BAGHDAD, Oct 27: For the second time in four days a bomber struck near a bus transit point in a predominantly Shia neighbourhood southeast of Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 13 others, police and hospital officials said.

The blast, which occurred at 7:30am in Jisr Diyala, targeted restaurants frequented by government employees and construction workers, and struck just outside, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information.

Two police officers and two women were among the wounded, the officials said.

On Wednesday, eight people were killed and 24 were injured when a bomb struck the same area, which is about 20 kilometers (10 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Also Saturday, the US military announced the death of a soldier killed during small arms fire while conducting operations in the Salahuddin province.

The Multi-National Division-North soldier, whose name was withheld pending notification of relatives, died Thursday in the predominantly Sunni province north of Baghdad, the military said in a brief statement. It released no further details.

On Friday, an aide for radical Muqtada al-Sadr said the leader could end a ban on his militia’s activities because of rising anger over US and Iraqi raids against his followers. Al-Sadr is concerned about increased clashes between rival factions in the mainly south, according to the aide.

His call in August for a six-month cease-fire has been credited with a sharp drop in the number of bullet-riddled bodies that turn up on the streets of Iraq and are believed to be victims of Shia death squads.

Baghdad police found three people slain execution-style and bearing signs of torture on Friday, compared with the dozens often found on a typical day before al-Sadr’s declaration.

The morgue in the southern city of Kut received two bodies, including one pulled from the Tigris River.—AP