at least 13 wounded from the blast, including three seriously injured. After the explosion, about 50 Iraqis gathered and chanted a pro Saddam slogan - “We sacrifice our blood and soul for you!” - and wav ing Iraqi banknotes with the oust ed dictator’s portrait. Police fired in the air to disperse them, and de tained severed. Popular suspicions in the bombings have focused on Saddam supporters, also blamed for repeated attacks on American troops, or on al-Qaida adherents or other Muslim extremists. Asked whether the bombing was related to the issue of Turkish peacekeepers in Iraq, Mansoor said: “I think it has everything to do with that.” PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS An Iraqi man injured in a suicide car bomb talks with a U.S. soldier in front of the Turkish embassy In Baghdad, Iraq. IN THE TIME IT TAKES TO FIND THE CAMPUS BOOKSTORE you COULD SAVE UP TO 15% ON CAR INSURANCE. Low'down-payment & convenient payment plans. 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