An apparently coordinated attack against two Shiite mosques in a town where Muslim sects had lived peacefully has raised concerns about religious and ethnic strife as Shiites and Sunnis jockey for power in postwar Iraq.

Anti-American insurgents fired mortar rounds at a military camp, killing one American soldier and wounding 34 others, the U.S. command said.

U.S. troops shelled a house after coming under fire in this hotbed of the anti-American insurgency, killing an Iraqi couple, witnesses said Wednesday.

The Army will announce as early as Tuesday new orders that will forbid thousands of soldiers from leaving the service after they return this year from Iraq, Afghanistan and other fronts in the war against terrorism, defense officials said Monday.