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<b>First Posted:</b> 8/5/2008<br><br>KIM GAMEL Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD &amp;mdash; A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers in a predominantly Shiite area in Baghdad on Monday, the first deadly attack against American troops in the capital in nearly a month.

At least nine Iraqis also were killed in explosions elsewhere in the Baghdad area, Iraqi officials said, in a grim reminder of the dangers that continue to face security forces and civilians despite significant security gains during the past year.
The U.S. military said another American soldier was wounded when the blast struck a U.S. patrol at about 9:30 a.m. in eastern Baghdad. The area was the site of fierce clashes and frequent roadside bombings blamed on Shiite militiamen before a cease-fire by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
The soldiers were the first to be killed in Baghdad since July 8, when a roadside bomb killed Spc. William McMillan III, a 22-year-old Army medic from Lexington, Ky., and wounded five other soldiers in the western neighborhood of Amariyah, a Sunni area.
Iraqi politicians, meanwhile, remained in bitter debate over a power-sharing formula for the disputed, oil-rich city of Kirkuk that has blocked passage of a law providing for provincial elections. The U.S. hopes the nationwide local vote will stem remaining support for violence by more fairly distributing power among Iraq&amp;rsquo;s rival ethnic and religious communities.
Talks continued late into the night with the lawmakers facing intense pressure from U.S. and U.N. officials to reach agreement. 
The Kurds object to an article in the law that would equally distribute the council seats among Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen and dilute their powers in Tamim province, which lies just south of their own semiautonomous region in Iraq&amp;rsquo;s north.
Tensions rose last week after a suicide bombing killed more than 20 people in Kirkuk and the Kurdish-dominated Tamim council called for the area to be annexed into the self-ruled Kurdish region. The council decision was nonbinding but provoked Turkomen and Arabs.

Two GIs killed in Baghdad violence