the foundation of watever thing there is
...rcing the suicide bomber to detonate away from the gate of the Shiite group's office. Police said the guard was killed and seven others were injured in the blast at the information office of Iraq's largest political party. The suicide bomber also died, officials said. A U.S. military official told CNN U.S. troops helped secure the area after the attack. The SCIRI office is located across from Baghdad University. On December 27, a suicide bomber blew up a car outside SCIRI's headquarters in the same neighborhood in Baghdad as Tuesday's attack, killing six people and wounding 33. Attacks on political targets have intensified ahead of the country's scheduled January 30 elections, in which Iraqis will elect a transitional national assembly. Iraq will close its borders for the election period, a spokesman for the Iraq Independent Electoral Commission said Tuesday. Dr. Fareed Ayar said an Interior Ministry statement indicated the borders will be closed as a security precaution from January 29 to January 31 The country is already under a state of emergency, which was renewed earlier this month by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. Insurgents kill 15 in attacks On Monday, insurgents killed at least 14 members of the Iraqi security forces and one civilian in attacks on checkpoints in two cities. Near Baquba, north of Baghdad, insurgents traveling in multiple vehicles killed seven Iraqi army soldiers and one civilian at a checkpoint, Iraqi and U.S. military officials said. The officials said four other Iraqi soldiers were wounded when they were hit with small-arms fire in the attack in Buhritz, about six miles (10 kilometers) south of Baquba. At least seven Iraqi police were killed when a suicide car bomb exploded at the first of three checkpoints in front of an Iraqi police headquarters near the north-central city of Tikrit, a U.S. military spokesman and a local official said. The official with the Tikrit local government said 19 other people were hurt in the explosion at the Beiji police headquarters, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Tikrit. Three U.S. soldiers killed in Al Anbar Three U.S. soldiers were killed Monday "while conducting security and stability operations in the Al Anbar Province," statements from the Combined Press Information Center said. All three were assigned to the Ist Marine Expeditionary Force, the statements said. No other details were provided and their identities were not released. Monday's deaths bring to 1,369 the number of American ...