Meanwhile

In that other crisis in that other Middle East.

*HADHAR - Ten people, including three policemen, killed when a suicide car bomber drove into a crowd of spectators at a soccer match where a police side was playing a local team in the town of Hadhar, 90 km (55 miles) south of Mosul. There were 12 wounded, including nine police, police said.

*MOSUL - A senior Mosul police officer and two bodyguards were killed by a car bomb and at least one policeman and four militants died in heavy clashes between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces in the city, police sources said.

*BAGHDAD - Three suspected militants linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq were killed in U.S. raids and an air strike southeast of Baghdad on Thursday, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD - Two marines killed in action in separate incidents in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. The marines, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, died on Thursday.