AD Quality Auto 360p 720p 1080p Top articles1/5READ MOREGame Center: Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, 10 a.m.Gunmen drove up and fought with police immediately after the blast, which tore through nearby buildings. At least 18 people were killed and 27 wounded, police said. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attacks in Baghdad and Samarra, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq militants who had promised an offensive during Ramadan to undermine U.S.-Iraqi claims of success in quelling the violence in the capital with an 8-month-old security operation. The fasting month ended this weekend with the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival that began on Friday for Sunnis and Saturday for Shiites. Also killed on Sunday were a U.S. soldier struck by a roadside bomb during combat operations in southern Baghdad and an Iraqi journalist who was shot while on assignment for The Washington Post elsewhere in the capital. Salih Saif Aldin, 32, who wrote under the name Salih Dehema for security reasons, was killed in the neighborhood of Sadiyah, according to a statement from the newspaper. It said details of the incident were still unclear. Another U.S. soldier died in a noncombat related incident in the northern Ninevah province, the military said The car bombing in Baghdad tore through a minibus that was to carry passengers to the revered Imam al-Kadhim shrine in the northwestern Kazimiyah district. A 9-year-old boy and two women were among those killed. Police banned cars from the area until further notice, an officer said. 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! By Kim Gamel THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BAGHDAD – A bomb in a parked car struck worshippers heading to a Shiite mosque Sunday in Baghdad, killing at least nine people as Iraqis celebrated a Muslim holiday, while the death toll rose to 18 in a coordinated suicide truck bombing and ambush north of the capital. Relatives and rescue workers pulled bodies from under piles of concrete bricks and rubble in the Sunni city of Samarra, where a suicide truck bomber detonated his explosives late Saturday. Guards had opened fire before he could reach the targeted police headquarters. read more