Iraqi security forces man their checkpoint in downtown Baghdad, 11 May 2007

Iraqi police say two suicide bomb attacks have killed at least 22 people and wounded 60 others in a mainly Shi'ite neighborhood of Baghdad.

Officials say the attackers struck police checkpoints near two bridges in the Zafaraniyah neighborhood Friday. Both bridges were damaged.

In other news, the U.S. commander in northern Iraq says he needs more troops to secure the increasingly violent Diyala province.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon (l) and U.S. Army Col. Trogdon speak with Pentagon reporters via satellite, providing an update on ongoing security operations in Iraq, 9 Mar 2007

Major General Benjamin Mixon told reporters by videoconference from Iraq Friday that he requested additional troops from the number two commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno.

The U.S. military says four American troops were killed in combat Thursday in incidents (small arms fire, an explosion, and a roadside bomb) in Baghdad, Diyala province and Diwaniya.

The military also announced that coalition forces today killed four people they identified as terrorists near Taji, north of Baghdad.

The military says the four were killed after they opened fire on troops conducting a raid. The dead included the alleged head of a bomb cell who had links to senior al-Qaida in Iraq leadership

The military says a total of nine suspects were detained in the raid in Taji and raids in Baghdad and Mosul. The raids Thursday and Friday targeted bomb cells.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.