Insurgents have launched two deadly attacks against Shi'ites in Iraq, just hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld paid a surprise visit to American troops in the country.

In the first attack, gunmen entered a bakery in a mainly Shi'ite neighborhood in Baghdad, killing at least nine people.  A short time later, a car bomb exploded outside a Shi'ite mosque in the town of Balad Ruz, northeast of Baghdad.  Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for that blast that killed 13 and injured 23 others.

An American soldier was also killed when a bomb exploded in western Baghdad.

The violence came as Mr. Rumsfeld visited U.S. troops in Mosul and Baghdad.  He also observed Iraqi police and special forces perform training exercises, before he met with Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters, AP.