Baghdad explosions, mortars kill at least 24

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- An explosion in Baghdad on Wednesday killed 18 people and wounded at least 75 others.

An Interior Ministry official said it was caused by a suicide truck bomb targeting the home of Brig. Nazem Tayeh, who works for the ministry and is head of police rescue units.

But the U.S. military said it believes a nearby combat outpost was the target of the blast, which it says was from a truck carrying a homemade rocket-assisted mortar.

Tayeh was not at his home in the predominantly Shiite northeastern neighborhood of Shaab.

One of Tayeh's nephews was killed, and three children and two women injured were Tayeh's family members. Civilian bystanders, including a woman and a child, were also among the people killed.

Eight buildings collapsed in the blast, and police pulled people from the rubble.

Fifteen homes were destroyed and 29 civilians were taken to a hospital for treatment, said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman for Multi-National Division-Baghdad. Watch rescue effort at explosion site »

Also in Shaab, a mortar round killed two people and wounded five others. Among the injured were a woman and a child, the ministry said.

In central Baghdad, a parked car bomb exploded in front of a restaurant, killing four people and injuring seven, the Interior Ministry said. Casualties included Iraqi policemen and civilians, the ministry said.

Iraqi National Police and U.S. soldiers found human remains in eastern Baghdad on Tuesday, the U.S. military said.

A site was found with 10 to 12 bodies in a "water-filled well-like grave." The remains appear to have been buried for about two years.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a small-arms fire attack in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.

The incident occurred in Hawija, a predominantly Sunni Arab town near Kirkuk. The soldiers were part of Multi-National Division-North.

The number of U.S. service members killed in the Iraq war is 4,090, including eight civilian employees of the Defense Department. The number killed in June now stands at six.

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Saad Abedine contributed to this report.

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